Sia Furler 

Early Life:

Her mom was involved in the arts and her father was a musician, so Sia was exposed to the creative elements at an early age. Her creative personality began to develop early in her childhood. She was constantly surrounded by circus members and famous band personas. While most of Sia’s childhood is full of happiness, memories of her father often bring with it unfortunate memories. Because of his late night gigs and drug abuse he became someone Sia soon did not recognize. Her mother filed for a divorce.

Biography:

The Beginning Of Her Addiction:

At the age of 17, Sia was working at a coffee shop, when one of her friends mentioned that their band was in need of a lead singer. Sia auditioned and got the role. Her fellow members quickly realized she was no extrovert. She relied on the alcohol, as a numbing effect to be able to perform live shows. Gradually, the habit turned into an addiction. After 4 years of performing the band split up. Sia who was now 21 planned to travel the world, with her then boyfriend. She was at a stopover in Thailand  when she received a phone call from her mother informing her that her boyfriend had been killed in London by a taxi. Devastated Sia returned to Australia and as a result her drinking intensified. She spent the next six years doing drugs and consuming alcohol in order to drown her sorrows.

Her Struggle With Fame:

Because Sia was incredibly introverted performing in front of large crowd became problematic. Her drinking intensified and she was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder (only to become addicted to her prescribed pills.) Sia was set on committing suicide, however moments before she was to take her life she got a phone call from her friend. Taking this as a sign she decided to enroll in a 12 step rehab program and fire her old manager who pressurized her to perform live. Her new manager understanding her troubles with performing suggested that Sia try writing songs for other artists to sing.  She soon discovered she could write down a word and quickly formulate a song around it. The words poured out from her past struggles and she realized that this was how she could hide in plain sight. Sia retired from recording her own songs, and spent her days happily writing from home, only leaving to walk her dogs.

List Of Works:

• Beyoncé, “Pretty Hurts”
• Rihanna, “Diamonds”
• Britney Spears, “Perfume”
• David Guetta, “Titanium”
• Kelly Clarkson, “Invincible”
• Rita Ora, “Radioactive”
• Ne-Yo, “Let Me Love You”
• Beyoncé, “Rise Up”
• She has written 73 other songs for different artists.

Typicality Of Work:

Subject Matter:

She writes songs that are not the flashiest or catchiest, but deal with true human emotion that she personally dealt with, or general ones. Also deal with helping others deal with their dark times as well as overcoming it.

Forms/Style/Theme:

Formula/Style: One word title. She takes a single word or phrase as a inspiration, embeds it into a concept and fills in the rest of the song with ideas surrounding it (filler lyrics). Cannonball for Michele and Titanium for Guetta as metaphors for empowerment; Diamonds for Rihanna  signified romance and Radioactive for Rita Ora to convey lust.

Successes: 

• • Sia is worth over $20 million
  • In 2014, she released her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear, which, with the help of extremely successful singles like Chandelier, Elastic Heart, and Fire Meet Gasoline
  • She wears long black-and-white wig to cover her face (to help deal with the anxiety of fame and stage fright)
  • Her mental health is improving

She went from barely filling up small venues to selling out 25,000 seat stadiums around the globe. Sia has achieved success and she did it her way. She stayed true to herself, never sold out who she was, never used her body for “sex appeal”.

Analysis: 

Ouch, I have lost myself again

Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,

Yeah I think that I might break

Lost myself again, and I feel unsafe

 

Be my friend, hold me

Wrap me up, unfold me

I am small, and needy

Warm me up, and breathe me

Emulation

You pull and tug,

yet your efforts fail.

A heart made from elastic,

never tears.

Glass shatters and plastic snap,

yet with every pull elastic stretches.

*Emulated from “Elastic Heart”

Advice to others:

“I love the idea of how fast can we make the song, but I don’t think that I’m necessarily like a super-talented songwriter. I think I’m just really productive. One out of 10 songs is a hit. So where a lot of people will spend three weeks on one song, I will write 10 in three weeks. Maybe the song that they sculpt is going to be as successful as just one of the 10 that I wrote.”

Why she inspires us:

Sia is proof that you are never too late to start your life over. Most people think that if you haven’t “made it” or accomplished your goals and achieved your dreams by your early twenties then you never will, and you are a failure. Sia is almost forty-two. She was thirty-eight when her music exploded and made her a huge star. She also demonstrates how writing is a form a therapy and you can use what you  are going through as an inspiration to help others overcome.

 

“I do spend a lot of time pinching myself, I have to say it’s been pretty amazing. I might cry. It’s been really amazing. The last couple of years have just been, since I’ve made the decision to just take care of my own sanity and serenity and stuff…my life has just improved so much, and I’m honestly surprised that things are working out so well for me.”