Before Sia releases her upcoming album, I wanted to pay tribute to one of the best albums of 2014. Her sixth studio album 1000 Forms of Fear has been a chart-topper and the single Chandelier was probably the most played song on the radio.
Sia has a rich discography. As an author, she showcased her skill of maneuvering the choruses but her talent didn’t culminate until this record. It is very difficult to determine the genre – there is power pop, synth-pop, hip hop and reggae. Album is not confusing at all because all of the elements converged into the harmonious whole.
Sia gained inspiration from personal tragedies (drug addiction and bipolar mood disorder). Lyrically, album centers around themes of dealing with problematic past, fighting the fear of pain and depression. Even though the record sound fun on the surface, there are many dark and melancholic layers. Of course, love topics are also covered, as on her previous albums, without any pathetic and infantile perspectives.
Burn The Pages is the best example of well thought approach: We welcome the cry, of the dark night sky, swallow me peacefully, follow my heart back inside. These lyrics emerge from intimate turbulations, so in Big Girls Cry we hear I may cry ruining my makeup, wash away all the things you’ve taken, and I don’t care If I don’t look pretty, big girls cry when their hearts are breaking. Self-conscious and self-criticizing catharsis makes Sia, in my opinion, the best pop artist out there.
Eye Of The Needle is a slow tempo piano ballade, perfect for Sia’s voice, while Elastic Heart and Fire Meet Gasoline are bombastic electropop numbers channeling a little bit of ska and hip-hop. There is no need for me to elaborate on Chandelier and the girl from the video since everyone are still talking about it.
I interpret it 1000 Forms of Fear as Sia’s return to the past where she decides to deal with the ancient ontological fears. The girl is all grown up but she didn’t lose any of the psychological background that made her child once. Child-woman does not have the need to fear with this type of album.
