With the release of 1000 Forms of Fear (2014), 40-year old Australian music veteran Sia Furler stepped out of the shadows of songwriting into the spotlight (her body and voice did, but her face is typically hidden beneath a wig, a big hat or a giant bow). With her highly distinctive voice and ability to deliver complex melisma with acrobatic agility, it's a wonder that the world had to wait this long for Sia's global domination. After delivering powerful guest vocals on tracks like Flo Rida's "Wild Ones" and David Guetta's "Titanium" and "She Wolf", Sia scored her own breakthrough hit with "Chandelier" - which catapulted herself and regular collaborator Maddie Ziegler to worldwide fame.
Sia's voice may seem to possess the ability to soar and transcend human limits, but it appears that her talents as an A-list pop-maker is straining against its limitations. The Guardian's Alexis Petridis notes that she has admitted to two general formulas when songwriting: "one entailing a narrative arc Furler called “victim to victory”, the other – dubbed “high concept” – involving the use of a single simple metaphor throughout: Diamonds, Firework, Dynamite, Titanium".
"Cheap Thrills" is Sia's latest single from her latest album This is Acting (2016), an album that consists of Sia-written songs that had been rejected by artists like Adele, Rihanna and Beyoncé. It offers several of the performative elements we've come to expect from Sia: dynamic vocals, banging beats, accessible lyrics with an eccentric edge, and interesting modern dance choreography by Maddie Ziegler and two new male dancers (Nick Lanzisera and Wyatt Rocker).
The song's 'let's party' theme and pseudo-reggae vibe reveals that it had been written with Rihanna in mind - it doesn't rely on the 'victim to victory' or 'high concept one-word metaphor' formulas. The lyrics are pleasant enough, the song's title indicates that there isn't anything profound on offer here, and at least Sia hasn't resorted to singing about yachts, suits, hot dudes and fancy booze:
'Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight(I love cheap thrills)Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight(I love cheap thrills)But I don't need no moneyAs long as I can feel the beatI don't need no moneyAs long as I keep dancing'
It's a perfectly good tune that anyone can dance to, but I think most listeners have come to expect so much more from Sia. Why settle for acting (even if it is A-list acting) when you can have the 'real' deal?
