Sia

Sia Beams In From SXSW For Jimmy Kimmel Performance

The prerequisite musical acts that arrive at the end of late-night talk shows is either the moment you switch off (mostly Saturday Night Live) or the moment you look forward to to the most (also mostly Saturday Night Live). There’s only so many variations that can be imagined before you realise the only changes being made are the light placements, and maybe the volume of dry ice. Enter Jimmy Kimmel. Or more specifically: enter Sia via satellite.

As the music portion of SXSW 2016 swung into gear, Sia (or Kristen Wiig) predictably blew everyone away. Performing Bird Set Free replete with her trademark black and white wig and a dancer doing his gosh darned best Chandelier impression. What’s more, the performance was beamed into Jimmy Kimmel Live via her Austin set that closed the three day Samsung’s Galaxy Life Fest, Consequence of Sound reported.

It’s a much more engaging and refreshing approach to what can be achieved in a format that never stops clamouring for audience share. It helps having an artist as brilliant and alluring as the Adelaide singer/songwriter.

Bird Set Free is a single off her seventh album, This Is Actingthat consists of songs initially written for other artists but were rejected, presumably in a deeply sonorous wayIt’s a rousing and singularly emotive number that left the crowd in raptures. It continues her recent late-night talk show dominance, like her stint on Saturday Night Live.

According to NME, she also revealed details for her first headline gigs since 2011, playing Coachella in April, Flow Festival in Finland, and Sweden’s Way Out West, both taking place on the same weekend in August.

Image: American Songwriter