Stooped in secrecy and anonymity, Sia still somehow finds a way to make waves without ever showing her face. After her powerful hit Alive dropped last month, she has now returned with her second single Bird Set Free which is taken off her upcoming album This Is Acting. The single navigates a welcome return to some her earlier work, reminiscent of her album We Are Born.
As long time fans of the Australian songstress, the promise of another album so soon after breaking new ground with 1000 Forms of Fear was understandably exciting to us at H&E. This is perhaps why to an extent I forced myself to like Alive when the reality was, apart from some devilish verses, a somewhat empty pop tune that relied too heavily on Sia’s enormous vocals to carry a fairly conventional chorus.
Bird Set Free, however, embraces the nuances that are synonymous with Sia – intricate hooks embedded in the verses, subtle percussion laced with heavy piano progressions and a massive chorus.
Sia must be hoping to ride some of the Adele hype as she rips apart the industry once again, as this is the second consecutive song that was meant for Adele’s new album 25. Adele briefly spoke about working with Sia in her recent interview with Rolling Stone even though none of the songs they worked on made Adele’s album:
“I actually love the dynamic of us both being in there and just fucking being bossy. And it’s all these male producers, and they’re all fucking shitting themselves ’cause we’re in there.”
Along with the new single, Sia’s new album This Is Acting now has a release date of January 29 and she has released the cover art, which is reminiscent of her video for Buttons. The album is comprised of songs she has written for other artists that didn’t make the cut – including ones for Beyonce and Rihanna.