Sia - Some People Have Real Problems

[Udo]

Sia is Sia Furler a singer-songwriter from Australia. Her voice, sound and style are much akin to Nelly Furtado. Only I don't really care for Nelly Furtado, but I adore Sia. Her pop songs are catchy, her deeper songs are touching, her oddball songs are great. There are 200 reviews on iTunes with an average rating of 4.0. I give it 5.0, since I think every song is a winner.

Most of the songs feature the typical set: acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drums with cello (perhaps other strings) and piano on the softer tracks. The following are the tracks, not in order:

I Go to Sleep is a cover of the Pretenders, who covered the Kinks. If I had to pick a "worst song," this would be it, simply because it is a cover, even though this version is excellent. The sad, mournful sound of Sia's voice matches the song's theme and mood perfectly.

Lentil, Soon We'll Be Found, and Beautiful Calm Driving are all softer songs about relationships.

The Girl You Lost to Cocaine and Electric Bird are counter-themed songs... that is, the music is uplifting when the theme is dark. (I'm assuming here that Electric Bird alludes to the death penalty, though I could be wrong).

Little Black Sandals is a song about walking away from a bad relationship, much like These Boots Are Made For Walking.

You Have Been Loved is a slow, sad song about being dumped but moving on.

Academia (featuring Beck) is an quirky, uptempo song about unrequited love, apparently with somebody who's fairly intelligent.

Both Lullaby and Death by Chocolate are "building" songs... that is they start very soft and end strong. Both have the theme of accepting what is bad and taking the good from it.

Playground and Buttons (hidden track) are the most upbeat, catchy tunes of the album. I caught onto Sia's music because somebody on YouTube claimed the Buttons video is one of the worst ever.

The album is set up as a roller-coaster, much like Journey's early albums. That is, you won't hear four sad songs in a row, but a sad song then a catchy tune, then another sad song. This formula works very well to emphasize each song and its meaning. And just about every song has real meaning. Each song reaches into you and touches a chord of humanity.

So, with that said, give it a listen. I'm very glad I did.

[uli90]

She's one of the best singers nowadays!