I love the idea of how fast can we make the song, but I don't think that I'm necessarily, like, a super-talented songwriter. I think I'm just really productive. One out of 10 songs is a hit.
— Sia
I'm just trying to work out a way to be a singer and to create cool content. I'm willing to do that as an entertainer. But I'm not willing to give up my actual self.
I don't do sessions for myself ever. I'm always working, writing for pop sessions. And what happens is that sometimes I like a song so much, I keep it for myself.
That's why 'Chandelier' was interesting to me... I wrote the song because there's so many party-girl anthems in pop. And I thought it'd be interesting to do a different take on that.
I'm very easily influenced, and I'm also a quick study, so I think when I decided I wanted to write pop songs, I literally just listened to pop radio for six months to get a feel for it and understand it.
I'm allowed to maintain some modicum of privacy. But also, I would like not to be picked apart or for people to observe when I put on 10 pounds or take off 10 pounds, or I have a hair extension out of place, or my fake tan is botched.
I have social anxiety. It's easier up on stage because there's security in being there. When I'm off stage I'm trying not to be a manic freak. I'm quite shy.
Like when I'm singing live I can't hear myself. I'm just listening to the rest of the band. To listen to my voice, it doesn't even feel like it's me.
I'm sensitive and get easily upset and insulted.
I'll be the songwriter for pop stars and then they can be the front person and I don't have to be famous.
I'm sort of a gay man trapped in a woman's body when it comes to music sometimes - it's crowded in here!
I don't know anything about the history of music.
Knowing now what goes into making a successful artist, it's disheartening.
I don't need to be rich anymore; I don't need to be a millionaire.
I'm an advocate of 'it's not what you are, it's who you are.'
It can be difficult navigating the line between tabloid gossip and authenticity.
I really felt like 'Chandelier' was a big pop song. But we weren't sure what would happen if I wasn't willing to show my face and do promo and go on tour and do the traditional kind of pop strategy. So I had no expectations.
The 'victim to victory' theory is that, if you listen to the radio, a large percentage of the hits are... about victim to victory, like, 'I'm having a terrible time.' And then the pre-chorus is, 'I don't know what's gonna happen next.' And the chorus is, 'Now I'm brilliant, and everything is great, because something happened to make it great.'
About 50 percent of the songs on the radio are like, 'Live like tomorrow doesn't exist. Like it's my birthday. Like it's the last day of my life'... Such a large percentage of pop music is really about party time.
Probably from, like, 10 to 14 or 15, I would just listen to pop radio.
I don't want to be critiqued about the way that I look on the Internet.
There are probably five songs in the world that I get excited about when I hear them on the radio.
I don't go to shows because I just want to listen to the music performed live. I want to get to know the person who's performing it. Or I want to, like, take away a sense that I had an experience that nobody else is going to have again, or a unique experience for that moment.
I don't read reviews or interviews or anything, just because I'm afraid; If I believed the good, then I'd believe the bad, and there will be bad.
I was weirdly obsessed with music until I was 11, and then I turned into a nerd.
Fame made me develop a panic disorder.
I'm really visually stimulated more than anything. I don't really listen to music. I'm more into watching telly or watching movies and visual art.
I liked myself much more before I got famous. I was much friendlier and had more energy.
I love visual gags and gimmicks; I love them.
I hope I am a psychotherapist's dream. I've spent enough hours in therapy.
Everybody in the entertainment industry is insecure.
Sometimes, after I finish the lyrics and have all the melodies and harmonies and the pop and vocal, I'll be like, 'I have to keep it. I love it too much.'
'Chandelier' took, like, four minutes to write the chords, then, like, 12-15 minutes to write the lyrics. Probably 10 or 15 minutes to cut the vocals.
'One Million Bullets' is my baby.
I think I managed to trick people a little bit into thinking I'm more arty by making creative, artistic, visual work and applying it to commercial music. Maybe. I don't know.
People aren't honest about the horrors of fame. The downsides are so overwhelming that, for me, there is no payoff.
A lot of people come up to me expecting to meet the person they have seen perform. It's not going to happen, unless my mania, my stage person, responds to them and not the real me.
I think it would be very difficult to maintain one kind of art or whatever for your whole life. I think it's unrealistic.
When I was 10, my parents really valued success in the arts, and I thought if I was a famous 'something artistic,' that they would love me more.
I love watching reality TV, but being part of making it was just demoralizing.
When you're entertaining all day long and that's your work, you end up really very tired. You don't have a lot of energy left over for your loved ones.
People call me for the ballads. Apparently that's where I've been pigeonholed. But it's really interesting and really fun. It's my favourite part of the job, writing.
I'm just completely obsessed with Die Antwoord.
I'm a fan of the Strokes, so my big fantasy was that one day I would get to sing with them.
