It seems that we are born and then spend the rest of our lives finding out who we are. At least Sia, the über-bubbly Australian pop singer-songwriter, would agree with that statement.
“I know, isn’t it crazy,” the 35-year-old rhetorically gushes.
Sia’s latest album, We Are Born, discusses this mortal coil in passionate funk, soul and ballads. Not that she presumes to offer easy explanations, but her lyrics seem to possess a certain sagely grasp of life beyond the commercial schlep.
“We’re all created by our environment when we’re growing up,” she says. “I don’t think I was born this way, I think I was created. I’ve been tap dancing all my life.” She pauses for a long moment.
Does she mean literally or metaphorically?
“Literally, jazz tap dancing. Metaphorically, too, I guess. I’m a terrible real tap dancer, but I’m a fantastic metaphorical tap dancer.”
Sia was tapping along quite nicely at the beginning of this millennium, living in London with the usual ups and downs. Then her boyfriend’s death shook her so hard that she wrote the beautiful, heart-stopping Breathe Me, which, when paired with the finale of HBO’s series Six Feet Under, blew up her career.
“I’d be in a very different place had they not put that song in there. I’d probably be a reiki master or a dog masseuse,” she sighs. “A beast was born.”
