1000 Forms of Fear
Sia’s mellifluous fight against social phobia.
Australian electro-pop sensation Sia Furler swung back into action this July from her musical chandelier, with her new album ‘1000 Forms of Fear’.
The chemistry of being able to mix together some lyrics with semiotic meanings takes more than just spinning a wheel of faith and hoping that the metaphorically inconspicuous melody soars with the glide of a cello bow— The key to writing any song is being able to encapsulate the raw emotion felt by the heart: A true talent of Sia’s.
Suffering with social phobias, Bipolar Disorder and a history of addiction, ‘1000 Forms of Fear’ is far from a music industry-related farce of ‘sell, sell, sell!’ and ‘write what your audience wants to hear’. It is poignantly an album encapsulating the story of one female’s battle with finding herself— The art of expressing struggle of anxiety, isolation and that fight of breaking out of the darkness, through song.
The ironic stance behind ‘1000 Forms of Fear’, is that when listening to each track, you yourself become entranced by Sia’s world of hollow anxiety, foreboding the emotional struggles the singer faced during her life and her conquest to overcome the sadness. As a listener, the unanimous movement of harmonies, chords and lyrics engage you in a verisimilitudinous manner, opening up your heart to understand the raw passion behind Furler’s lyrics. As the tracklist plays on, you can feel your emotions begin to escape from a life of turmoil; a life of tragedies and toughness which are spiritually and gratuitously released from the heart.
The greatest teasers of Sia’s sixth studio album came in the form of promotional content- one song being featured within The Hunger Games- Catching Fire. Sia’s emotionally-stretching song ‘Elastic Heart’ (remastered by Diplo with input from The Weeknd) left us craving more ambrosial music in light of her comeback as a solo artist. The song was to only a matter of months later feature as the eighth track listing on her album, this time independently sung and showing off her full talent as a songwriter and performer.
But it wasn’t just Elastic Heart which expanded the media and public interest in Sia’s solo comeback— Chandelier illuminated Sia’s path back into the charts with an emotive song personifying the artist’s battle with depression, anxiety and addiction.
Directed by Furler herself, the music video conjured up a sense of delusion, isolation, abandonment and loneliness, portrayed by the sadistic innocence of phenomenal child star- Maddie Ziegler.
The song had created great global interest for the singer-songwriter, as it appeared that she was starting to slowly work her way back into the limelight after several years of collaborating with artists such as DJ Fresh, David Guetta and most recently, singing Battle Cry with contemporary music sensation Angel Haze. Sia also placed herself on the musical map after writing hits such as ‘Diamonds’ for the likes of Rihanna, as well as her many composition collaborations over the years.
Despite the artistic genius of the video, Sia raised controversy as she refused to face the audience during the live performances of Chandelier on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Ziegler appeared to be the star of the show as her outstanding dance routine wowed the audience— creating such awe with her mesmerising flips and twists in time with the electronica ballad.
However, when reflecting upon the whole album, as well as Sia’s 2012 statement of not wishing to “gig or tour” anymore by staying out of the limelight, the live performance encapsulates the whole album’s meaning of social anxiety and battling your daemons; 1000 Forms of Fear and Sia is battling several of those tragic impediments, live in front of you whilst performing- even if her back is towards the camera.
This in itself magnifies the pure brilliance of Sia as an artist — she herself is a warrior. Despite the fame and success, Sia is an ordinary person with her own problems, and she isn’t afraid to share the fact that she isn’t “perfect”, like the media’s wishes for musicians and performers to be. She is Sia Furler. A human who embraces her flaws to develop a story via a universal platform, being music.
In retrospect, the four years hiatus for Sia’s next solo release and sixth studio album has justified how great an artist she is. The wait for new material was indeed a joyous process. Sia’s new album is considerably stripped down compared to her previous releases, although she has indefinitely preserved the electro-pop aspect to her material which gives her the clear image that is Sia- the blonde-bobbed Australian with a voice of a husky angel. The content is pure, emotive and enchanting. The juxtaposition between electro-pop drum beats and synthesisers and traditional pop styles have successfully combined to form a beautiful album. There is certainly no discomposure to the notion that ‘1000 Forms of Fear’ will only form a hugely positive part of Sia’s legacy. Her time as a composer and songwriter has indeed given her the best preparation for her comeback. There is without a doubt no needles about to be placed in your eyes if she were to tour once again, despite her anxieties. Her talent can only make you look forward to the future and new material which is bound to be of further beauty and gracefulness.
