Sia Furler is probably still most recognisable to people in Blighty for her stint in Zero 7, when she lent some high-class emoting to several otherwise quite somnolent songs which you’ll have heard used as dramatic shorthand in several TV shows over the last few years (see “Destiny”).

Those last few years, however, have also seen Sia release several very good albums, containing several very good songs, and yet she still seems to be very not a Proper Popstar as far as Most People are concerned.

Basically, this needs to change. I mean, listenandlook to/at her latest singleandvideo, “Clap Your Hands”:

OK, yes, if Sia was a member of your family, she’d be your favourite mad auntie. But one of the things I find interesting about her is that the bonkersocity of the videos she produces doesn’t really reflect her music. She’s - and please don’t run away when I say this - a skilled songwriter, knocking out (aargh!) textured, (eeek!) affecting numbers with every release, all delivered in a (*shotgun*) unique and instantly identifiable voice.

Perhaps she uses the wackiness as a way to mark herself out in a landscape full to the brim with younger, hipper, tittier “artists”. You can’t really blame her for that, can you? After all, it’s a trick that worked quite well for Dire Straits with “Money F-(You’re not helping your case here - Ed).

As I’m familiar with the qualidee of her tunes I’m able to look beyond the wackiness, but I can see how it might put some people off giving her a chance. If you are one of those people, I urge you - and I’m willing to use weaponry here - to look beyond it. I will help you do this by highlighting some splendid Sia bitznbobz from the last few years.

Look - here she is performing “The Girl You Lost To Cocaine” a couple of years ago. I have listened to this song A LOT, and not because I’m a big old Charlie-bonce:

And look. This is a shitting lovely song called “Pictures”. If you have heard a sweeter and more persuasive plea from one person to another to gerroverit already, I am calling you a ball-faced liar:

And look. This song, it is called “Buttons”, and my interpretation is that it is about those times when you’re so besotted with someone that you, er, develop Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It has another “imaginative” video:

Sia | Buttons (Music Video) from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

And looook, this is that song that was in Six Feet Under years ago. It’s sort of “where it all began”, if you discount the Zero 7 stuff. It’s called “Breathe Me” and is the kind of thing that inspires Italian teenagers to make terrible homemade video slideshows and stick them on YouTube:

To come full circle, this is her most recent single in her native Australia. “You’ve Changed” has apparently been her biggest hit in her homeland - sadly this only means it went top 40 or something:

Yes, it does sound like something else in the verses. If you know what it is please leave a comment, because it’s driving me nuts.

So, there is just some of the evidence that Sia should be ordained as a Proper Popstar in 2010. If you would like to help make this happen, you can:

Pre-order Sia’s new album We Are Born at iTunes

Pre-order Sia’s new album We Are Born on old-fangled compact disc at Play.com

Listen to previews of Sia’s new album - it’s called We Are Born - at her website

Follow Sia on Twitter - her bio: “i am sia, i was born from the bumhole of a unicorn named steve.”

Buy tickets for Sia’s show at London’s Roundhouse on May 27th 2010

Or you could just start one of those annoying Facebook groups, I suppose.

 

Possibly related:

1. Missy Elliott needs your help naming her new album. Also, her new video requires placing coloured plastic over your eyes

2. Pop Heaven: Clip of new Annie track “Girlfriend” appears on MySpace

3. Lost in Translation: Chinese pop

4. One-Hit Wonderful: “Cannonball” by The Breeders

5. Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris - “Dance Wiv Me”: hurrah! It works!

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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Thursday May 6th, 2010 at 8:30 am