YMMV / Sia

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Although it has been stated that the dancers (Shia LaBeouf and Maddie Ziegler) in "Elastic Heart" represent different "self-states" it has become surprisingly common to see people interpret the video as a daughter struggling to help her father break away from some form of substance abuse habit or depression. Or both.
  • Many listeners view the protagonist of "Chandelier" as suicidal. Either she's attempting suicide or she's trying to resist the temptation to by drinking.
  • This Is Acting has been interpreted to be a scathing critique of pop music.
• Awesome Music: "Breathe Me". SERIOUSLY.
  • The entirety of 1000 Forms of Fears. SPECIALLY "Chandelier", "Free the Animal" and "Dressed in Black"
    • And the video for "Chandelier" might as well be a "Crowning Music Video of Awesome" as well.
  • "Diamonds", which is shared between her (the writer) and Rihanna (the singer). And then when the writer herself sings it...
  • Her cover of The Mamas & The Papas' "California Dreamin'" from the soundtrack of San Andreas.
  • From her Zero 7 days, "Destiny" and "Somersault."
  • Her original song for The Neon Demon, "Waving Goodbye." It serves as a surprisingly cathartic send-off for such a nerve-wracking film.
  • The Bollywood-inspired "Never Give Up" from the soundtrack of Lion.
  • "Push", the song from the South Park episode "The Cissy". It's an impersonation of Lorde who is actually Randy Marsh singing about taking a dump. And it's still awesome.
  • "Wrapped Up", the song from Vox Lux, both the versions performed by Natalie Portman and Raffey Cassidy

• Critical Dissonance: Critics are very divided on This Is Acting and all considered it to be vastly inferior to 1000 Forms of Fear but the album is her most successful one yet and produced Sia's biggest hit "Cheap Thrills".

• Ensemble Dark Horse: "Titanium" is generally agreed to be the best part of David Guetta's Nothing But the Beat, with many critics noting her vocal saved the song from mediocrity.

• Fandom Rivalry: Hardcore fans of Rihanna do NOT like Sia since Sia is vastly considered by many to be a better singer than Rihanna, the fact that Sia's biggest hit "Cheap Thrills" was originally written for Rihanna and was turned down as well as Rihanna's biggest hit "Diamonds" is co-written by Sia.
  • Also with Swifties after Sia sent kind words to Scooter Braun in the midst of his feud with Taylor Swift. Certainly doesn't help that Sia has also collaborated with Kanye West and is close friends with the Kardashians and Swift's former rival Katy Perry.

• Fanon Discontinuity: Fans tend to ignore her debut album OnlySee (which was released independently in Australia in 1997) and consider it inferior to her subsequent albums. Sia herself even tends to consider her sophomore album Healing Is Difficult as her first album.

• Funny Moments:
  • After hearing that someone was apparently attempting to sell naked photos of her, Sia sank the ship she was on just to kill the captain by tweeting a picture of her naked backside.
  • The concept for the video to "The Girl You Lost To Cocaine" was apparently just renting a sound stage and using as many of the included props, costumes, and sets as possible: So we get things like Sia lying on a bearskin rug while dressed as a German barmaid, riding an exercise bike while dressed as a shark, or casually eating a corn dog in bed with a facial mask on.

• Heartwarming Moments: Teens React To Sia's Elastic Heart: Several teenagers were shown Sia's video for 'Elastic Heart' for their reactions. While everyone was hopelessly confused, most of them defended the rights of artists to express themselves no matter how little sense the creative product made, and also said that the video did not seem to be endorsing pedophilia (the main controversy being a 28-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl dancing in flesh-toned leotards).

• Hilarious in Hindsight: After releasing multiple downtempo projects in the 2000s, Sia was not allowed to put out a pop album because she had to "establish her image before straying from it". Now, she's a famous pop star.

• It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: When "Titanium" broke in 2011, the cries of this from fans of her Zero-7 material could be heard from Australia in the US.
  • Though it should be noted that Sia had absolutely no part in the release of the song. She only recorded a version as a demo to sell to other singers. David Guetta heard her version after originally basing the track around a Mary J. Blige version, then released it without either asking or telling her. Sia was absolutely furious as she'd just retired at the time and did not want the attention.

• Misaimed Fandom: Many people play "Unstoppable" in videos/reels when talking about the accomplishments they made, challenges they came through or as an empowerment song. Even when the lyrics actually talk about struggling internally and experiencing hurt but masking it through a "strong" facade and appearing "unstoppable."

• Memetic Mutation:
  • Since she began her "faceless" gimmick, memes have arisen about how she "can't Sia thing" or "Hey, I didn't Sia there", etc.
  • The rumors about Sia in Beyoncé's basement.

• Moment of Awesome: Because a flight was cancelled due to bad weather before her concert in Sydney, she drove with her team for thirteen hours, all the way from Melbourne, to make the show.

• Older Than They Think: Sia seemingly came out of nowhere in the early 2010s as a featured artist on hits like "Wild Ones" and "Titanium" before skyrocketing to fame with her own material in 2014-2016. However, Sia released her first album in the 1990s.

• Signature Song – Her breakout hit "Chandelier" is her signature song. Even though she's followed it up with some very well-received hits, this is the song most people think of when they think of Sia.

• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus by critics for This Is Acting and Everyday Is Christmas, especially compared to 1000 Forms of Fear.

• Suspiciously Similar Song
  • "Chandelier" is very similar to Rihanna's "Diamonds", right down to Sia sounding just like Rihanna. Incidentally, "Diamonds" was also written by Sia.
  • "Chandelier" also has a suspiciously similar beat to "Unstoppable".
  • "Cheap Thrills", "The Greatest" and "Never Give Up" all sound like variations of each other in that they have similar chords.

• Tear Jerker
  • From "Fear":
  And sometimes I worry my boyfriend will die
  My first love is already dead
  • "Dreaming", a collaboration with Zero 7, seems to be written from the perspective of someone who has died and are telling their lover to move on.
  • "Breathe Me", a song about self-harm, depriving and begging for help.
  • "Lentil", about the dog she had to leave behind in Australia when she moved to England.
  • "My Love", which was written for Sia's first boyfriend who was killed in a car accident.
  • Her cover of Madonna's "Oh Father" is heartbreaking.
  • "Elastic Heart", both the song itself and the controversial music video, at least in context.
  • "Chandelier" and "Unstoppable", which both detail the monotonous and self-destructive life of someone who pushes down their pain and is desperate to convince others and themself that they are okay.
  • "Eye of the Needle" is about letting go of a lost love even though the narrator clearly isn't ready to — the haunting piano riff and Sia's heartrending vocals really sell it.
  • The music video for "The Greatest", which pays tribute to the Orlando shooting victims.
  • Sia's real life struggles and the pain that can be heard on 1000 Forms of Fear really cement that she did not take fame well. Her first love died in a car accident, her coping mechanism became drugs and alcohol - which she became addicted to when they also became a coping mechanism for her early fame, one of her neighbours she had a complicated relationship took his own life, she witnessed a murder, she was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and became suicidal in 2010, and was diagnosed with PTSD in around 2018.
  • Speaking of her real life struggles, in 2019 Sia was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - a rare inherited genetic condition that causes weakness in the body's connective tissues, which results in all sorts of problems, most notably chronic pain and fatigue. One aspect is that the weak connective tissues make joints more flexible, but this is a bad thing in the long run, as it leads to bones directly rubbing against each other and early onset arthritis, and thus chronic pain. By late 2020 Sia has said she doesn't intend to go on tour again because she doesn't think her body can handle the physical strain anymore (though she hasn't ruled out one-shot public appearances). Worse, Ehlers-Danlos is degenerative and may increasingly damage her voice.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Some mistake the boy in the "Titanium" video for a girl.

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