Photo: wenn
“I’m exhausted and I’m starting to feel like human jerky” announces Sia before slumping onto the sofa in her dressing room, curling into a ball and breaking into bursts of almost uncontrollable laughter.
Gigwise has been keeping tabs on the Australian pocket rocket for some time now so naturally accepted the offer to have a quick chat with her backstage ahead of her sell-out Koko show. It’s been eleven years since the release of her debut solo album ‘Only See’ and the period between has not only seen her work with Zero 7, but release several more albums and build up a sizable following in the process; but fame has come at a price as Sia explains:
“It’s terrifying and I hate it” once again her sentence is broken mid flow by fits of laughter but she soon regains her composure “I like the whole selling records part and I like the fact that the audience has increased, but I don’t like playing too big places. Here is perfect for me but I don’t really want to get any bigger. Like now I can still communicate with the audience, have fun, get heckled, keep everyone involved, but I fear maintaining the intimacy if it gets any bigger and also I do not want to be famous and I do not want to be on gossip websites; that was gross, I don’t want to be that kind of thing.”
She’s referring to a recent article on Perez Hilton’s gossip website, which sensationalized her sexuality after she ‘recently came out’. But as with all gossip, the truth had been somewhat exaggerated:
“I’ve been talking about liking boys and girls since I first started. I’ve always been open about being an advocate of it’s not what you are it’s who you are so it’s nothing new for me. But I guess because I got successful, it became a story.”
Sia might come across as being an outgoing extrovert, an image brought to life by the You Tube video for her song ‘Buttons’ but in person, her bubbly persona covers a shy demeanour, preferring anonymity to front page status. Famed as much for her vocal range as for involving the crowd at her live show’s, Gigwise was interested to find out how increased success has changed the way she conducts business and Sia is all too willing to talk:
“It hasn’t affected the live show’s, it’s affected the way I leave the live shows. I can’t do what I would normally do which is walk to the bus and if there was maybe one or two people there I’d say hi, thanks for waiting, wanna hug, wanna photo, want me to sign something… Now I can’t do that cos there’s like sixty people and they’re screaming and it’s mental. It’s so weird, you can fully service two fans outside the venue but as much as I want to, you can’t fully service sixty people, there’s not enough energy in one humans body.” Sia’s animated face has now taken on a sheepish look “I cried because I disappointed some fans. I read online that someone had said if I didn’t come out and hang out with the real people after the show tonight they were going to throw all my CD’s in the bin. So I don’t like that aspect, I want to have a relationship with my fans but I don’t want them to turn on me if I’ve got a fucking cold and I can’t sign sixty autographs.”
With summer in the air and festival season around the corner, Coachella is calling Sia at the end of the month, as are several UK festivals throughout the year, but having just spoken of her love of playing intimate venues, how does she cope on the big stage?
“I like the festivals for myself on a personal level, just for having fun. I love being in the sun and I love hanging out and I hope I don’t get anymore famous because I went to SXSW and that ruined it for me being famous in America. Last time I went I just sat on the side of the road with a pint and observed the madness, but this time I couldn’t even walk two feet without someone asking me for a photo or an autograph or even if I was Sia. I don’t like to disappoint anyone or make them feel rejected plus it’s nice that they care and are interested.”
Although her latest album ‘Some People Have Real Problems’ was only released in the UK in January, it was written over a year earlier. With that in mind and with Sia being the kind of person that doesn’t do idle, talk soon turns to a fourth album and Sia’s face once more brightens up:
“I’ve got three projects I have to finish before I start a new album. The first is the H-Crusader which is an animated pop project, then there’s Lullaby’s (an album of nursery rhymes with Larry Goldings, James Taylors pianist) and that’s really exciting, and then the screenplay Sister which is gonna be a movie, so that’s all gotta be finished before I start a fourth album. But I can’t do anything by myself I have to have someone else in the room with me when I write. Although I say that and last night was the first time I’d ever written a song on my own with no one in the room… maybe I’m changing, that’s exciting!”
We’re just getting into the flow of things when our times up, there’s a hoard of journalists outside and they all want a piece of Sia; it seems as though her only real problem these days is dealing with her new found success.
