Sia, pop’s other elusive chanteuse, made her Saturday Night Live debut last night.
The fun part about Sia’s 1000 Forms Of Fear campaign is the fact that the singer has continuously refused to show her face during any and all public appearances, stubbornly so, to make a point about fame. And because of that, she’s come up with some really incredible ways to dance around (quite literally) displaying her face with some amazing, thought-provoking visuals over the past year.
True to form, she continued with the winning strategy during last night’s show.
With the help of dancer Denna Thomsen and bewigged Dance Moms mini-diva Maddie Ziegler, who has since become the actual face of the campaign, Sia brought the cage match of the “Elastic Heart” video to life on the stage for her first performance. The singer stood dead center singing in between the dueling Sias with a black veil over her eyes (so you couldn’t SIA HER), while Maddie and Denna delivered the bizarre, beautiful choreography. Sia sounded incredible, as always…and she looked great, too. (Sorry. I know we’re not supposed to talk about it, Sia!)
Then came “Chandelier” — and a brand new interpretation of the song! Facing the camera directly this time (still veiled, of course), Sia sang a stripped down, piano and string-accompanied rendition of the Grammy Award-nominated hit to us with devastating emotion. And to her left? A sad mime interpreting the song! (:() The staging was great, but the true highlight was hearing such a gorgeous, vulnerable version of the song. Every time her voice breaks? Chills.
She stuck to her guns and sounded incredible. And that is how you make a memorable SNL debut.