Saturday, June 12, 2010

SIA WE ARE BORN REVIEW


Somebody’s in a good mood. I suppose this is what happens when one finds love, is it? We Are Born is Sia’s fourth studio album and perhaps her most jovial yet. The album pays homage to an era when Miami Vice and Kenny Loggins ruled the airwaves, although the artist’s quiet introspection is what distinguishes this as an album from this era.

Current single Clap Your Hands is fantastic and puts one more toe over that line of accessibility which some of Sia’s earlier work was lacking, although personally I still prefer producer Fred Falke’s dance floor romp of a re-working over the album edit. Stop Trying, like Alphabeat’s Fascination, rhythmically borrows from Loggins’ massive hit 1984 hit Footloose reassuring the overachievers of the world, “We like you, this is a game already won… stop trying”. You’ve Changed which has already charted in Australia as Sia’s first Top 50 hit in her homeland, is a cut from the sunny coloured fabric as Clap Your Hands, containing quite possibly one of the most brilliant vocal breakdowns heard in quite some time.

Be Good to Me, heard in many of her live performances of late is Signature Sia – soulful, engaging and personable. Never Gonna Leave Me also is catchy, resembling something from a Funhouse-era P!nk and it would be a sin not to mention her cover of Madonna’s Oh Father which improves on its plodding original with modern sensibility.

We Are Born will be released June 22, 2010 via Sony Music and it is a welcome change of form from an artist you really should know more about. Grade: A-

In case you haven't seen my exclusive photos of her MTV Canada performance recently, get yourself up to speed here.  Stay tuned for details about an exciting exclusive Sia Giveaway on Mr. Will-W.:Pop Maven!

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