Australian singer Sia takes a path many other popular singers don’t in her hit song “Chandelier.” She sings about alcoholism and the dark side of partying to escape. (Photo courtesy RCA)
If we ever needed an anecdote to the messages in most Top 40 songs, it’s now. And there is one in Sia‘s song “Chandelier.”
Most Top 40 songs are about partying, casual sex and rejecting responsibility — especially committing to relationships. Even romantic songs — the staple of pop songs for decades — are becoming less common.
Sia’s song “Chandelier” is a welcome anecdote to the party to escape everything theme that dominates the Top 40 charts. (Photo courtesy RCA)
These songs are about a frantic desire to escape and indulge. There hasn’t been this much fixation on escapism in Top 40 songs since the height of disco. In the 1970s, disco emerged as a hedonistic escape. The mainstream culture didn’t want to face reality about the stalled economy.
Escaping from an economic downturn
Decades later, it seems like we don’t want to face the reality of the post-stock market crash world either.
Instead of confronting the realities of the new economy affecting so many people, we’re told by One Percent pop stars to party on.
There have been many songs about partying before. But never have there been so many on the charts. And so many of them are so now so desperate and so graphic in their need for escape. The partying doesn’t seem fun, it feels forced.
Showing the dark side
“Chandelier” shows a dark side of that desire to escape through partying. The singer of the song is using alcohol to do it. She wants to live “like tomorrow doesn’t exist.” Instead of celebrating the escape as many songs do, she realizes it is an escape from something she doesn’t want to confront:
“Party girls don’t get hurt
Can’t feel anything,
When will I learn I push it down, push it down.”
She’s playing a role that gives her some satisfaction at first:
“I’m the one for a good time call,
Phone’s blowin’ up, they’re ringin’ my doorbell,
I feel the love, feel the love.”
But she finds the buzz of escape won’t last:
“Sun is up, I’m a mess,
Gotta get out now, gotta run from this,
Here comes the shame, here comes the shame.”
“Chandelier” shows there’s something forcing her to party. She’s not in it for the sheer joy of it. She’s in it to escape. This gives a whole different dimension to this desire to escape and party that bombards us in pop music — from Pitbull to Nicki Minaj to Miley Cyrus.
Maddie Ziegler, 11, is the dancer in Sia’s music video for “Chandelier.” Her interpretive dance makes it one of the most memorable music videos in recent years. (Photo courtesy RCA)
An alter ego in a music video
The music video depicts 11-year-old— Maddie Ziegler, from the Reality TV series Dance Moms — performing an eerie modern dance interpretation of the lyrics.
It takes place in several rooms in an apartment: a barren room filled with Sia portraits, a kitchen and a living room. Ziegler’s moves seem forced and contrived. Does that mean she’s playing a role? Does the dancing represent an inner emotional state of Sia from the song? Does it say that we revert to a child-like search for attention when we party and escape through alcohol?
For me, the repeated ending bows in the doorway that Ziegler gives are the most telling and powerful moments. She shows a difference between a smiling stagey self and a weary non-theatrical self. It looks like an identity crisis, and inner and outer conflict between a real self and a false self.
Here’s the music video for “Chandelier”:
