Sia
This Is Acting

Overview

This Is Acting is the seventh studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Sia. It was released on 29 January 2016 by Inertia, Monkey Puzzle and RCA. The album is mainly an electropop album with soul influences. The album is composed of songs written by Sia which were rejected by other artists, such as Adele and Rihanna. "Alive", the album's lead single, was released on 24 September 2015. The second single, Cheap Thrills, was released on 11 February 2016. The remix of the track featured guest vocals from Sean Paul.

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who complimented the bold production and Sia's vocals. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 67, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" However, it received criticisms for the fact that the songs were not very personal and the messages of the songs could be taken in different ways. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, selling 81,000 copies in its first week, becoming Sia's highest first week sales in the USA.

Features

• Singer, songwriter, producer, and hitmaker, Sia released THIS IS ACTING on January 29, 2016 (Monkey Puzzle Records/RCA Records).
• «Alive,» the album's first single was written by Sia, Adele and Tobias Jesso, Jr. and was produced by Jesse Shatkin, who also co-wrote and co-produced Sia's massive four-time Grammy nominated «Chandelier.»
• In addition to Jessie Shatkin, who produced «Alive,» Sia also worked with longtime collaborator/producer Greg Kurstin on THIS IS ACTING.
• Sia oerformed «Alive» and «Bird Set Free» on «Saturday Night Live» on November 7th.
• The video for «Alive» stars 9 year old child actress/dancer Mahiro Takano and was filmed in Chiba, Japan. The video was directed by Sia and Daniel Askill, the same creative team behind the videos for «Chandelier,» «Elastic Heart» and «Big Girls Cry.»
• Alive is climbing the charts at Top40 and HotAC radio.
• Alive (Remixes) Album was released digitally on 12/8.
• Sia released her #1 charting, critically-acclaimed, and gold-certified album 1000 FORMS OF FEAR (Monkey Puzzle Records/RCA Records) last year in July, which features her massive breakthrough singles «Chandelier» and «Elastic Heart.» The groundbreaking video for «Chandelier» has enjoyed an unprecedented 1.03 billion views and its follow-up video «Elastic Heart» with over 475 million views.
• She has crafted songs for pop icons including Rihanna («Diamonds»), Katy Perry («Double Rainbow»), Britney Spears («Perfume»), Kelly Clarkson («Invincible»), Carly Rae Jepsen ("Making the Most of the Night"), Beyoncé («Pretty Hurts») and Celine Dion («Love Me Back To Life»), and many more.
• Sia has also been the featured vocalist on some of the most massive hits she has written for others including «Titanium» with David Guetta, «Beautiful Pain» with Eminem, and «Wild Ones» with Flo Rida. Additionally, Sia was nominated for a Golden Globe last year for the song «Opportunity» from the 2014 adaptation of the Broadway musical «Annie.»