NEW YORK • For her first albumsince her breakthrough hitChandelier, Sia is facing off on thecharts against superstars Adeleand Rihanna. And they are likelyfamiliar with some of the songs –they were written for them.
This Is Acting, the seventh albumby the Australian singer knownboth for her distinctively soaringvoice and her face-coveringblack-and-white wig, consists oftunes that she wrote, offered toother artists and, after deals fellthrough, salvaged.
For her, the album is a multi-dimensional paradox. She is inter-preting her own songs, ones thatare often highly personal. But theywere intended to come from thehearts of others.
The album’s first single, Alive,was meant for Adele’s blockbusteralbum 25.
It matches the mood of 25, as Sia– playing the role of Adele – remi-nisces about her childhood and hersurvival into adulthood to a tunethat opens with rich, dark pianochords before a rapid climax.
Sia, speaking to Apple Music’sBeats 1 radio, said she was surprisedAdele did not want Alive.
“I thought this one was such asmash, but she just wasn’t feelingit,” she told host Zane Lowe, whodescribed the album as playing“fantasy football with the world’spop stars”.
Sia similarly appears to channelBeyonce on the more inspirationalFootprints, a string-backed,mid-tempo pop song that usessubtle spiritual imagery todescribe salvation either by apartner or God.
A more conventional pop ballad,Reaper, was co-produced by rapstar Kanye West.
Sia wrote Reaper and CheapThrills for Rihanna, who releasedher long-awaited album, Anti, lastWednesday. But the R&B superstar,whose new album focuses oninward-looking ballads, rejectedthem.
Even giddier is Move Your Body,a club dance track Sia wrote forShakira.
The 40-year-old, whose realname is Sia Furler, had her start inthe jazz scene of Adelaide andremains more of an indie singer.
But she has become a majorwriter for pop stars, notablycomposing Rihanna’s 2012 world-wide hit Diamonds.
Sia, who keeps her face hidden topreserve her anonymity, has strug-gled with addiction, a battle thatfigured prominently on her lastalbum, 1000 Forms Of Fear, whichcame out in 2014. The album’s hit,Chandelier, an electropop ballad ofa party girl’s alcohol-fuelled self-destruction, was nominated forGrammys for Song of the Year andRecord of the Year.
She returns to dark territory onthe latest album by exploringabusive relationships.
House On Fire is a metaphor forpersonal chaos.
The similarly bleak Bird Set Freewas written for Adele, who did notfind it suitable.
Speaking to Rolling Stone maga-zine, Sia said she thought most of hersongs for pop stars were “terribly,terribly cheesy”. But she acknow-ledged that she knew a successful
tune when she wrote one.“It really seems like the general
public responds well to songs aboutsalvation or overcoming some-thing, or that everything’s going tobe okay, or that things are fun,” shesaid.
“I think that my skill is moreupbeat curating, as in choosing theright tracks and then sort of tryingto understand the will or nature ofpopular culture.”AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
REVIEW/ CONCERT
SSO 37TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT:EINHELDENLEBENSingaporeSymphony Orchestra,Darrell Ang – conductor,MelvynTan – pianoEsplanadeConcert HallLast Friday
Mervin Beng
The inclusion of 19-year-old JuilliardSchool junior year compositionstudent Koh Cheng Jin’s HorizonsFor Orchestra in such a high-profileSingapore Symphony Orchestraconcert is a bold move and awelcome signal to other aspiringSingaporean composers.
The nine-minute work exudes asense of adventure, opening with achorale for string quartet, joined bypercussion and orchestra withincreasing intensity. A quiet sectionfeaturing solo violin follows, whichgradually grows into a finale thatbrings back the opening theme. Thework was an impressive debut forKoh, even if the finale did not fullydeliver the exuberantly triumphantand optimistic conclusion that shedescribed in her programme note.
Since his time as the orchestra'syoung associate conductor, DarrellAng has led the orchestra as guestconductor with considerablesuccess. His focus and controlthroughout the opening work weresharp and confident, and theorchestra responded well to hisdirection.
Pianist Melvyn Tan’s interpreta-tions of Mozart on fortepiano, theprecursor to the modern grand piano,are world renowned. PerformingMozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 on amodern concert grand piano, heretained all the wit, sensitivity andcharacter that audiences have cometoloveinhisplaying.
Many great pianists have per-formed on the Esplanade's Stein-way, but none have come close toproducing the unique crispness andnimble sound that came from hisfingerwork and measured pedalling.He gave each movement of theconcerto its own character, andthere was an overall sense of graceand lightness of being that made it aspecial performance.
Ang and the SSO provided veryable accompaniment, althoughTan’s liberties with tempo wereoccasionally challenging. Theclarinet section, however, seemedoblivious to the playfulness that
the soloist lent to the irrepressiblefinal movement, consistentlyoutplaying the piano and the restof the orchestra.
The tone poem Ein Heldenleben(A Hero’s Life) by Richard Strauss isa work that places huge demands onthe conductor, with solo passagesfor principal violin that call for musi-cianship of the highest level.Concertmaster Igor Yuzefovich’ssolos depicting the hero’s femalecompanion were exceptional –expressive and beautifully phrased.
Scored for eight horns, two tubasand three offstage trumpets, a strongreading of the piece requires muchcare and thought, and Ang had clearlyprepared well for this performance.His growing maturity as a conductorshows and the steadiness with whichhedirectedwasimpressive.
Through the most demandingpassages there was little wavering orloss of momentum, although thesound tendedtoharden in the loudestpassages. Greater freedom in tempoand attention to orchestral balancefrom Ang would have made thisperformanceevenmorecompelling.
Daringly programmed andfeaturing a spread of home-grownmusical talent, this year’s SSO anni-versary concert was a bold, spiritedconcert to be proud of.
REVIEW/ CONCERT
RHAPSODIESOF SPRING 2016
SingaporeChinese OrchestraTheStar TheatreLast Saturday
Chang Tou Liang
Rhapsodies Of Spring is the Singa-poreChinese Orchestra’s way ofcele-brating Chinese New Year in concert,and, for the first time, it was per-formedin TheStar Theatre.
As with previous editions, the con-cert took on the form of a varietyshow and was hosted by televisionpersonality Marcus Chin.
He and conductor Yeh Tsungdisplayed good chemistry in theirplayful banter in Mandarin, pepperedwith a few English phrases. Therewere no skits from radio personalitiesthis year, but more music, whichbegan with Li Huan Zhi’s SpringFestivalOverture.
This familiar work was accompa-nied by visuals of the orchestra pro-jected on a giant screen behind thestage and was soon overtaken bythe entrance of the nine-member
ZingO Festival Drum Group.Its synchronised drumming in
Soar and Xu Chang Jun’s DragonDance was an impressive show ofprecision and togetherness.
The first half was otherwise theMarcus Chin show. He had fourcostume changes and enthralled theaunties with his crooning in theNostalgic Song Medley (arranged byTan Kah Yong) and Mix Match SongMedley (Phang Kok Jun). He doesnot have an operatic voice for songssuch as Man Chang Fei, AzaleasBloom, Yue Qin and The TravellerWith A Bamboo Pole, but his tenorcomfortably scaled the heights withlots of personality and some dancing.
The Chinese Folksong Medleycuriously included a Russian song,Under The Shimmering Moonlight(but sung in Mandarin) andconcluded with Radiant With Joy,rendered in an authentic Sichuanaccent.
Then the concert took on the feelof an episode from variety showSaturday Night Live. With the lightsdimmed, the main orchestradispersed, leaving behind the16-strong SCO Pop Ensemble,which resembled and played like a
jazz combo.TV Golden Medley (arranged by
Law Wai Lun) revived melodiessuch as Striving (from local televi-sion serial The Awakening), GoodMorning, Sir! and Kopi O.
Suona principal Jin Shi Yi had afield day with his assorted reeds inthe Taiwanese song Tian Hei Hei,alternating between jazzy riffs andDonald Duck imitations. Not to beoutdone was Han Lei on guanzi inBeijing jazz pianist Kong Hong Wei'sSummer Palace, with a stirringdisplay that brought on loud cheers.
The two-hour concert concludedby bidding farewell to the Year ofthe Goat and ushering in the Year ofthe Monkey.
Wang Li Ping’s Shepherd Songgave way to Xu Jing Qing’s Gan WenLu Zai He Fang from Journey To TheWest, which saw Chin imitating themoves of the Monkey God. Joined byfour women dancers, the glitteryensemble got the audience singingand clapping along to Sim BoonYew’s Spring Suite VI.
Havethere beenthatmany ChineseNew Year songs in circulation? TheSingapore Chinese Orchestra underYehhasplayedthemall.
Sia salvagesrejected songsin new album
Singer Sia(above), whooften hides herface (left) topreserve heranonymity,returns to darkterritory on herlatest albumby exploringabusiverelationships.PHOTOS: NEW YORK
TIMES, AGENCE
FRANCE-PRESSE
Bold and spirited SSO concertfeaturing home-grown talent
SSO’sanniversaryconcert wasconducted byDarrell Ang (left)and featuredpianist MelvynTan (standing).PHOTO: SSO
Australian singer-songwriter’sseventh album, ThisIs Acting, featurescompositions shehad written forstars such as Adeleand Rihanna
Glittery welcome for Chinese New Year
| MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016 | THE STRAITS TIMES | ● life D9
