Entertainment Monday: Sia Furler (July 28, 2014)

As a music listener I'm not a huge popular music fan at this point in my life.  While I have always been an alternative music fan I listened primarily to popular music throughout my teens and most of my twenties.  These days my expose to popular music mostly comes via television commercials and my work place which always has music playing over our PA system. 

I also get some minimal exposure to what's popular today through the websites that I visit.  Sometimes those websites are not music related.  I don't mean to besmirch popular music either.  I think there are a lot of great songs and artists out there who create music in what amounts to the mainstream music scene.  I simply do not have the time I did when I was younger to listen to the variety of music that I did back then, so I have to make some choices, which are choices that generally keep me in the dark with regards to some of the mainstream artists today.

I have mentioned before how Carlyn and I first became friends on an Emma Watson fan site and it's through my membership on that site that I also was first exposed to the music of Sia Furler.  Sia is a very prominent player in many of the popular music hits of today. 

Sia Furler is an Australian born musician who is less than a month older than myself and has become much more famous in the last several years since I first learned of her, not entirely out of her own performances, but for the music she has written for many of today's most talented popular music artists.  So while there are several music fans who may be familiar with her because of her link as a writer for artists such as Britney Spears, Rihanna, Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera, I was first acquainted with her music about 5 and a half years ago through her own performances of her songs like Butterflies, Numb and Breathe Me.   Many of Sia's songs were used on fan videos that I watched posted to Emma-Watson.net or youtube.

I've seen critical reviews from fans of Sia that consider her more talented vocally than many of the popular artists she writes for.  I do not necceserally agree with that.  Which is not to say that I don't consider Sia comparable to artists like Rihanna or Celine Dion or Christina Aguilera vocally.  I do think there is a legitimate argument to be made and she can hold her own.  With that said, I would personally consider her to be behind many of those artists in vocal talent with regards to range and purity of vocals.

What I will say on her behalf though is that her voice is very unique and this might sound contradictory to what I said about vocal talent but I like it a little bit  better than Rihanna or Celine Dion or (much more than) Britney Spear's voices.  I still prefer Christina Aguilera's voice and consider her range and vocal ability a bit better than Sia's.

What I will also say for Sia on her behalf is that as an all around musician I think she is among the best singer/writers in the business today.  I've also enjoyed the tunes she has produced for herself more than many of the most popular songs she has written or produced for others.

Sia's most recent hit song that she sings is called Chandelier

The song that originally made me take notice of Sia and appreciate her music is a tune that does not seem to get it's rightful place among her best songs in my opinion, and it's called Numb.

One of the most popular songs that Sia has written for another artist is the song Diamonds as performed by Rihanna.

If you had either no knowledge or a general knowledge of Sia Furler before, I hope that perhaps my discussion of her here might bring her and her music even more new fans.  She is obviously an extremely talented musician, song writer and performer who is getting some very deserved recognition and figures to play a big part in the future love of music for millions of music fans worldwide.