Listen: Sia - Alive

I rode my bike down to the local barber today (uncharacteristically hipster of me, I swear). I was waiting on my turn for a sweet Friday trim, and while I was patiently sipping on my flat white (it wasn't soy, don't worry), Sia’s new tune came on the radio, and it got me thinking about pop music. I’m not really one for commercial radio, the formulaic pop grates against my brain after a while but this tune is something beyond that, in fact Sia as an artist is far beyond that.

Don’t get me wrong, this is very much a pop song. Really standard instrumentation, structure and arrangement and bursting with repetition but it's just done well, you know? Her voice is fucking incredible, and those raspy voice cracks, instantly identifiable with her music are so emotionally pleasing on the ear. If nothing else convinces you to listen through the whole song, the vocal performance will. Alive was co-written with Adele and Tobias Jesso, Jr and produced by Jesse Shatkin who was also behind Chandelier, so basically the Harlem Globetrotters of the music world came together to make this banger.

This should be the benchmark of pop music, and although it's nothing groundbreaking or unfamiliar for the hit-maker, it will solidify her place in pop music as one of the best.

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