On the 12 June 2016 a mass shooting happened in Orlando’s, Florida Pulse, a gay nightclub. Up to 49 people were killed and 53 were injured. Many mourned and were affected by the issue, but still some survived.
This article is not on this issue but I may talk about it, perhaps another time.
In dedication to the victims of the Pulse shooting, Sia released her new single ‘The Greatest’ for her upcoming We Are Your Children album, featuring Kendrick Lemar.
Sia has become a huge success with her amazing songwriting work of ‘Chandelier’, ‘Elastic Heart’, ‘Cheap Thrills’ and ‘Alive’ just to name a few, but she still stands by her artistry by hiding her face, preferring to help write new songs for other singers behind the scenes.
In this song – ‘The Greatest’ – still with the talented Maddie Ziegler, a cast of many young children follow her in this strange setting with their hypnotic choreographed dancing.
The song in itself is good: the rhythm has a good tempo, especially when it reaches the chorus. The bridge between the verse and the chorus as well is very soothing with the lyrics “Don’t give up, I won’t give up”, a common theme of endurance in a bulk of her work. Sia’s voice is still unique: the strains in her voice adding a good edge to the style of music.
The video is perhaps the best music video I’ve ever seen. The song is really good but along with the video it merges so well together, pulling you in towards the whole experience. As mentioned before, the dancing is hypnotic: every actor is doing different actions, faces and gestures, other times they flash mob together in different settings, which sometimes looks like an orphanage, a mental institution or a dance club, each style of dance fitting in with whichever scene they move to.
The dances even have references within the movements to other videos such as ‘Chandelier’ and ‘Cheap Thrills’ (look closely to the fast movements and you will notice subtle clues). The camera techniques are just as engaging, tracking and transitioning along with Maddie running and dancing through the hall ways, interacting with all the children. Each dance move expresses a varied range of emotions from exited, scared, angry to joyful and sad, each gesture and jump has enough energy to get a party going.
Perhaps the most striking and melancholic touch to the song and video is the context; considering this is a party atmosphere, the ending is dark, as all the children jumping collapse at the end, lying still, except Maddie who looks up solemnly – a homage to the victims and survivors of Pulse. The beginning of the video is a clear message of LGBT awareness as Maddie paints the rainbow flag on her cheeks.
A highly recommended master piece to see and hear; the music video has a most powerful meaning behind, combined with exhilarating dancing that leaves you breathless, repeatedly pressing the replay button.
Written by David Hendry.
