Australian Singer Refuses To Show Her Face, Puts Back to Audience

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

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I just saw her as a guest performance on Dancing With the Stars. You see two dancers in blonde wigs, and meanwhile she's singing with her back to the audience. I saw her once on a daytime talk show, and I thought it was ridiculous. Call me old fashioned, but I think this is rude. To me it's a turn off, no matter what her reason is. What do you think?
 

I'm not a follower of pop music so it is not surprising that I've never heard of her.

I looked her up and this article explains a bit about this tactic.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/sia-pop-stealth-star-article-1.1863303

Moves like this seem counterintuitive in an age when pop stars, from Lady Gaga to Rihanna to Miley Cyrus, eagerly plaster their faces on every magazine and ad campaign, as well as send out Instagram shots of themselves on the hour.

The fact that she has turned away from the camera has become a talking point. It’s a water-cooler-chat way to get people to pay attention.“Everybody thinks they have access to every artist now,” says RCA Senior Director of Marketing Val Pensa, who worked on Sia’s campaign. But “Sia isn’t taking selfies every 20 minutes.”

The aloof route can seem like its own strategy. “Anti-promotion is still a form of promotion,” says radio analyst Sean Ross. “It’s building a mystique.”

Not that this was Sia’s original intention. The songwriter, born Sia Furler in Australia, has been open about her fear and loathing of fame in her few interviews. She even penned an essay titled “My Anti-Fame Manifesto” which stated, “If anyone besides famous people knew what it was like ... they would never want to be famous.”

She should know. Sia has been in the vicinity of stardom for some time. Over the last three years, she built a significant reputation in the industry for penning hits for the top rung of female pop stars, including Rihanna (“Diamonds”), Britney Spears (“Perfume”), Katy Perry (“Double Rainbow”) and Beyoncé (“Pretty Hurts”). Sia also has sung on Top Ten hits from David Guetta and Flo Rida, with prominent credit given.

Sia's new ablum is "1000 Forms of Fear."

More, she has released five previous solo albums, though they hit only in her native Australia and in the U.K. That track record made her an attractive signing for RCA, despite having it written right into her contract that she would defy common promotion schemes. That forced RCA to become creative, like collaborating on videos with stars like Lena Dunham and Jimmy Kimmell in Sia’s stead.

The star’s long history in the industry tips off another reason for her disappearing act. She’s nearing 40 — too old to pass for the pop tart du jour. Ironically, in her rare interviews, Sia overshares as much as the next Twitter-crazed pop tart. She stresses her struggles with depression and anxiety. “She’s so open, it hardly matters if there’s a picture of her,” Ross says.

And in the end, that may hit an ideal balance for pop right now — between intimacies teased and distances kept.
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How good is she as a singer, as distinct from her appeal as an entertainer?
 
The only Aussie singer to listen to is Vera Lynn...
 

I heard her on Dancing With the Stars and thought it was very strange with her back to the audience,
and the dancers put on a weird performance.
I would not want to hear the singer or see the dancers again.
Is that what's called entertainment now?
 
Maybe she should stick to the radio.:) Johnny Cash is the only performer I know, who turned his back to the audience on occasion, but not to sing that way. His silhouette was recognizable from the rear.
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