‘1000 Forms of Fear’ is full of pain, rawness and pain, and it’s incredible
Sia’s ‘1000 Forms Of Fear‘ is my pick for The Daily Album today, for no more of a reason than, hell, it’s Sia, and that there are so many big emotional songs on this album, it’s hard to beat. Especially when you’re in a mood, like I am, to listen to music that makes you feel you’re unbeatable. Sia does that to you. Even if she is singing about trauma, rawness and pain most of the time.
From ‘Chandelier’, the first track, which is now so tied to child dancer Maddie Ziegler it’s hard to hear it without imagining her dancing it, on to the melancholic next track ‘Big Girls Cry‘, again with a phenomenal video featuring Ziegler, ‘1000 Forms of Fear‘ has two of the best opening songs I’ve heard on any album.
The gloriousness of this album continues with ‘Eye of the Needle‘, a hugely emotional song that showcases Sia’s stunning voice so perfectly, as it soars through pain accompanied by massive drums and a so sad piano. For me, with this track alone, ‘1000 Forms of Fear‘ would be so worth buying.
But, then it continues. With ‘Elastic Heart’, the powerful song that caused provincial, narrow-minded little people with no clue about anything except their own warped, twisted way of looking at the world to shout “pedophilia”, just because of a dance video featuring a man and a child.
Then there’s ‘Fire Meet Gasoline‘, and its message about all-consuming love not usually being a good thing. Plus, what is probably the most hopeful track on the album, and the last song, ‘Dressed in Black‘.
Here Sia sings about feeling as though life had passed her by and she didn’t know who to trust, and then someone came along who “quelled my fears, you made me laugh/Then you covered my heart in kisses“.
And that’s how she leaves us. With the hope the pain she felt in all those previous songs may have finally led her to a happy ending.
Sia’s ‘1000 Forms of Fear‘ is a brilliant album. Sure, it’s sometimes hard to listen to knowing the pain is absolutely real. But it’s when you realize that pain, even the most intense to the brink of suicide pain Sia admits she felt, can lead to creating something so beautiful and moving that, to some extent, it may have been worth it. At least, you hope so.
Listen to Sia’s ‘1000 Forms of Fear‘ in the Deezer widget below. And, if you’re not a member of Deezer so can’t listen to the album in its entirety, sign up. It’s free, takes less than a minute, and then you can.