Sia’s ‘The Greatest’ Video Spotlights Violence Against Gays with Pulse Shooting Tribute

Sia’s surprise new video ‘The Greatest‘ is not just a stunningly beautiful piece of film. It is also a tribute to the victims of the shooting in the Orlando gay nightclub Pulse a few months ago.

The video opens with the hashtag #WeAreYourChildren and then shows Sia’s favorite dancer Maddie Ziegler running her fingers down her grief-stricken face while drawing a gay rainbow flag on her cheeks, which falls like one long tear.

But she’s not alone. Instead, 49 dancers representing the 49 lives lost in Pulse join her to dance around an abandoned building.

The ‘The Greatest‘ video ends with the dancers jumping up and down and shaking, then falling to the floor. Behind them is then revealed a bullet-ridden wall.

Watch it below. It’s powerful.

And it’s lovely that artists like Sia continue to draw attention to these acts of senseless violence. Because, in my mind, even if it changes one of her fans’ ideas about the ‘acceptability’ of being gay, it’s worth it.