Either Sia is the worst publicist ever, or she's on to something. Promoting her seventh album, "This Is Acting", as a collection of songs rejected by other artists (Beyoncé, Rihanna, Adele, etc) either implies the songs weren't that good to begin with and shouldn't have seen the light of day, or their intended clients are losing their touch on quality material. The end result turns out to be neither scenario: "This Is Acting" is an album that is as far removed from the introverted acid-jazz of Sia's earliest work as possible, and it certainly does feel like she's playing a character rather than giving the songs a genuine personality, yet these are tunes that could have only been recorded by Sia. The Adele-outcast "Alive" is soaring mid-tempo, but it's bombast and plucky production was an ill fit for the songstress' "25", so she was right to let Sia keep the song for herself. The same goes for Rihanna's return "Cheap Thrills", a sparse club-banger that flies in the face of RiRi's 'bitch better have my money' persona. In some cases, such as the opener "Bird Set Free", it was a blessing in disguise to have the song turned down by so many artists, because Sia largely benefits from the song's presence on "This Is Acting". It encapsulates her standard pathos, vocal, and lyrical content; the quintessential Sia song. And in fact, there are a good handful of strong singles here, whether they're convincing or not, starting with the spacious "One Million Bullets", to the effervescent "Move Your Body". Unfortunately, like so many other pop albums this decade, the songs that don't play as singles are the ones that are either too unremarkable ("House On Fire") or clichéd ("Footprints") to attract the ear before they sink into a self-deprecating lull. A litter later, Sia gets her early-2000s on with "Sweet Design" and "Broken Glass", but as anyone would properly guess, both tracks use the era's most unhip sounds, leaving no question as to why no artist was willing to attach their name to them. The truly forgettable "Space Between" ends this exercise in role-play on a turgid note, raising concern as to whether or not the concept of "This Is Acting" came before or after Sia realized that she did not have a strong, binding set of songs here. If she was expecting to compile an album's worth of rejected material, then it's baffling as to why she clumped the back-half with filler. If not, then the whole selling-point of this record is all the more contrived. Sia's voice remains very strong, her melodies are usually accented over beats, but with a good chunk of "This Is Acting" shooting far beneath her abilities, it feels like this is just a stopgap before she offers a worthy successor to "1000 Forms Of Fear".
Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Bird Set Free 2. Alive 3.
One Million Bullets
4. Move Your Body 5. Unstoppable 6.
Cheap Thrills
7. Reaper 8. House On Fire 9. Footprints
10. Sweet
Design 11. Broken Glass 12. Space Between
