Sia’s new video pays tribute to Orlando & it’s heavy
Sia, the musical goddess who not only has delivered seven of her own albums, but wrote countless top 40 hits for the likes of Rihanna and Beyonce, just released her first new track since January alongside a video that very clearly pays tribute to the queer community and the lives lost at Pulse Nightclub on June 12.
The song, The Greatest, is a typical pop dance tune, which makes it easily played at any gay club. While we love the song, it’s the video that debuted yesterday that has us captivated.
Returning with Chandelier‘s star Maddie Ziegler — and eerily familiar set — the video begins with a simple hashtag #weareyourchildren.
As the video begins, we see bodies strewn across a dilapidated house — the eerily familiar set from Chandelier — a group of bodies huddled together in a dark room, and Ziegler smearing rainbow paint down her cheeks. We see her standing amongst a pile of bodies in a cell, as she inaudibly screams and cries at the bodies telling them to get up.
As the music begins to play, the pile of bodies stands up. We realize they are all children wearing torn, grey clothing with grey paint covering their faces. We see Ziegler break the kids out of the cage and leads into the house. They erratically dance their way through the house, all while holding the demeanor of desperation with a few moments of fight.
Halfway through the six-minute video, the set changes. After a transition through Ziegler’s mouth, — yes, you read that right — we see the young dancer standing in front of a red wall with very prominent rainbow smears on her cheeks before sprinting into a night club inspired room, where the same children, draped in the same grey clothing await.
They continue the haunting dance moves and finish it off with all the children standing on the dance floor jumping in place and twitching. Their expressions range from goofy to sad to angry. This continues even after the music stops and ends with the children falling on the floor, the disco lights still revolving in the background.
The video ends with Ziegler standing in front of the red wall once again with tears running along the rainbow smears.
