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AMSTERDAM – After the release of fourth studio album We Are Born, Australian singer Sia is planning on taking it easy. She's had it with touring and promotional activities. “Maybe I'll just do three shows a year”, Sia says.

“I'm not selling a dream. I'm just trying to sell music and get on with my real life.” Sia Furler (1975), better known as Sia, chooses rest over the bustle that comes with being an artist. Ever since her major label debut Healing Is Difficult was released in 2000, the blonde singer's life has been a roller coaster ride, despite her often hard to deal with shyness. “I get anxious when I'm approached by someone I don't know, and they're giving me compliments”, she says laughing. “That makes me feel uncomfortable.”

Sia has always been shy, but the liquor used to suppress the anxiousness that came with it. “I'd always drink during a show and afterwards. I guess my boundaries were way sloppier and I probably gave way more of myself than I ever should have.” However, she doesn't regret anything she did. “I made some nice friends. I'm glad that I did it. I understand now that, in order to survive psychologically, I can't really give that much anymore.”

In the future, Sia wants to play less shows and do less promotion. “I enjoy the actual show, everything else I could totally leave behind”, she states. “The traveling, the jetlag, the talking about yourself all the time. Being put on a pedestal is awkward, because nobody is above anybody else.” Back in the days when nobody cared for her music, Sia felt great. When that changed and she was confronted with screaming, drunk fans, she started asking herself questions, like: “Why did I want this?”

Now, all Sia wants is to make records and release her music. “I'm not going to do everything that goes with it. I don't think I can do the not-fun stuff anymore. Along the way I've realised that it's not for me.”

We Are Born will be released on June 18th (Australia), 21st (Europe), 22nd (US) and July 5th (UK) through Monkey Puzzle.
Sia live: www.myspace.com/siamusic

Interview: Kristiaan Asscheman
Text: Tom Springveld

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