Reflecting her years as a music industry veteran,
Sia Furler
took a self-aware, practical approach to her return to the spotlight. She recorded her comeback album,
1000 Forms of Fear
, to get out of her publishing contract; its acclaim led to
This Is Acting
, a collection of songs originally written for -- and rejected by -- clients such as
Adele
,
Rihanna
, and
Beyonce
. But as the album title hints, there's more going on here than recycling. In a way,
Furler
is acting when she writes songs to fit the images these artists portray, and her own interpretations of them add another layer of theatrical distance. This isn't necessarily a bad thing -- she initially shopped "Chandelier" to
and
before keeping it for herself and imbuing it with the unique frailty that made it a smash hit.
Sia
's skill at crafting songs full of drama and vulnerability that feel real, no matter how loud they get, is in full force on
, particularly its first two tracks. Originally intended for
-- another master of huge-yet-genuine-sounding songs -- "Bird Set Free" and "Alive" are filled with wounded empowerment and vocal acrobatics that sound just as powerful (if less bombastic) coming from
. Though she returns to the intimate songwriting of her pre-pop career on "One Million Bullets" -- the lone song
wrote for herself -- many of
's most interesting and successful moments find
taking on more unexpected roles. A pair of songs intended for
let her show off a more lighthearted side: the spare, reggae-tinged pulse of "Cheap Thrills" echoes
Major Lazer
's "Lean On" (yet another
reject), but a backing chorus of what sounds like alien children reinforces that this is a
song, while "Reaper" lets her explore a more easygoing version of her seize-the-day anthems. Given that
didn't originally plan to make these songs her own originally, it's impressive that
works as well as it does -- its meta-pop is another reminder of how cleverly
brings her experiments into the mainstream. ~ Heather Phares