Having penned hits such as ‘Diamonds’ and ‘Chandelier,’ Sia stands as one of our favorite songwriters. And, based on her latest sit-down with Rolling Stone, she’s an equally compelling interviewee.
The hit-vendor is gearing up for the release of her seventh album ‘This Is Acting’ (due January 29th) and makes no secret (or apologies) about the fact the entirety of the set is made up of songs she crafted for other artists.
Speaking with RS, she dished on her experience with tracks she was initially pitching to Rihanna and Kanye West.
Her words about their creative process (or arguable lack there of) make for fascinating reading…
RS: I was surprised when I found out that the song [‘Reaper’] was co-written by Kanye. What were your writing sessions with him like?
Sia: Well, he wasn’t there!
He wasn’t?
[Laughs] No! They’ll entice me into a session by saying, “Rihanna will definitely be there” or “Kanye will definitely be there,” but it’s hilarious because I turn up and, almost always, they never come. So I went into the studio to write for Rihanna with Kanye and neither of them showed up and stayed for less than an hour. They had two tracks. They told me what they had wanted. There were notes from Kanye, and I can’t even remember what they were. I remember I just raced in and raced out, and I thought there was something about the chorus that seemed fun about this song, but I never thought it would see the light of day. My manager pushed for this song to be on the record, but I don’t care about it.
I heard the song “Cheap Thrills” and that one also sounds like it could be for Rihanna …
Yeah, it totally was.
I felt like I could hear her singing it.
Her manager said “We want ‘Diamonds.’ [Ed. Note: Furler wrote “Diamonds” for Rihanna] We need soul. We want some music that has feeling. I went to Greg [Kurstin], and that’s what we came up with. I realized just as soon as I was cutting it that it sounded a little bit too Brit-pop for her. It’s more Icona Pop. We did actually send it to her, but they passed on it, and then I just couldn’t stop listening to it in the car. [So I said] “I’ll put that on there.”
Besides Adele and Beyoncé, who else were some of the songs intentionally written for?
Mostly we’ve been pitching on Rihanna for the last couple years because she’s been looking for a couple years. Well, it feels like a couple years. It might be one year. They’re always looking for that first single. I didn’t send as much to Beyoncé, though I do know she’s working on something. One of them is a Shakira reject, which there’s no doubt when you hear it. You’ll know that it was a Shakira reject because I sound like Shakira.
The actual tea spillage, though.
Rihanna showing up to the studio for less than an hour for her “most personal album yet?”
![Kanye West Unleashes 'Like That' Remix [Listen]](https://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/kanye-west-like-that-remix-tgj-464x260.jpg "Kanye West Unleashes 'Like That' Remix [Listen].")
Just curious but does anybody know how many of Sia’s songs were picked?
‘
Maybe Rihanna wasn’t showing up because Sia’s songs were not cutting it, IDK
‘
The real tea Sam is here, Mostly we’ve been pitching on Rihanna for the last couple years because she’s been looking for a couple years. Well, it feels like a couple years. It might be one year. They’re always looking for that first single. I didn’t send as much to Beyoncé, though I do know she’s working on something
‘
So essentially she values Rihanna more, hence her sending more songs to Rih than Giselle.
‘
I mean just look at the stats,
‘
Diamonds – #1 3 weeks
Pretty hurts – well…uhhmm…Imma leave that one alone.
Sia “values Rihanna more” YET Rihanna doesn’t even have enough common decency to meet up with her at the studio in a timely fashion. Interesting….
Sia sending Rihanna more songs equals Sia values rihanna more…??? Why do you insist on imposing your first grade logic on us time and time again?? First, you made that nonsensical implication that there is value in rihanna working with a particular artist before beyonce (and you were comically wrong), and now this. I guess your limited reading skills didn’t allow you to contextualize the sentence where Sia implicitly mentioned that rihanna is the one who has been in need of material for some years now…. hmm, getting dumber.
^^^^^^^^^^THIS
lol @ Rih & Ye payin the stu sessions
Rihanna isn’t a true artist smh such a fuckiing joke. Got others doing all the hard work while shes out smoking weed and swallowing cummm all day when she needs to be getting a vocal coach.
I didn’t send as much to Beyoncé, though I do know she’s working on something. ” 🙂 🙂
I’m readyyy
me too!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeeesss honey!
And they say Kanye is talented, when in reality he is just another pop girl. Lol at these so called artists.
TGJ should begin fact checking. This is the seventh album by Sia, not her sophomore.
Rihanna doesn’t even show up to her own CONCERTS on time, and you honestly thought that she was going to show up to the studio??? SMDH. Poor Sia!
If only Giselle could show up on the charts, maybe Sia could give her more songs
Maybe if Rihanna actually took her career seriously, Sia wouldn’t have been spilling all of that tea, about her unprofessional-ism, in this interview.
“They’ll entice me into a session by saying, “Rihanna will definitely be there” or “Kanye will definitely be there,” but it’s hilarious because I turn up and, almost always, they never come.”
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You’d actually think Whorreanna is doing something important like finishing her long ass delayed McAlbum but who knows? She may be somewhere spreading her legs as well as spreading STDs.
The THIRST to shade Rihanna is too real Sam! You’re trying to talk sh*t about Rihanna only spending in hour in a writing session, but she passed on the song! Furthermore, you Sam have posted NON-STOP about Rihanna’s business endeavors this past year, so you know she’s too busy to work on song that she doesn’t want.
This sounds more like it on top of…I sense that Sis knows her soundnis a better fit with rih. Their sounds are more congruent than that of Bey. Now, Bet smashed Standing on the Sun but Rih has the vocal tone, feel, and vibe. I’m sure she enjoys that and therefore looks forward to working with and hearing her ish through Rih. That’s kind of clear.
Exactly, because she wouldn’t keep working with her if it was a negative experience. Rih’s style as an artist fits more with her style. Furthermore, I’m sure Rih is her muse as a lot her songs seemed Rihanna inspired. I just now wonder if there will be ANY Sia songs on ANTI
VOTE VOTE VOTE
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5PZL9H3
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YFXZ32J
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GKHS3G2
@LB Your delusional as f*** if you think Sia would stop giving Beyonce song just cause Pretty Hurts didn’t do well. Lmaoooo use your common sense for once
As a Rihanna fan, I am not a big fan of Sia. Yes, her songwriting is exceptional in terms of creativity, but I’m not a fan of her musical composition outside of Chandelier and Elastic Heart. Also, I hated her version of Diamonds. Furthermore, her music is too melodramatic and tedious.
well sia knows who needs songs written for them more, and that’s rih, so she sends her more songs than B
I guess @LBs logic is if the song doesn’t do well the songwriter won’t send you anymore songs. Lol thats the dumbest s*** I’ve seen I seriously can’t
@LB of course Sia would put the chart performance above her money.. Spoken like a true broke b****!
How exciting.
Lmao sis sends Beyonce a shakira reject ….now we know who the lessor is .
@Shakira Stan/LoveBird
Of course! The LLama herder
@LB had to use his troll account lmao its sad
Of course Sia is gonna send Rihanna more songs. Everything Rihanna touches turns into Gold. She has the mídas touch, thus her plethora of global hits and e
deals with multi-billion-dollar companies this year ALONE (Puma, Dior, Samsung).
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Now as for Beyonce, we all know she’s incapable of getting a hit record. She can’t even give people who collaborated with her a hit; just hype – smokes and mirrors, and that feeling of “I worked with Beyonce” which doesn’t even boost their careers since most of Beyonce’s singles flop.
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It only makes sense that songwriters would send an International superstar like Rihanna more songs since they’re more guaranteed to be successful, thus more money for them due to publishing credits. Oh and let’s not forget the Beyonce tactics of coning songwriters by changing a few words and then crediting herself.
In conclusion:
Working with Rihanna = more money.
Pretty Hurts vs. Diamonds.
Which song did Sia benefit the most from and which did she potentially be conned of? 😉
Rihanna and Beyonce are the same when it comes to writing credits and all that stuff. They would look better if they were honest as many singers who are not songwriters do/have done, including some of the biggest like Whitney or Celine. No need to lie.
I like the way she spilled this tea, She was kind of reading… LOL
Rihanna is such a gimmick. She has no real talent or artistry. She’s basically a waste of industry space and her demise is here! Bye Rih?
Will her demise be similar to Ciara’s the past 20 years?
“Everything Rihanna touches turns into Gold”
.
????? girl bye! Anti-who??? Stawpppp
I always knew Rihanna wasnt the most diligent artist but damnn she got real artists doing all the work for her. What a lazy broad.
And dead @ “mostly they looking for that first single”. Oh rih.. The struggle.
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Am i the only one catching all the subtle shade from this imterview? Spill it Sia!
like they say…”only crazy sees what crazy makes up”
Damn,I get that she needs a songwriter but Rig at this point is deff no artist she’s more like a karaoke singer I mean.Beyonce better sing her heart out we need a strong black woman at the front ..Rih ain’t just it
logic? where in that article did sia claim rihanna doesnt contribute to the writing of the songs or that beyonce contributes more…from where im standing they both karaoke machines based your assessment.
It wasn’t shade, she just answered the question but Sia isn’t afraid of these Pop h***, let’s not forget how she gathered Katy Perry over Pretty Hurts
im sorry but what about that story reflects bad on rih or kanye? obviously its not them making the promises but just their team and sia’s manager trying to get sia in a studio by promising rihanna and kanye will be there too. doesnt mean rih and kanye even knew they were standing her up
Hmm guess she’s not working with Christina Aguilera this era?
Yall are too much, making everything a stan war. Sia knows what it is and if she didn’t like the experience working with Rihanna she wouldn’t continue to write/work with her cause she is established (like Dianne Warren) and many artist would die to work with her. Also how do you know Rihanna is even aware that there is a session going on her team of of called and cohoaxed Sia to a session and not told Rih about it hence her not showing up. And death at people saying Rihanna isn’t a real artist when most of your faves don’t do s***. Rihanna may not write her songs ( even though she’s co wrote on a handful) but she def is in charge of her image. Hell even Whitney and Celine didn’t write their own songs or control their image into late into their careers, in fact most of Celine’s hits were covers of other people’s hit songs. Britney didn’t write her own songs, the list goes on.
And those poeple never claimed they did. That´s the difference.
” I didn’t send as much to Beyoncé, though I do know she’s working on something. One of them is a Shakira reject, which there’s no doubt when you hear it. You’ll know that it was a Shakira reject because I sound like Shakira.”
OMG!!! ???????
Lol i read the complete interview here : http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/sias-reject-opus-songwriter-on-reclaiming-adele-rihannas-unwanted-hits-20151203?page=6
Sam hiding that Sia said working with bey is like a writing camp where she flies producers and writers and put them together in a house …and then she visit each room saying what she like or not …
And yall are saying she write song or something …she isnt better than rih actually … she just ride jay z d…all day thats why she get better traitemnt thats all