This Is Acting
| Sia
This Is Acting
This Is Acting is the seventh studio album by Australian singer and songwriter Sia. It was released on 29 January 2016 by Inertia, Monkey Puzzle and RCA Records. The album is mostly composed of songs written by Sia for other pop artists that were not included on their albums. Sia described songwriting for others as "play-acting," hence the title This Is Acting.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Her new album This Is Acting can't help but feel like the big-budget sequel to 1000 Forms of Fear's sleeper-hit success.
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The Guardian
Sia’s seventh studio album, This Is Acting, corrals 12 of her recent songs rejected by A-listers.
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Rolling Stone
On her seventh LP, Sia reclaims songs that Adele, Rihanna and others turned down.
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Billboard
Despite a few highlights, This Is Acting is scattered and forgettable next to the emotional 1000 Forms of Fear.
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Time
Sia finds treasure in other stars’ trash on This Is Acting.
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Consequence of Sound
Sia Furler's collection of tunes other pop stars turned down will make you question their judgment.
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The New Yorker
“This Is Acting,” shows a mastery of formula rather than a rebellion against it.
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Independent
A thrillingly intimate album that's so much more than just off-cuts. This album of tracks written for other stars makes you wish Sia Furler kept every song for herself.
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Independent
It’s a pity there are some disappointing songs here because elsewhere on the record there is real brilliance.
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DIY Magazine
Acting this may be, but Sia is a more interesting prospect when she goes off-script.
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Idolator
feels like the aftermath of coming to terms with her nagging demons, as Sia maintains brutal honesty cloaked in cinematic, mainstream music — albeit through songs that, as we well know by now, were written for and rejected by other artists.
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Spin
a collection of cast-offs penned for some of her biggest clients — Beyoncé, Rihanna, Adele — but reclaimed for her own bold interpretation.
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The Line Of Best Fit
By her own admission, her new album is a selection of songs written for various high profile pop singers that never cut the mustard.
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Drowned In Sound
This is Acting has some good tracks on it and is obviously written by a very talented songwriter, it’s just not an album that demands excitement from its listeners.
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Entertainment
takes the idea of remove one step further: It’s composed almost entirely of songs written for—and in some cases rejected by—other artists.
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All Music
For the most part, however, This Is Acting's meta-pop is another example of how cleverly Sia brings her her experiments into the mainstream.
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Pop Crush
They say an actor's success rests in the intensity of his eyes, but Sia, who's still tucked away beneath a vision-obscuring wig, has nevertheless managed to deliver a convincing performance with her new LP, This Is Acting.
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BUST
As an innovative experiment, This Is Acting is a success. As an album, it is fantastic.
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The Know
Sia’s “This Is Acting” tries to reclaim songwriting cast aways.
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Pretty Much Amazing
Truthfully, I think that’s the whole point of This is Acting: Sia Furler has made quite an impressive journey from songwriter to performer back to songwriter back to performer.
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POP Matters
As a pop songwriter who can bend her style into many different forms, This Is Acting is the most compelling when Sia decides to simply be herself.
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Slant Magazine
That most of the songs on This Is Acting were intended for other artists results in material—both in terms of theme and sound—that you wouldn’t expect to find on a Sia album.
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Fortress of Solitude
Its not perfect, being the nature of rejected songs, but Sia carries off the anti-pop icon in a way that shows that irony doesn’t mean you can’t have fun at the same time.
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Student Life
Without a doubt, Sia does herself well in this album made by—but not entirely for—her. Hopefully she keeps up the act.
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Tiny Mix Tapes
. . . . But that’s not the most frustrating thing about the record; the most frustrating thing is that Sia has so much access to us and just doesn’t do much with it
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Muumuse
And, unlike the tortured cohesion of 1000 Forms, This Is Acting doesn’t tell a specific story beyond its very straightforward mission statement: this is a greatest hits collection of hits that never were.
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AV Music
Her new album is a jukebox full of potential pop hits, each one sounding like it’s just waiting for another female pop star to take a crack at it.
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Pop Culture Daily
To take her own rejects that were given to some of the industry’s biggest names and turn them into an album was probably the easiest and smartest album campaigns I’ve ever seen.
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NOTED
She’s written songs for the likes of Beyoncé, Rihanna and Christina Aguilera, and Australian singer-songwriter Sia Furler seems determined to out-garish all of them on her own latest candy-coated pop confection.
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GoldenPlec
Sia’s powerful voice remains astounding, as does her ability to create some guaranteed pop hits; it’s just a shame that it’s an exercise in acting, rather than songs intended for herself.
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Plugged In
We're meant to believe that these seemingly deeply personal songs aren’t really deeply personal at all. They're supposedly just another expression of Sia's chameleon-like performance art, an art that hides or reveals only at her discretion.
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The Edge
A sophisticated and complex album that shows the diversity and strength of Sia's vocal and lyrical capabilities. A must listen.
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BUSTLE
if you approach the album as a fun and interesting glimpse into the world of pop songwriting instead of a proper Sia release, I think you're much more likely to enjoy it.
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Music OMH
In interviews Sia has admitted just how cheesy some of these songs are, and effectively This Is Acting is an experiment to see if she can make them work.
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Evening Standard
Sia brings thunderous production but little substance on this collection of songs she wrote for other singers
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Cryptic Rock
There are moments of brilliance scattered throughout and Sia’s declaration that she felt the tracks included are would-be hits is not necessarily an invalid statement.
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Vulture
Sia’s This Is Acting is full of hits, misses, and some great what-ifs.
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A Bit Of Pop Music
As not all of the tunes she writes for others, end up on their albums in the end, she decided to collect the best of those ‘rejects’ on an album herself. As she sees it as a form of acting out the stories of others she called the project This Is Acting
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Courier Journal
The hooks are plentiful and enormous, especially on Adele rejects "Alive" and "Bird Set Free," but the patina of weirdness that underscores Sia's solo albums is often missed; it's not really a Sia album in a very odd way but is technically a very good album.
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We Plug Good Music
The main theme of this album that struck a chord with me was empowerment.
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Exclaim
This Is Acting is a fine follow-up to 1000 Forms of Fear, but doesn't quite present anything extraordinary or new; . . . .
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Financial Times
In a bold move, it is mainly composed of rejected songs she wrote for other performers, failures that she attempts to reclaim for herself.
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National Public Radio
Sia's new album called, "This Is Acting" includes a number of songs Sia wrote for others but which she's reclaimed as her own.
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Pop U Love
The concept of Acting is a perfect gimmick to follow the star’s previous record, the Grammy nominated 1000 Forms Of Fear, but falls short comparatively.
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Outlet Magazine
It still oozes her creativity in writing and performance, her individuality as one of this generation’s most acclaimed songwriters, and of course he unique vocals.
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Newsday
Sia dubbed this album “This Is Acting” because she feels that’s what she does when she writes a song for someone else. These songs are less quirky and more pop-oriented than her previous albums.
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Immortal Reviews
Some artists really missed out on incredible works. Sia’s powerful voice and artistic visions pull through again on her seventh record.
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El Broide
Unfortunately, a large part of the album sounds like the tracks have been rejected. Sia wrote the songs for other artists and fails to make a majority of the tracks her own.
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Lincoln Journal Star
. . . Sia has taken 11 songs she’d written or co-written for other artists that were eventually rejected and made them her own on "This Is Acting." That, to Sia, means she’s acting, taking on poses and personas that aren’t her own, but giving them her spin.
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Expose
An album of collected rejections, Sia's new release contains songs written for and refused by Adele, Rihanna and Shakira among others. Yet it still feels like the same release as her debut, just not as well executed.
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The Young Folks
What This is Acting really shows is an artist who is in transition, otherwise it’s a good solid record.
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Irish Examiner
Yet the Greta Garbo routine, though unquestionably from a sincere place, is arguably a deflection from her music, which, as her second album in just over two years demonstrates, raises histrionic pop to a fine art.
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The Atlantic
The title refers to the fact that Sia’s a total mercenary; when she writes these wrenching tunes, she does it by imagining herself as an A-list pop star in need of their next hit.
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Atwood Magazine
This is Acting is a testament to who she is as a human being and an artist, and these songs come together to formulate Sia’s most clever album to date.
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Sputnik Music
This Is Acting is like a firework: explosive and exciting at first, but as time moves forward, you start to see how little time these elements last.
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The Arts Desk
The 2016 album that offered pieces of herself to others, came up trumps for Sia.
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KUBE Radio
Overall the album is a well-crafted and is definitely worth listening to as it showcases the usually hidden side of the music industry, that of the songwriters and producers.
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Skiddle
By the nature of the album, it makes it impossible to compare it to its predecessor 1000 Forms Of Fear. For the moments in which Sia shines through, they make this record a real must-listen.
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The National
This Is Acting has a backstory that muddies the divide between star and songwriter-for-hire even further: the tracks were rejected by artists such as Adele and Rihanna, hence that knowing album title.
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Clash Music
It’s obviously understandable to attempt to capitalise upon the success of your best-known hit but on ‘This Is Acting’, Sia loses sight of what made her such an interesting artist in the first place.
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Breakroom gr
This Is Acting is one of the best pop albums we've heard for a long time. Multidimensional, strong, sophisticated, unconventional in its concept.
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Monstagigz
40-year-old singer/songwriter Sia Furler has found great success writing for other people and this is a 12-song album of original songs intended for others.
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SA Music Scene
This Is Acting raises so many questions of what could have been and leaves us with so many alternative realities to consider, and it is in that lasting impression that Sia truly shows her talent.
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AXS
Not every song on This is Acting is a winner, but Sia provides enough great moments to make the album one of the best pop records of the first month of 2016.
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Contact Music
Overall, This is Acting feels like a rushed album, Sia's undeniable raw vocal talent is captured here and there are a few standout moments but the overall song writing doesn't see the Australian at her very best.
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Alt Musicbox
. . . but overall, ‘This Is Acting’ falls short of being the first brilliant pop album of 2016.
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Portalit Pop
"This is Acting" is proof that, as an actress, Sia is a great singer.
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The Daily
It’s a relief that all these songs were rejected in the first place because otherwise, we wouldn’t have an unbelievable album written and performed by one of the best artists of this generation.
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The Out Guide
Unfortunately, it seems the stars decision to release an album of impersonal songs may not have been the best of decisions.
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Redbrick
This Is Acting is filled with contrived declarations which evoke the same cheesiness one would expect to hear in an '80s movie soundtrack power ballad.
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The Charlatan
Overall, This Is Acting serves audiences the kind of music that will move their soul and move their body.
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Los Angeles Times
Sia wastes an opportunity on the ordinary 'This Is Acting'.
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The Awesome Muse
With “This Is Acting,” Sia has solidified herself as a power ballad hitmaker.
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Backseat Mafia
Sia's new album This Is Acting is one of those wonderful anomalies that ensure there is still life breathing into pop music and that despite everything seemingly being a carbon copy of everything else, there is always room to expand and improve on convention.
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ACRN
While there are some impressive elements of This Is Acting, it’s too generic of an album to keep people coming back for more listens.
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Knox News
Despite some groan-worthy clichés that might explain why these songs were rejected, Sia gives them life, and all of the songs sound more than serviceable, if not especially great.
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Linked in
Overall, This is Acting feels like a rushed album, Sia's undeniable raw vocal talent is captured here and there are a few standout moments but the overall song writing doesn't see the Australian at her very best.
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Spectrum Pulse
In a sense, a lot of this record feels like filler that would have been cut from the respective albums, and as such, I get very little out of it.
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Mind EQLS BLWN
Though none of the tracks on this album fade into the background, this smart balance of old, new, and common gives pop music a whole new meaning – with Sia’s name on it.
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Star2
It’s surprising to find that the album consists of songs written for other artistes that were “rejected”. That’s crazy because This Is Acting comprises a stellar collection of pop tunes!
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The Daily Free Press
“This Is Acting” shows a great deal of potential but doesn’t really break any molds.
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The Daily Nebraskan
Sia's lyricism falters with ‘This Is Acting’.
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USC Annenberg Media
Overall, "This Is Acting" is a double-edged sword: her singing is strong and sharp, and slightly different depending on the song, but the album looses that one-of-a-kind-ness with songs that feel like "leftovers."
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Kapiti News
A sweeping, dark epic of a pop song, it showcases the highs and lows of Sia's vocal range and hits you with an emotional punch, like all the greatest love songs do.
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Insanity Radio
I can recommend this album to anyone who enjoys listening to mainstream pop, but in this case it is met with a raw and extensive vocal sound created by a talented musician.
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Now Toronto
Whereas 2014’s 1000 Forms Of Fear sounded like top-40 fun but was lyrically full of violence and angst, This Is Acting is almost entirely material she originally wrote for other artists – hence the title.
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The Summa
Overall, Sia’s new album is incredible. The empowerment message and love songs make the album more than worth listening to.
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Stuff
The point is, for all of Sia's emotional, dramatic belting about love, pain, survival and starting new, there are also the songs which are just there for fun and the ones which transcend any genre-defined category she's previously been lumped into.
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MTSU Sidelines
Overall, This is Acting is a triumphant successor to 1,000 Forms of Fear. It begs the question that perhaps Sia should have her music rejected more often, so that she can produce more albums as beautiful as this one.
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Renowned For Sound
This Is Acting is Sia’s most pop driven album to date, but when you listen to the tracks that she has been releasing over the past few years as her career has flourished, it’s not a surprise at all.
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Howls And Echoes
Sia has dropped a few tracks from This Is Acting over the past few months. Each one made her voice the star as she sang out words of poetry above the beautiful music.
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The Student Playlist
This Is Acting is a fascinating listen if nothing else that keeps us at arms reach without ever fully embracing.
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Northern Lights
I feel that this album is going to be a big hit (why wouldn’t it be?!) with award nominations, streaming and topping the charts this year, and Sia could easily release another single off this album if she wanted to.
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Spotlight UK
All in all, the album maintains Sia’s reputation as a beacon of on hope amongst the endless manufactured drivel the pop music scene tends to generate.
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Granite Bay Today
Musically, the album is fantastic. Lyrically, it can do better, especially after the beauty that was 1000 Forms of Fear.
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Refinery 29
With This Is Acting, Sia happily dismantles any romantic illusion that she’s a precious artist or a singular pop ingénue.
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Media Hype
This is Acting flows effortlessly from start to finish. I mean if you were put off by Sia constantly hitting the high notes in Alive, then the rest of the album will put your mind at ease with it’s range of music.
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Polished Blogger
Her seventh album titled “This is Acting” has brought Sia to a new level. This album was a compilation of songs she wrote for famous singers who rejected them.
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Demo Magazine
This Is Acting marks Sia’s seventh LP release, and presents one of her most interesting collection of tracks to date. This album is a difficult one to review.
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