Postmodernism And Music Research Task

Postmodernism and Music Homage –does your chosen artist use other people’s music in a respectful way? Are they bringing apotentially overlooked or forgotten style to a new audience? Sia has sampled a lot of different songs within her music. A lot of this is purely based on the name of the song being the same as an already existing song. However, there do appear to be some used of sampling throughout some of Sia’s music. This is from a range of musicians from Beyoncé- Halo in ‘Fire Meet Gasoline’ and Sisqo – Thong Song in ‘Sweet Design’. This use of sampling appears to be because she admires the work that the artist has created so wants to use this with her own music. This does not appear to be a parody or the song as she uses it will good intentions. Sia also samples her own music within her songs. For example she includes the same drum sequence from ‘Bird Set Free’ in some of ‘Eye of the Needle’. Parody –does your chosen artist use other people’s music in order to mock it and its fans? Are they attempting to damage the ‘authority’ of a style of music? Bricolage –does your chosen artist use music from different time periods or genres? Does this change the ‘meaning’ of the original song? Sia has sampled Sergei Prokofiev’s ‘Montagues and Capulates’ (Dance of the Knights) form 1935 in her song ‘Taken for Granted’. Prokofiev is a Russian composer and his classic piece was written for his ballet of Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Sia’s song ‘Breathe Me’ samples Philip Glass’s ‘Metamorphosis One’ which was released on an album called ‘Solo Piano’ in 1989. Glass is an American composer and is considered to be one of the most influential music makers of the late 20 th century. Intertextual References – does your artist reference other songs (lyrically, melodically, stylistically, visually) in their work? Sia does reference her own work within work that she produces. For example, in the ‘Chandelier’ music video the dancer, Maddie Ziegler, wears colourful marker on her hands which is linked to the album cover for ‘Some People Have Real Problems’, Sia’s 5th album. Throughout all of Sia’s work, she has also continued to wear the blonde wig. This is something which she also carries onto other people performing in her music videos or on stage with her. This has become a trademark for Sia and could also be said to be an intertexual reference through all of her work. Simulacrum –Is your artist ‘real’ or merely playing a ‘character’? For many ‘mainstream’ artists, their image is just as important as their sound (if not more so), postmodern artists play with ideas of image in the way they re represent themselves. Sia has recently changed her look completely, now wanted to be ‘invisible’ to the public eye. Not appearing in her own music videos and covering her

face in live performances, Sia’s look is designed to be seen, but she wishes to remain unknown. Sia’s look involves a blonde wig, which she then carriers on to her dancers in music videos and performances. For example, Maddie Ziegler, the dancer in the music videos ‘Chandelier’, ‘Elastic Heart’ and ‘Big Girls Cry’, wears a blonde wig identical to Sia’s, therefore creating the connection between the two, hoping the audience will recognise that the dancer does in fact represent Sia herself. Sia’s look is eye-catching and does draw attention and recognition, whether this is something Sia wants or not. Consumption –how does your chosen artist wish their music to be consumed? Is there an artifact (object) that accompanies their music? Sia says that she wants people to feel the pain and passion in her music through the way in which she sings which is why her lyrics sometimes cannot be understood. This means that the way in which Sia wants her music to be heard is through the way she delivers the music, more than the lyrics themselves. Creation –how does your artist create their music, are they a musician, a songwriter, a composer? Sia’s own music is written and performed by her. However, she does also feature in other musician’s songs showing her versatility. The songs she features in are mainly pop songs, for example ‘Titanium’ which is by David Guetta and ‘Wild Ones’ by Flo Rida. She also writes songs for other people, for example she co-wrote ‘Diamonds’ for Rihanna and wrote ‘Pretty Hurts’ for Beyoncé. Again, these songs are pop songs. This is very different from her own albums as these belong to a range of genres such as electropop, alternative rick and trip hop. This again emphasises Sia’s versatility as well as her belonging to a range of genres, emphasising postmodernism. This Is Acting (2016) – Electropop 1000 Forms of Fear (2014) – Pop, Synthpop, Electropop We Are Born (2010) – Pop, Indie pop, Dance-pop Some People Have Real Problems (2008) – Alternative rock, Electronic music Lady Croissant (2007) – Pop, Pop rock Colour the Small One (2004) – Alternative rock, Indie pop Healing Is Difficult (2001) – Trip hop, Alternative rock OnlySee (1997) – Trip hop Performance –does your artist play ‘live’? Is there a ‘show’ to accompany? Is there a ‘style’ to their videos? What if any interaction is there with their audience? [No strong sense of history or the future. Alienation is abolished by saying, 'Utopia is now' as in raves or music festivals. Even a critic of postmodernism like Hans Magnus Enzensburger has observed, 'consumption as spectacle is –in parody form– the anticipation of a utopian situation' (1974).] Sia does perform live shows but to a minimal extent. For example, she does not tour, she only performs on some television programmes to promote a song. However, she wants people to appreciate her music and not herself, therefore she does not tour as she does not wish to make extra money from it. Also, as she hides her appearance, it would be likely

to go against this if she then chooses to perform a live tour. As she hides her appearance, she does ensure that there is something happening whilst she is performing. For example, if she is performing ‘Chandelier’ she will most likely have a dancer performing the routine included in the music video. This is another aspect which is interesting about Sia as she always ensures that is something interesting visual to watch whilst she sings. The show, therefore, would be the performance the dancers do whilst Sia is singing. This again, ensures the attention is not focused on Sia. Influence – Has your artist influenced the wider world of music (are other artists keen to collaborate, have mainstream artists appropriated their sound)? For the higher grades you will need to have an understanding of music that relates to the following areas:  



the postmodern sensibility that anything can be considered cool in an ironic ‘I know it’s bad, but it’s so bad it’s good’ way Work that is created based (entirely or in part) on older material. This incorporates sampling and will take you from the realms of hip hop culture transporting you finally in today’s modern fragmented musical landscape. You will have to listen to some of the artists to fully appreciate them and their work. Audiences that are both niche and mainstream. E.g.: Radio 1, 1xtra, BBC6, XFM

All of the above need to have example attached to help them make sense. The examples need to have explanations that place them within a postmodern context. A lot of artists have collaborated with Sia whether this is for her to feature in their song or for her to write or co-write a song for them. People that Sia has written for include Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Carly Rae Jepsen, Britney Spears, Maroon 5 and Beyonce. This shows how other popular artists appreciate her talent at writing songs and have had hits with these songs. Sia has also features of songs by David Guetta, Flo Rida, Kanye West, Madonna and Eminem. This shows how not only do other artists appreciate her work, but they would also like her to work with them on their music. Therefore, they must be influenced by her music to some extent for them to then want her to share her talent with them. Sia has sampled a range of genres in her work. This includes music from genres such as pop, hip hop and classical. This shows how Sia is able to create music from a range of genres when typically musicians may only use a limited amount of genres. Sia has established herself as a very postmodern artists, this is mainly because of her overall look as well as her live performances and her music videos. Her look I very different to other musicians, purely because of the reason she covers her face. She either wears a blonde wig to cover her face or turns her back to the audience whilst performing. This is something which is not done by anyone else; most people want to be known for their work. Her performances are also very different. She ensures that there is a dance routine being performed whilst she is singing which is something that the audience focuses on. This is something that is not often done; there may be backing dancers but not a full dance routine that is designed to take attention away from the artist. Her music videos are always

original and eye-catching. For example, her music video for ‘Chandelier’ is something that got Sia a lot of recognition because of the originality and engaging nature of it. Also, the music video for ‘Elastic Heart’ received a lot of criticism but with this came a lot of attention. Overall, Sia’s look is original and very different from what is expected. This along with her use of sampling and performances may be why Sia is considered to be a postmodern artist.