Instead of the expected and obvious choice of Maddie Ziegler, Sia turned to a new mini-me, Mahrio Takano and her martial arts talents (specifically karate) to be the hub of her latest music video for "Alive." The clip for the powerful, This Is Acting anthem track follows Sia's pattern of asking someone else to stand in the spotlight for her projects.
Like they've done many times before for popular tracks "Elastic Heart," "Chandelier" and "Big Girls Don't Cry," Daniel Askill and Sia put their heads together to create another vision for "Alive." All attention is drawn to a young martial artist mightily displaying her moves in a two-tone Sia wig, which according to Rolling Stone, can be seen on the 39-year-old singer's cover art for her upcoming studio album, This Is Acting.
This time around, the duo found themselves shooting footage of the pint-sized martial artist in a vacant warehouse in Chiba, Japan. The idea mirrors the Grammy-nominated music video for the 1000 Forms of Fear sensation, "Chandelier," which saw Ziegler dancing by her lonesome in an abandoned apartment. The empowering lyrics and vigor of 9-year-old Takano pair seamlessly with Sia's strong vocals on the song that was co-penned with Tobias Jesso Jr. and Adele. The track was originally meant for the "Hello" singer and co-written during her 25 sessions, People notes.
Earlier in the week, Sia dropped a second song from the 25 sessions as her own, introducing "Bird Set Free" ahead of the album's release. The Australian singer's sixth studio album, which only contains tracks she initially co-wrote for other artists such as Rihanna and Beyonce, is due out January 29 via RCA Records.
"I'm calling it This Is Acting, because they are songs I was writing for other people, so I didn't go in thinking, 'This is something I would say,'" she explained to NME. "It's more like play-acting. It's fun." Sia will take the Saturday Night Live stage this weekend as musical guest on the Donald Trump-hosted episode.
