Sia’s creative genius shines once again. The singer dropped the video for her emotional single “Alive” a few hours ago and this time around, Maddie Ziegler is nowhere to be found.
The star of Sia’s new video is a young martial artist. Wearing a wig that’s half platinum blond and half black as a raven, the young black belt fights, chops, and kicks his/her way through the video to Sia’s tune. I’m no expert in martial arts—don’t know the first thing about it—but the pairing of Sia’s pained voice with this young fighter’s precise, forceful body movements makes for a poignant video.
There are moments throughout when you can see the martial artist yelling, but you can’t actually hear the sound. Even without knowing just how hard he/she must have worked to become a black belt, you get the impression that this young artist is extremely adept. It’s inspirational. I’d be remiss in not admitting that I totally teared up while watching.
Sia co-directed the video with Australian filmmaker Daniel Askill. She originally wrote “Alive” with Adele and Tobias Jesso Jr. for Adele’s highly anticipated 25 album. The song was ultimately cut from 25 and is now the main single from Sia’s This Is Acting LP, out on January 29, 2016.
Watch the video for “Alive” here.