Sia, “Alive” | Music Lifts

In the 2^nd edition of Lit Music That Lifts, we’re uplifted by pop singer/songwriter Sia performing, “Alive.”

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elcome to Lit Music That Lifts (LMTL), or Music Lifts for short! This column picks up where Sunday Refresh leaves off, yet it hits different.  Like its predecessor, Music Lifts seeks to highlight songs that encourage, inspire, and uplift the spirit; songs that exude fortitude, positivity, and resolve, even in the face of adversity.  Featured songs aren’t genre-specific; songs may or may not be faith-based. The goal is for these songs to make you feel better – be LIFTED to new heights!  So, for the 2^nd  edition of Music Lifts (2022), we highlight “Alive”,  as performed by Sia.

“I was born in a thunderstorm / I grew up overnight,” Grammy-nominated pop singer/songwriter Sia sings on “Alive”. She continues, adding, “I played alone, I played on my own / I survived.” That’s sad. Sometimes, we must fight through adversity.  “I saw my life in a stranger’s face,” she asserts in the second verse, “And it was mine.” Wow.  In this powerful highlight from This Is Acting (2016), Sia expresses her story of survival even with the odds stacked firmly against her (“I had a one-way ticket to a place where all the demons go / Where the wind don’t change / And noting in the ground can ever grow”). The authenticity is pronounced and quite relatable, all told.

Sia, known for her sharp pen, gets some assistance in the songwriting department.  She wrote this uplifting, second track from This Is Acting alongside Adele (!) and Tobias Jesso Jr.  From the production end of things, Jesse Slatkin helps to construct a powerful backdrop fitting for Sia’s distinct, commanding pipes.  Those pipes shine brightest on the simple but fitting chorus.  Here, Sia asserts, “I’m still breathing, I’m still breathing / I’m alive, I’m alive.”  It’s this resilience, despite many misadventures, trials, and tribulations, that makes “Alive” so puissant.

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Sia • This Is Acting • RCA • 2016

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Sia, “Alive”: Music Lifts No. 2 (2022) [: Arek Socha, Benjamin Balazs, Brent Faulkner, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Ketut Subiyanto, The Musical Hype, Pexels, Pixabay, RCA]

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