Real problems? Sia? Not this weekend.
Ask Sia who she’s most excited about seeing at Coachella this year and the singer-songwriter brings up Prince before making a startling confession: “I don’t listen to music. I’m such [an idiot]. I like the Carpenters and Elvis. Is Robyn playing? Dolly Parton?”
Sadly, not this year. Regardless, Sia and her mates are headed to Indio on Friday, long before her scheduled appearance at the music festival on Sunday afternoon. “It’s so sunny and it’s outdoors and I get to see a bunch of bands and go swimming at the hotel pool,” she says. “That festival has perks.”
Before she heads for the desert, she launches “Sessions,” KCRW’s new live series that features an intimate performance and Q&A; featuring “Morning Becomes Eclectic” host Nic Harcourt. Thursday’s concert sold out in seven minutes, according to the station. “That’s just crazy cakes,” says Sia, joking that she better throw in some nudity to make it worth the audience’s while since tickets for the benefit range from $75 to $125.
On the phone from Thompson Square Park in New York City, where she says she’s “stalking dogs because my two dogs are back in Los Angeles,” Sia is aggressively upbeat like a bouncy 5-year-old whose words pour out in a breathless, sunny torrent. She recently relocated to New York “on a whim” after living in Los Angeles for two years: “It is called kismet? Is that a Yiddish term? Well, I’m getting into Judaism now, so let’s call it kismet. An amazing apartment turned up for very little money and I was like, you know what, I think I want to give it a try.”
Sia, who was raised in Adelaide, Australia, first came to prominence as a contributing vocalist with Zero 7 on such tunes as the hypnotic “Destiny.” As a solo artist, she registered emotionally with the dreamy “Breathe Me,” which played over the closing montage in the “Six Feet Under” series finale. Her most recent album, “Some People Have Real Problems” came out in January through Starbucks’ Hear Music after Astralwerks dropped her. She considers the switch her good fortune: “I don’t think I would have ever sold as many records if I hadn’t had my face in a box at every cash register in Starbucks.”
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KCRW SESSIONS: SIA
WHERE: Malibu Performing Arts Center, 23285 Stuart Ranch Road, Malibu
WHEN: 7:30 tonight
PRICE: $75-$125 (sold out)
INFO: www.kcrw.com/ events/kcrw-sessions
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