Sia's God-given talent
Sia says her talent for songwriting was given to her by God.
"I really feel like I've nailed songwriting, it's my specialty, it's what I'm good at," the Australian songwriter said in an interview broadcast at the APRA Awards in Brisbane on Monday night.
"It's my special skill. It's what I got when God was handing out things. I feel lucky about it, it comes really easily to me."
The quirky Adelaide-born star won Songwriter of the Year for the second time running at the prestigious Australian peer-voted awards, but wasn't there to receive the gong.
Instead, the interview was broadcast at the event interspersed with clips from the songwriter's impressive songwriting work, including snippets from songs she's worked on for Beyonce, Rihanna, David Guetta and her own recent hit, Chandelier.
She also revealed some insights into her songwriting process explaining she doesn't work alone.
"When I'm in a songwriting phase it's a phase, I don't just suddenly feel inspired and then write a song because I always write with a co-writer," she said.
"I prefer working with people it's way more fun and it's just better. I like to have a little bit of perspective in the room and that's the funnest part of the whole job is going in and creating something."
The songwriter's process is pretty instinctual, she said if she gets "a vibe" about something or "a feelling" she just writes it down.
"I usually just put it in my phone and then I have a list of notes in there so that when I go into the studio I have some things that I can go to," she said.
"I hear it in my head what needs to happen which is all of that top line melody hook stuff, and I sing it all in. Then the producer takes it and they replace my hook parts with the instruments that I hear," she said.
For Sia, a great song is one that evokes meaning.
"I think that's the only kind of song that should exist," she said.
"Because we spend so much of our lives trying to avoid feellings, so I think that's the beauty of music is tapping into those feellings.
"And that it's sometimes able to trigger something that you may then sit with."
The songwriter delivered her acceptance speech via videolink and thanked her parents for being "the best kind of super weirdos".
She also thanked her Jonathan Daniel for being the "best manager in the world" and then thanked a host of Aussie musicians, including INXS and Kylie, for teaching her subconsciously.
