If you like to listen to the radio in the car, then you definitely know this song. The single entered the charts in many countries and occupied high lines. The second wave of popularity came when the video for this song was released. It caused a lot of controversy among both ordinary listeners and music critics. Aesthetic picture and hidden meaning excited everyone. So let us reveal the secrets of Siya’s song.
About the history of creation
” Elastic Heart ” is the original soundtrack from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. After the singer was shown an early version of the film, Sia had to slightly change the lyrics to fit the song in the franchise: the second verse was performed by The Weeknd. However, Sia’s solo song was added to her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear .
The video, published on January 7, 2015, was on par with “Chandelier”, the singer’s most popular song. The atmosphere of the clips of these two songs is quite similar, but this does not interfere with perception.
To work on “Elastic Heart”, Sia attracted Daniel Askill, with whom she had already worked on another video. Dancers Maddie Ziegler and Shia LaBeouf can be seen in it, dressed in flesh-colored costumes. The choreographer Ryan Heffington also continued the theme of internal struggle, touched upon in Chandelier, which fits well with the thoughts of self-development and overcoming one’s emotions, embedded in the song’s lyrics. Their joint work exceeded all expectations.
The meaning of the song
The heroine of the song is afraid to fall in love, she cannot conquer love and repels people. She uses “bite the dust” in reference to how people walk away from her because she refuses to get close to them. She claims that she wants to be with only one person, she wants to wage war without weapons and trust her partner. The singer suggests that if she could really let someone into her soul, then both of them would have to keep their hearts shut.
In addition, she is aware that she is also not completely open, but expects the other person to change her. In the song, she says that she has thick skin and an elastic heart. This means that she can heal easily after being hurt. The singer admits that the other person is also stubborn and will be able to cut through her “thick skin”. He will finally see her for who she is, without her protective mask. She backs it up with, “I’m like a rubber band until you pull too hard. “Elastic heart” may mean that she cannot be broken. Over time, it will recover, no matter how you pull it or change its size, you can always blind it back, you just need to fight for it.
Sia wanted it to work, but there were too many red flags and warning signs. They pointed out that the relationship was too insecure to continue, and this is a hint that the singer ended this connection.
Sia wrote the lyrics for a song about finding love after going through life’s hardships.
At the beginning of the song, Sia expresses her disappointment in love and how there are always losers. The singer wants to “fight without weapons”, but this is impossible, there are too many problems that cannot be fixed. Love is a battle, and in order to survive, you must be ready to fight.
The most important thing for the heroine of the song is not to lose yourself. She has an elastic heart that can be stretched and squeezed for a long time, but if the blade in her hands is too sharp, then even her heart will not withstand.
In the song itself, the word will is often found, which can mean both a promise and vague dreams about the future.
” And I know that I can survive I ‘ll walk through fire to save my life ” _ _ _
There are several options for describing the meaning of the song:
The girl analyzes the mistakes of the past and tries not to make mistakes in the future.
She dreams of a future with the man with whom things did not go smoothly at all.
There is another very popular theory about the meaning of the video (many critics agree with it) – the relationship between father and daughter.
Sia grew up in Australia in a family of artists. Her father is a blues guitarist and her mother is an art teacher. She had a difficult relationship with her father. In an interview, she revealed that he had bipolar disorder.
“One was named Phil and the other was Stan. Phil was the best father in the world. He was funny but eloquent, and he… was real, interesting and interested. When Stan came, everything became scary … “
Over time, the identity of “Stan” disappeared, but the father and daughter never managed to build a healthy relationship. Hence the version that the two people in the video are father and daughter. The theme of the difficult relationship between parents and children is eternal. These problems were relevant in the past, are relevant now and will be relevant in the future.
The meaning of the clip
Now let’s move on to the video clip.
The video’s concept of eschewing decorations and bright colors allows us to focus on Shaya and Maddie’s emotions. The gaze is directed at the movements and interactions of the dancers.
It seems like Maddie and Shia are portraying two different sides of the same person. The conflict between their images is further emphasized by external differences. Maddie, perhaps, symbolizes the girl’s addictions (there are also several versions here, both emotional dependence on a partner and physical ones), and Maddie shows feelings. How hard it is for her to experience these moments and fight for a better life.
In the video clip, you can see how they fight each other using different elements of the choreography, but they do it on equal terms. This is an illustration of the struggle for love, freedom and life that the song talks about.
Their confrontation takes place in a cage from which neither can get out. This is a metaphor for the fact that until you solve your problems, a person will be like a bird in a cage of his experiences.
At the end of the video clip, Sia climbs out of the cage and leads her partner, but he cannot get out. Now the girl has to either leave the room with the cage and free herself, or go back into the cage.
Overall, the song “Elastic Heart” and its music video evoke reflections on how we fight for our lives and how we fight for our relationships. We can argue for a long time about the meaning of the lyrics of the song and the video sequence, but the only thing we can be sure of is that the choreography reveals to us the theme of internal struggle with fears.
The key comparison around which the meaning of the Resilient Heart video is built is duality, the struggle of two principles, and these principles are not opposite. The cell symbolizes the soul, within which there is an endless struggle. There is no black and white here – both characters are diverse and can change, which is what the video clip tells about.
The music video itself features an interpretive dance between 12-year-old dancer Maddie Ziegler, who also stars in four other Sia music videos as a petite version of the singer, and 28-year-old actor Shia LaBeouf. Actors wear dirty, skin-tight suits. The video caused controversy almost immediately, as many interpreted the close relationship between Ziegler and LaBeouf as pedophilia. Although Sia herself was quick to deny these allegations through her Twitter address. She stated that they are simply “two warring states of her soul”, which is confirmed by the dramatic meaning of the song. The heroine Maddie is not a defenseless victim at all – both heroes of the video compete with each other on an equal footing.
The giant cell represents the complex mind of the singer. The two versions of it are essentially locked in memory, just like conflicting thoughts are locked in the brain.
Ironically, the adult male version of Sia is weaker than the child. Although he chases after the girl, he turns out to be sensitive and timid when he strokes her head. He doesn’t respond when she bites his arm. He is also locked inside the cage and cannot slip out of it, as a child can.
When a wild child jumps into the man’s arms and starts hitting him on the head, he discovers that the man can be playful when he makes silly faces at her. At this point, the characters reveal new dimensions of their own. Throughout the video, the child was aggressive and unrestrained, but he changes when he realizes that there is softness and playfulness in a man. The girl tries to help the man out of the cage, but the video ends with her raising her hand while he remains behind bars. This symbolizes the cruel reality. Although one part of the singer understands that she needs to end the relationship, another part of her is still stuck in the transference.
This video is a triumph of music, dance, emotion and cinematography. The singer managed to evoke a lot of emotions with her song, which is an example of an extraordinary artist. Her song is a story about one man trying to take control of his life, about his mental battle. Sia admitted that there was a period in her life when she abused drugs and alcohol. She also talks about battling depression and more. Having an “elastic heart” means that over the years, her heart has experienced a huge amount of trauma and damage.
