But in the context of Orlando, the possible platitude of the chorus becomes gutting: “I’m free to be the greatest / I’m alive.” She’s pepping the listener up, but she’s also defining the value of life, marking the human potential that’s been lost. Sia and Greg Kurstin may have written the song even before the massacre. There’s no break here from the rest of Sia’s catalogue about pain and release in everyday life: You hear a sad voice wailing about bucking up, very stark emotional peaks and valleys, and a danceable backing of explosive drums, toy-box melodies, and reggae grooves. Why So Many Rich Kids Come to Enjoy the Taste of Healthier Foods Joe Pinskerīut “The Greatest” is very potent, a work of art, not charity (though one would hope the proceeds are going somewhere other than to music industry-Sia’s camp hasn’t said). At the end, everyone falls down in what seems to be a nightclub, revealing what looks like a bullet-riddled wall. Their leader, Maddie Ziegler, paints rainbows on her face. Sia herself hasn’t confirmed this interpretation, but some of the performers in the video have posted messages that made it clear. Other viewers, though, picked up on something pretty obvious: The video must be connected to the June massacre of 49 people at an Orlando gay bar during a Latin night.
The first time I watched the video for her new song “The Greatest,” I didn’t know what it was about. She’s the pop star of inscrutable meaning but unmistakable emotion, of inspirational slogans applicable to nearly any situation, of wigs and flesh-toned leotards and cute everykids doing dance moves that resemble mundane life remixed in a dream. You’re not supposed to know what a Sia video really means the first time you watch it, or even the fifth.