Sia’s directorial debut, Music, which earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Musical or Comedy, is a project that had been germinating in her brain for over 15 years. The story centers on a free-spirited, newly sober drug dealer, Zu (Kate Hudson), estranged from her family, who becomes the sole guardian of her teenage half-sister, Music (Maddie Ziegler), who is on the autism spectrum. Zu struggles with her newfound responsibility of caretaking Music, though she learns to accept the kindness of strangers, in this case, a friendly neighbor, Ebo (Leslie Odom Jr.).

The Australian-born singer and nine-time Grammy-nominated artist began her career as a singer in Adelaide in an acid jazz band. In 1997, she released her debut album, OnlySee, and moved to London. Two albums followed, and in 2005 she relocated to New York City, where she went back to the studio and recorded two more albums. In 2014 she broke through as a solo recording artist and generated the hit single, Chandelier. It also marked the beginning of a trilogy of music videos Sia directed starring child dancer Maddie Ziegler, whom she now regards as her muse.

A prolific artist, Sia finds herself consistently in the recording studio, most recently in collaboration with Labrinth and Diplo, under the group name LSD: they released their self-titled album in 2019.

How did Music come about? Did you always want to direct?

Not really. I directed a few music videos with my partner Daniel Askill, and that was probably from Chandelier onwards. And it was definitely fun, I loved doing it but I wasn’t sure if I was really a director or if I was just a singer with good ideas. So, it took me a long time to get the confidence up to direct this movie and to finish writing it. I spent a couple of years writing it with Dallas Clayton and then I put it aside for a year or two. And then I came out of my divorce and my self-esteem was shot. I think I really needed a cheerleader and Dallas Clayton was that for me. He said to me, “You can do this!” Then I talked to Lena Dunham and she said, “You are a director!” I just didn’t know it. And finally, I got the courage up to branch out on my own and I made this movie.

What did it teach you about yourself?

What it taught me is that I am a director! (laughs)

Congratulations! You’ve said that you’re like a second mom to Maddie. When did you meet her? What were the circumstances?

She was eleven and I tweeted her and I asked her if she wanted to be in one of my music videos. And the day I met her, she had learned the dance to Chandelier in less than 20 minutes. I have the video of us watching her do her very first performance of it. And then I burst into tears at the end. (laughs) It was so unbelievable, her performance, and she wasn’t even in costume. She was in her little black shorts, blue singlet and a brown ponytail. And I just thought, “I am in love with this kid. She has got something.”

Did you enjoy the experience of directing?

Directing I love, because I love psychology and I am obsessed with attachment theory, and so I used attachment theory in order to direct my characters. I gave them each a strategy that they were born with, and it helped with what their motivation was and what they want and what they didn’t want. And they found it interesting, too. It was a new way of communicating how a person feels, how a person reacts, how a person responds. And so, it was really fun and I loved it. They were all magic, they were absolute magic, and everyone showed up. The first day I got there, I said to everybody, ‘Hey, this is a film that is about a really underrepresented community, and if we can come to work every day and remember that we are here to be the voice for a very underrepresented community, and this is also a love letter to the caregivers of that underrepresented community.’ And they did it, everyone put their egos aside and it was a really great shoot.

Despite your good intentions, you came under a lot of fire for not hiring an autistic actor.

That hurt. I cast 13 people who are on the spectrum as well as a number of minorities, and when you look at 99 percent of the movies made in Hollywood, I probably cast more minority groups than 00.1 percent of them.

What’s happening with your music?

Well, occasionally I will write a song or two. I’ve got a couple in the bag already so I don’t kick myself off the radio. (laughs) I have got a soundtrack to a movie with all of the cast singing it, then I will put the soundtrack out with me singing the originals. Then I have got another album I’m working on and then probably by the time that one is out, I will have written another one. It is fun for me to write songs. I really love writing songs, but I would consider myself semi-retired. I don’t think I could ever make another movie. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was the most taxing, difficult, joyous, painful experience I’ve ever done. (laughs)

How have you dealt with COVID?

I went to Palm Springs and I just lived there with my dogs and some security. And while I was building a house in LA – which was taking a lot longer because of COVID – and then finally my house is ready, so I am back in LA now. Basically, I stayed in my little tiny compound in Palm Springs and I watched television projected onto the ceiling and I hugged my dogs and hung around with them. Occasionally people would visit and we would do puzzles and games.

Such as?

Scrabble and Gin Rummy.

What do you want audiences to take away from watching Music?

Just a little bit more understanding and compassion. When I go to the movies, I want to feel feelings. And so that’s what I tried to do. I wanted to represent the underrepresented, create great vibes and also deeply painful moments that people could relate to. I wanted to break your heart, then put it back together again, and at the end, you leave the cinema smiling.