Sia – Cheap Thrills

Rihanna’s Rejection Became Sia’s Biggest Solo Hit

Sia released “Cheap Thrills” on December 17, 2015, as the second single from her seventh studio album This Is Acting. The song initially debuted at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 but slowly climbed the charts, taking 23 weeks to reach number one on August 6, 2016. It became Sia’s first number one as a lead artist and marked a historic moment as she became the first woman over 40 to top the Hot 100 since Madonna achieved the feat with “Music” in 2000. The song spent four weeks at the summit before being dethroned by The Chainsmokers’ “Closer.”

The track dominated charts worldwide, hitting number one in over 20 countries including Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and Sweden. In the UK, it peaked at number two for four consecutive weeks in April and May, just missing Drake’s “One Dance” which had monopolized the top spot for months. The song reached number six in Australia and number three in New Zealand. By year’s end, it had sold 1.7 million copies in the US alone, making it the tenth best-selling song of 2016 and the second biggest single of the year behind Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” The Sean Paul remix earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

Rihanna’s manager approached Sia requesting another soulful ballad similar to “Diamonds,” which Sia had written for the Barbadian star in 2012. Sia teamed up with producer Greg Kurstin and they created “Cheap Thrills,” but Sia realized almost immediately it sounded too Brit-pop for Rihanna, more suited to Swedish duo Icona Pop. They sent it to Rihanna anyway, but her team passed on it. Sia told Rolling Stone she couldn’t stop listening to the track in her car, pretending it wasn’t her singing. The uplifting, summer vibe convinced her to include it on This Is Acting, an album entirely composed of songs she’d written for other artists who rejected them.

Kurstin produced the track, crafting a reggae-tinged synthpop sound with a constant tropical beat running at 90 beats per minute. The song’s simple chord progression became instantly infectious, while Sia’s vocal range spanned just one octave from B3 to B4. Some radio stations customized the lyrics, replacing “turn the radio on” with their own call signs, while Australian stations changed it to “turn the shower on.” The Sean Paul remix, released February 11, 2016, added a dancehall toast and new verse that pushed the song to even greater commercial heights. Sia never appeared in promotional materials, hiding behind her trademark platinum wig while dancers performed in her place.

This Is Acting was released January 29, 2016, on Monkey Puzzle and RCA Records, debuting at number four on the Billboard 200 with 81,000 equivalent units sold. The album concept fascinated critics, as it showcased songs originally intended for Adele, Beyoncé, and Shakira. Lead single “Alive” had been written for Adele, while “Move Your Body” was meant for Shakira. The album jumped back into the top ten in its 26th week, rising from number 11 to number six, directly supported by “Cheap Thrills” reaching number one. A deluxe edition followed in October 2016 featuring “The Greatest” with Kendrick Lamar.

Maddie Ziegler starred in the performance video directed by Sia and Daniel Askill, dancing with Nick Lanzisera and Wyatt Rocker to Ryan Heffington’s choreography. The trio wore nude-colored leotards with half-black, half-blonde wigs, performing on a bare stage while Sia sang from a rear corner. The Sean Paul lyric video, directed by Lior Molcho, featured dancers Minn Vo and Stefanie Klausmann winning a 1960s-style dance contest using visual effects to recreate vintage television cameras. That video has been viewed over 1.9 billion times. Sia performed the song on The Tonight Show, American Idol, and at Coachella in April 2016, always with dancers standing in for her. The track became her most-streamed song on Spotify with over two billion plays.

Looking back, Sia’s instinct to keep the rejected song proved prescient. The track earned certifications including octuple platinum in the US, quintuple platinum in the UK, and ten times platinum in Italy, making Sia the first female artist to achieve Diamond status there. Shazam data revealed it was 2016’s most-identified song. Critics praised it as a bouncy party tune that saved a year dominated by slower, downbeat pop. As Sia told journalists, she’d been jamming to her own tune in the car, which felt masturbatory but irresistible. That summer feeling she couldn’t shake became the defining pop sound of 2016, proof that sometimes the best songs are the ones nobody else wanted.