Australian singer-songwriter Sia is at the center of a controversy after the release of her latest video, for a song from her album 1000 Forms of Fear called, “Elastic Heart”. Now, she is apologizing to those viewers who felt that the video had a pedophilic connotation and has clarified the true meaning behind the new video.
The video for “Elastic Heart” depicts an interpretive dance battle, which takes place between 28-year-old Shia LaBeouf and 12-year-old Maddie Ziegler of Dance Moms fame. In the video, both are seen wearing a skin colored leotard.
This is Ziegler’s second starring role in a Sia video. She’d previously donned the blonde bob wig and skin colored leotard that she’s seen wearing in “Elastic Heart”, when she performed a solo interpretive dance number in the Grammy-nominated video for “Chandelier”.
Check out “Elastic Heart”, below.
The Daily Mail reports that Sia received a barrage of social media complaints of inappropriateness of the video for “Elastic Heart”. And, Rolling Stone reports that one fan tweeted that the video “Smacks of child molestation #pervert #unacceptable #childabuse…Explain please!”
So, Sia took to Twitter to defend her casting choices for the leading roles, clarify the meaning of the video, and apologize to those who were upset by the content.
In a series of Tweets, Sia stated the following, “I anticipated some ‘pedophilia!!!’ cries for this video. All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring ‘Sia’ self states. I apologize to those who feel triggered by #ElasticHeart My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody.”
I apologize to those who feel triggered by #ElasticHeart My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody.
— sia (@Sia) January 8, 2015
I anticipated some 'pedophelia!!!' Cries for this video. All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play
— sia (@Sia) January 8, 2015
These two warring 'sia' self states.
— sia (@Sia) January 8, 2015
In her Twitter replies, Sia also stated that next week she plans to release a ‘making of’ clip to go along with the music video for “Elastic Heart”. And, be sure to catch Sia’s performance with Maddie Ziegler on Saturday Night Live on January 17th, 2015.