Sia has premiered the video for her new single Big Girls Cry, completing a trilogy of videos featuring young dancer Maddie Ziegler.

Sia is an intriguing artist who is unlike any others that are around at the moment. She has been in the music business since the mid 90s but you could be forgiven for not having heard of her until recently; a lot of her work previously involved writing tracks for other artists.

With her recent album 1000 Forms of Fear, Sia has changed her approach to her music, making her videos into elaborate performance pieces and taking to hiding her face when making appearances in public.

Society doesn’t like that she does this. Many male artists have hidden themselves behind masks and that is seen as interesting and intriguing but when female artist Sia does it, the media becomes mistrustful and almost intimidated. It is seen as our right to be able to gaze upon female artists, to make our judgments about their imperfections and it is this that Sia has cited as her reason for doing it. She said it herself in a rare interview: “I’m allowed to maintain some modicum of privacy. But also I would like not to be picked apart or for people to observe when I put on 10 pounds or take off 10 pounds or I have a hair extension out of place or my fake tan is botched.” She wants her music to do the talking for her.

The media still questions why a woman feels that she has to hide her face, especially as Sia is an attractive woman. It seems as though society would be able to understand why she hides her face if she was ugly. No one wants to see an ugly person on the stage but an attractive woman doing it? That raises questions. We are not content with the fact that she might just not want to be picked apart. The media seems to have created a sense of entitlement where we all think we have the right to stare at famous people because they have put themselves forward into the spotlight. The way that Sia has attempted to get around that morbid curiosity we all harbour is quite interesting.

The three singles that have been released from 1000 Forms of Fear have all featured Maddie Ziegler performing in the promo videos wearing what is quickly becoming the iconic blond bob wig synonymous with Sia. She is promoting the Sia brand rather than Sia the person. Everything that has come about as a product of the 1000 Forms of Shade record is built around promoting the image, from Ziegler right down to the album cover itself which simply shows the wig on a blacked out face.

It is reassuring that a female artist can build a successful album and career without pimping herself out to the media and it will be interesting to see where Sia takes her brand next.