''Music – Songs from and Inspired by the Motion Picture'' is the ninth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Sia. It was released on 12 February 2021 by Monkey Puzzle and

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, in connection with the release of the musical film ''

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

'', which was directed and co-written by Sia. Sia wrote 10 original songs for the film's soundtrack following its transformation into a musical, half of which are included on the album. The album also includes songs inspired by the film, such as " Saved My Life", co-written by

Dua Lipa Dua Lipa ( ; born22 August 1995) is an English and Albanian singer, songwriter and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Dua Lipa, Her accolades include seven Brit Awards and three Grammy Awards. Lipa worked as a model before v ...

. Primarily a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

album, it received mixed reviews from critics. Three singles preceded the album's release; "

Together ''ToGetHer'' (, aka Superstar Express) is a 2009 Taiwanese drama starring Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit, Rainie Yang and George Hu. It was produced by Comic International Productions ( 可米國際影視事業股份有限公司) and directed by Linzi ...

", the album's

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

, " Courage to Change", co-written with

Pink Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...

(credited as Alecia Moore), and " Hey Boy". " Floating Through Space", a collaboration with

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

, was released as the fourth single shortly after the album came out. At the

2021 ARIA Music Awards The 2021 ARIA Music Awards are the 35th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) and consist of a series of awards, including the 2021 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Fin ...

, the album was nominated for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album.

Background

Sia did not conceive ''Music'' as a

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

. She said that friends told her it would be like " avinga blank

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...

chip, and not using it" if she did not make the film as a musical. She stated that the film's budget increased from $4 million to $16 million with its transformation into a musical, as the studio could profit from the soundtrack. Sia wrote 10 original songs for the film. In February 2020, she stated that she had two albums "waiting to go", one of which included her versions of the original soundtrack songs. Along with new material inspired by the film, some of the 10 original songs are featured on ''Music – Songs from and Inspired by the Motion Picture''. The album has a total of 14 tracks; the Japanese edition of the album features two domestic

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

s, "I'm Still Here", which was first released in 2018, and the Initial Talk remix of "

". Sia considers this a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

rather than a

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

. The film's soundtrack was never released separately as an album.

Composition

''Music'' is a

album with

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

, R&B,

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

and EDM influences. The album opens with "

", a track written by Sia and

Jack Antonoff Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is the lead vocalist of the rock band Bleachers, and previously the guitarist and drummer for the pop band Fun and the lead vocalist of t ...

. It is an upbeat

song that "bounces with joy". " Hey Boy" is a "

euphoric Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and danci ...

", "exuberant", " flirty" and "bouncy" pop and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

song, in which, lyrically, Sia expresses a desire for male company. " Saved My Life", co-written by British singer-songwriter

, is a

pop ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Ballads ...

that opens up as a

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

-based ballad and slowly builds into a grand track filled with

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

and an uptempo beat. " Floating Through Space" is a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

track that features electric and upbeat

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

and inspiring lyrics. The song bears more resemblance to Sia's style of pop music than her previous collaborations with

. "Eye to Eye" is an

80s Ribosomes are a large and complex molecular machine that catalyzes the synthesis of proteins, referred to as translation. The ribosome selects aminoacylated transfer RNAs (tRNAs) based on the sequence of a protein-encoding messenger RNA (mRNA) an ...

-themed,

song that features Moog synths. The album's title track is a "cinematic"

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

with

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

l influences, while "

1+1 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

" is a "breezy",

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

y track, built on a

instrumental. " Courage to Change", which interpolates

's "Courage", also co-written by Sia, is more downtempo and builds from a "moody" string intro into a "soaring" chorus that has simple, repetitive but "uplifting" chorus lyrics; "Have I the courage to change?/ Have I the courage to change today?". "Play Dumb", a song built around "vintage"

and

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

sounds, is reminiscent of

old-school hip hop Old-school hip hop (also spelled old skool) (also known as disco-rap) is the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music and the original style of the genre. It typically refers to the music created around 1979 to 1983, as well as any hip hop t ...

and has

G-funk G-funk, short for gangsta funk, (or funk rap) is a sub-genre of gangsta rap that emerged from the West Coast scene in the early 1990s. The genre is heavily influenced by the synthesizer-heavy 1970s funk sound of Parliament-Funkadelic (aka P-F ...

-influenced production. "Beautiful Things Can Happen" is a piano ballad produced by

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Labrinth signed as a recording artist with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Music in 2010, ini ...

, and filled with Sia's signature vocal cracks. "Lie to Me" is an

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

that opens with a "delicate" intro with "

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

-like"

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

s, before building into a "massive", atmospheric chorus. "Oblivion" features guest vocals from

, and is a re-recorded version of the same song included on his 2019 album, '' Imagination & the Misfit Kid''. Musically, it is built around "distorted beats" and a

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first a ...

. "Miracle" is a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

song. The album closes with an alternate version of "Hey Boy", featuring

Burna Boy Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu (born 2 July 1991), known professionally as Burna Boy, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He gained recognition in 2012 after releasing "Like to Party", the lead single from his debut studio album '' ...

, who lends a verse.

Singles and promotion

" and its accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

were released as the album's

on 20 May 2020. " Courage to Change" was released as the second single on 24 September 2020. The album was made available for

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

on 19 November 2020, along with the release of " Hey Boy" as the third single. Sia announced the album's tracklist on 13 January 2021. An alternate version of "Hey Boy" featuring Nigerian singer

was released alongside an animated video on 14 January 2021. " Floating Through Space" was originally released as the album's first

promotional single A promotional recording, promo, or plug copy is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as mu ...

with its music video on 4 February 2021, and was serviced to

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

in Italy on 19 February 2021. Five of the songs from the album appear on the film's soundtrack: "Together", "Music", "1+1", "Beautiful Things Can Happen", and, as the credits track, "Courage to Change". Remixes of "Eye to Eye" were released on 4 June 2021. Three

Banx & Ranx Banx & Ranx are a music production duo from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, formed in 2014. Members Soké (real name Zacharie Raymond) and KNY Factory (real name Yannick Rastogi) are producers, songwriters and remixers. They are currently signed to ...

remixes of "1+1" were then released; the first, featuring guest vocals from Israeli-French singer-songwriter

Amir Haddad Laurent Amir Khlifa Khedider Haddad (; born 20 June 1984), better known as Amir Haddad () or simply as Amir, is a French people, French-Israeli singer-songwriter and actor. He took part in 2006 in the Israeli music competition ''Kokhav Nolad'', ...

, was released on 13 July 2021. This was followed by a solo version on 23 July, and, on 6 August, a Spanish-language remix featuring

Sofía Reyes Úrsula Sofía Reyes Piñeyro (born September 25, 1995) is a Mexican singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in 2018 with her song "1, 2, 3 (Sofía Reyes song), 1,2,3", which featured Jason Derulo and De La Ghetto. In 2019, she released the son ...

and

Yandel Llandel Veguilla Malavé Salazar (born January 14, 1978), best known by his stage name Yandel, is a Puerto Rican singer who is a member of the reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel. He released his first solo album, ''Quien Contra Mí'', in 2003. His s ...

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalised score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 57 based on 6 critic reviews, indicating a "mixed or average" response. Mark Richardson of ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' described the album as "feel-good", although "generic". Writing for

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, Mark Kennedy called the album "very, very good" and commented that songs on the record display some of the "most restrained and mature" songwriting Sia has ever done. He stated, however, that as a lyricist Sia's "often gets stuck in repetitive choruses", which he finds to be present in ''Music''. The ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

s David Smyth gave the album a rating of 3 out of 5 stars, and wrote that the songs' "melodies stick right away" and that there are "enough eccentric touches".

Kitty Empire Kitty Empire (born 1970) is a British writer and music critic, currently writing for ''The Observer''. Early life Empire says that she was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1970 and brought up in Canada, Italy and Egypt before arriving in Britain in ...

of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' gave the same rating, writing that the "sound design" on the album is "excellent throughout", but commenting that it would be easier to appreciate the songs without the controversy surrounding the film. Hilary Hughes of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' criticized the album, writing that the lyrical theme of "motivational language" flies "dangerously close to

inspiration porn Inspiration porn is the objectification of disabled people as inspirations to non-disabled people on the basis of their life circumstances. The term ''inspiration porn'' is by analogy with pornography, in that the material is perceived as objec ...

". In ''RIFF Magazine'', Domenic Strazzabosco wrote that ''Music'' "fails to strike a chord", commenting that Sia has compiled "a rather monotonous collection of songs" in the album. Keith Harris of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' wrote that the album "lacks a big hit" to pull together a "competent level of craft". He also opined that the album's highlights are its more upbeat songs, such as " Hey Boy", "1+1" and "Play Dumb". ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'''s Nick Levine stated that the album offers "glimpses" of Sia's "undeniable greatness", though he also commented that the highlights are not enough to make ''Music'' "feel as vital as top-notch Sia efforts".

Track listing

* signifies an additional producer * signifies a vocal producer

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal and album liner notes. Musicians * Sia – vocals *

– drums, piano ; background vocals, keyboards,

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

, synthesizer ;

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

, Moog, percussion *

Jesse Shatkin Jesse Samuel Shatkin (born 1979) is an American songwriter, producer and engineer. He has worked with Sia, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Lopez, Fitz and the Tantrums, One Direction, and Miley Cyrus, among others. Shatkin was nominated in 2014 for G ...

– bass guitar, drum programming, drums, keyboards, synthesizer ; programming , guitar , organ , percussion , piano , vocals * Sean Kantrowitz – guitar *

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and contributed to five songs that pe ...

– bass guitar, drums, guitar, piano, programming ; keyboards *

– programming , synthesizer , orchestral arrangement , instrumentation , vocals * Evan Smith – saxophone * Gustave Rudman – orchestral arrangement *

– vocals Notable technical personnel *

Serban Ghenea Serban Ghenea () is a Canadian audio engineer and mixer. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award a total of 45 times and has won 21 times. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Romania, and in 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. H ...

– mixer * Greg Kurstin – mixer, engineer *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound in New Jersey. Gehringer is known for having mastered recordings by popular artists such as AJR, Dua Lipa, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Gwen Stefani, Harry Styles, ...

–

mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

* Jesse Shatkin –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Labrinth – engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Music - Songs from and Inspired by the Motion Picture 2021 albums Albums produced by Greg Kurstin Albums produced by Jesse Shatkin Albums produced by Labrinth Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios Atlantic Records albums Sia (musician) albums