Lyric / Music Video Analysis (Sia - Chandelier)

From first glance this video is very simplistic in its continuous tracking camera of Maddie (the dancer) who is performing a choreographed modern dance routine which appears to be very unpredictable as she tries to not hit into the walls surrounding her within the abandoned room.
I find this music video interesting as although the artist recognised under the pop genre, this video does not contain typical conventions we would associate with a pop video. It doesn't have an upbeat story or bright colours and the artist is not shown in the music video at all, so this 'star image' is not established. Even when Sia performed this song, she chose to sing away from the camera as she had her back turned away from the audience, this suggests her desire to not want to be commented on for her appearance but rather recognised for her good music. 

Sia - Chandelier

As this music video is from a artist within the pop genre (Sia), this particular video challenges the expected norm of what characteristics an audience would anticipate from a pop music video.
There is a much deeper message within both the lyrics and dance routine than originally expected. The video is particularly powerful in displaying and conveying the many emotions and struggles of dealing with depression. From doing research into this artist, I discovered that she had previously in her career contemplated suicide whilst battling drug and alcohol addiction with depression, that she is trying to recover from. This suicide could be represented through the lyrics of ‘I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier
I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist
Like it doesn't exist
I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night, feel my tears as they dry’.
The ‘Swinging from the chandelier’ could have two meanings, it could be referring to her drunken state as wanting to have ‘fun’ and forget or it could be referring to a suicide attempt  or hanging herself and going to ‘fly like a bird’ would be her swinging from the rope as she is in the air.
The narrative of this song is the journey or daily routine Sia found herself in whilst going through this dark time in her life. Drinking alcohol and partying became part of her life ‘1,2,3  1,2,3 drink’ this chorus is repeated throughout the track to emphasise how simple it was for her to consume mass amounts of alcohol in order to not deal with the world or the pain she was going through.

From the beginning of the song, the lyrics ‘Party girls don't get hurt - if i party hard enough I wont feel the pain’, her addictions are used to drown out her sorrow.
Although the dancing in the video may  seem erratic, random and almost all over the place,  it is to represent how up and down her moods can be.Maddie’s face at the point where she is curtsying and fake smiling repeatedly at the end through the door frame  is to represent the brave face that is put on. Inside she is losing it but to everyone else she has to act like she is coping and this also explains her other behaviour  and facial expressions that seem acted.
Maddie's costume/appearance within the video is very natural looking. She is wearing a flesh coloured leotard which makes her appear naked almost, this could be used to suggest her vulnerability or the artists inner child experiences as her blonde short wig looks exactly like the artist's haircut. I think this video is a representation of Sia's life and the struggles she has gone through growing up. This could be shown through when the little girl is holding her stomach in the kitchen, suggesting she is hungry and is not being fed by her parents who are elsewhere spending their money on alcohol '1,2,3 1,2,3 drink'.