For a while, it almost looked like the end of an era: As Sia began to release videos for her new album, This Is Acting, Maddie Ziegler, the dance prodigy who starred in Sia’s three viral music videos for 1000 Forms of Fear (“Chandelier,” “Elastic Heart,” and “Big Girls Cry”), was conspicuously missing. But fear not: The team has not dissolved for good. Today, Sia gave the people what they wanted with her new video for “Cheap Thrills,” which finds Ziegler perfectly executing some typically killer choreography alongside two other dancers. (Sia shared another, more retro video for a different version of the song, with an added verse from Sean Paul, last month, but the Ziegler version is brand new.)
This video doesn’t hit the same dark, evocative notes as the Ziegler-starring videos that came before it but instead matches the song’s more joyous, danceable tone with a purple backdrop, a lot of lens flares, and … is that Sia standing very still at the microphone in the background? Hopefully this is a sign of many more collaborations to come.
