Quote:ole and I have had a lot of success over the past year and I’m excited to see what happens next

Quote:Bianca Minniti ‏@_bonx_ 28 Oct

The true pop queen...but, shh, don't tell anyone. http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/5770521/sia-the-billboard-cover-story … @stormierae, read this.

Quote:Sia wanted to stop recording under her own name and simply write for others. The hits came quickly, some featuring her vocals, and her fame grew instead of shrank.

...Sia is amazed at how things have worked out. "It shows the power of saying 'no,'" she says. New management; co-writes for Rihanna, Katy Perry and David Guetta; guest vocals with Guetta and Flo Rida; and appearances on the Great Gatsby and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtracks have only elevated Sia's profile despite her protestation, "I'm retired."

"I get to sit at home with the dogs on the sofa, record in a closet in the office, send them off and, if I'm lucky, make a million dollars," she says.

She laughs, joyfully squirming on one of two couches in her living room covered by multicolored quilts. A broad smile appears as she talks about how her income from copyrights has "made things easier," paving the way for her to purchase more property and finance travel and parties for friends, not to mention do a good deed or two.

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Sia explains she writes her own material with Kurstin or other collaborators. "I'll sing where I want the note to go and they'll go around several chords until I say, 'That one.'

"The pop stuff I write to track. People send me the tracks—I probably get 10 a day—so I have to chose out of thousands. I feel the reason I'm getting the singles is that I'm good at picking the tracks, more than my having special skills."

She does, however, have a series of guidelines for her pop songwriting:

"The songs that work best are broad lyrically and have one strong concept in the metaphor.

"You have to sing [the metaphor] a lot of times in a lot of different ways.

"People like victory, victim to victory, and party time.

"Songs that have a negative chorus and sad songs without an uplifting chorus are harder to place.

"I have to keep it a lot simpler," she says, contrasting the pop work with songs she considers for herself.

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The first project that Crush's Daniel brought was 10 tracks from Guetta. She chose "Titanium," writing the lyric in 40 minutes. Released in December 2011, it climbed to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold 3.6 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. For a follow-up, she wrote "Wild Ones" for Flo Rida in 15 minutes, she says. It peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100 and has sold 3.8 million.

In both cases, Sia recorded vocal demos that wound up being used on the singles. What Daniel had pitched as a good way for her to get into pop songwriting, she says, was backfiring and keeping her name alive as a recording artist.

...Obviously there weren't any surprises when her tracks were sent in for consideration for the films "The Great Gatsby" and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire." Once she knew she would be the artist recording "Elastic Heart" for the latter's soundtrack, Sia says she felt there was a shift in the direction her RCA album could take. She's not planning to target the pop charts—she's created an animation project, Greta Gorgeous, and her band Surprise Party with that in mind. Her goal is something more stylistically and lyrically fearless.

"I don't care about commercial success," she says. "I get to do what I love and communicate whatever I want."

(11-04-2013, 08:25 PM)Tusk Wrote:

Quote:S2 ‏@stairway2halien 1h
Haley Reinhart Balances Recording Career With Growing Demand As Songwriter http://majorlyindie.com/newsRelease.php?NewsReleaseID=210&NewsletterID=11 …

Quote:There is no date-certain for the completion or release of Reinhart’s sophomore album. “It was so strange for me to not put out another record within six months of the last one,” Reinhart states. “My manager told me not to worry about production or about making everything fit together quite yet, just write great songs, so I took that advice. At this point, I’ve written so much that there’s a really solid group of songs that I would love to put on the album. It’s just a matter of tying it all together production-wise. I’m really tapping into a lot of new things, even things like ballads, which I wasn’t too hip on before – emotional type stuff and these epic, motivational songs. I’m really excited to be able to evolve. I think that’s so important for any artist.”

Well, this Ole Newsletter update is the best news about Haley I have heard in a long time. I am glad that it appears that a second CD is coming, on Haley time, but it is coming. She is taking her time and exploring different things and all of this evolution should make for a great CD. We may still have a wait for it, but this is still very encouraging news.

Regarding Sia, I have been a fan of hers since she sang in a band called Zero 7 and also liked her solo music. Although I am glad it seems Sia has found what she is looking for after some personal struggles, I would hate to see Haley decide she just wants to write songs and stay in the background. She is such a great charismatic singer that is so fun to watch, I am still hoping that she finds the right band and gets on the road, hopefully for her next CD (Spring of 2014???). I do think she loves to perform, and don’t think this is going to be an issue. Meanwhile, I hope she can write a hit song or two so she has some $$$ in the bank so she continues to stay in the music biz for a long, long time.

(11-07-2013, 05:16 AM)Himm2 Wrote: Did you get your $9,717.01 copy of Haley Reinhart's "Listen Up" on Amazon.com yet?:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00C1Q7MTI/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

(11-07-2013, 05:16 AM)Himm2 Wrote: Did you get your $9,717.01 copy of Haley Reinhart's "Listen Up" on Amazon.com yet?:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00C1Q7MTI/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Quote:Samuel Colin ‏@sammycolin 3m

Mr prof is going to be working on some of Haley Reinhart's tracks! Legit!