Oh yeah, my boyfriend’s a girl
by NICK BOND
It’s not often you speak to an interviewee who’s so relaxed, they’re horizontal. Sia’s a little different from your standard interviewee, though.
I’m in bed with my BF and my two dogs, and we’re watching TV, she informs me with a laugh as we begin our chat. Were it not for the fact that I’m calling her at her home in New York, I get the feeling that she’d happily invite me to hop into bed with her for a lazy afternoon of telly-watching.
Despite being an Aussie (she’s from Adelaide), Sia Furler’s career has existed almost entirely outside of this country. She’s never toured Australia, and her latest album is only getting a release here a full 10 months after the US. In short, she’s neglected us.
When I look back at it, I thought, Australia’s just not big enough to support subculture. But now I’m no longer -˜subculture’, I’m -˜mainstream’ -” I’ve -˜fully mainstreamed’,’ she says.
Sia’s mainstreaming has been a long, slow process. Her first two albums, 2000’s neo-soul Healing Is Difficult and 2004’s majestic Colour The Small One, were not big sellers. Her fortunes changed when her song Breathe Me soundtracked the final, mesmerising moments of the Six Feet Under series finale. The track found her a wider audience -“ one that landed her current album, Some People Have Real Problems, with a surprise US top-30 debut.
Now, at 32 and having tasted success, she appears to be having more fun with her career. There’s the hilariously crap artwork for her new album. Then there are the brilliant videos to her latest singles -” first came YouTube hit Buttons, where her face was swathed in all manner of household items, from clothes pegs to Gladwrap. Then followed The Girl You Lost To Cocaine, in which she donned bizarre costumes to play some of the most morbidly fascinating characters ever to grace the screen, amongst them a hotdog-eating zombie bride.
One side effect of Sia’s burgeoning fame is that people are starting to take an interest in whom she sleeps with. In interviews to support the album, she’s been open about her bisexuality. The earlier mention of her BF still on my mind, I ask why, if she’s settled down with a boy, she decided to open up about her attraction to women.
Oh yeah, my boyfriend’s a girl! I’m very open about it. As long as you’ve got a good personality, and you’re smart and funny and kind, then you’re in with a chance, she says. I’m not really fussed about what sex you are.
I had a girlfriend when I was 21, then I was always with boys, now I’m in a relationship with a girl. I think labels are limiting -” I mean, I would call myself straight, but I’m in a relationship with a girl, so -¦ I don’t know. It’s a funny place to be.
