Some People Have Real Problems by Sia

2008, Hear Music, 14 tracks at 59 min.

Last summer, while going for a drive with a friend, I pulled out Sia’s then-new album, Some People Have Real Problems. “Looks interesting, huh?” I asked. “Well,” said my friend, obtusely, “Looks like some ‘daddy’s little girl’ playing pretend with her father’s money.” And, indeed, how could I refute that viewpoint? “Hey guys, I’m Sia, of Zero 7, and I’m trying to continue the tradition of soul music. By being white, and selling my records on Starbucks’ label.”

As expected from a Starbucks record, Some People Have Real Problems is wholesomely innocuous—at its base it’s pop music, tinged with some soulfulness. Yet the album title lends some evidence to the idea that this is not total brat-pop—says Sia in an interview, pointing to the atrociously-shooped album cover, “But here we have a girl who seems to be getting along just fine---without arms or legs.” You see, I thought the little character on the right merely had a pile of dookie on her head, but apparently she is a quadriplegic, thus contrasting the unhappy, spoiled bourgeois girl on the left, who is saddened by the tiny rainstorm hovering above her MS-Paint-drawn head.

Yet Ms. Furler has nice enough pipes to back up all her acute whiteness—“Day Too Soon” is particularly mournful, and the petite nature of “Academia” is well-crafted down to the minute. “Academia” is such a standout track, actually, that I wish I could bring it to all my historicty-obsessed instructors and say, “See? Sia disapproves of your over seriousness,” yet I get that feeling my argument would be instantly invalidated. “But she’s white. And trying to make soul music.”

And if this feigned soulfulness is the main flaw of the album—asides from the annoying fact that the spectacular “Buttons” is a hidden track on the US edition—then, really, this album is pretty damn good. There’s a full-bodied orchestral feel when need be (“Electric Bird” and “Soon We’ll Be Found”), as well as sweeping, teary bridges (“Lentil”) and defiant, funky ‘sod-off’s’ to whomever may call Furler a lightweight (“The Girl You Lost to Cocaine” and “Playground”).

So, should you buy Some People Have Real Problems, and expect it to be in continual rotation on your CD platter? If you’re into that Feist girl, then, sure, this may become your favorite summer CD. Otherwise, Sia’s third offering is enjoyable but a few inches from perfection. If you do decide to purchase this album, get it on an IRL disc, as you can get access to 4 bonus Mp3s online, including “Buttons.” And then you won’t have any real problems, will you?

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