By Kevin Rutherford
Sia is a pop star known to shy from the spotlight; the promotion of her album 1000 Forms of Fear, which sometimes didn’t include her at all in its videos’ case and featured the singer either hidden or turned away from the audience during live performances.
But on Saturday Night Live last night (Jan. 17), she took more of a turn in the spotlight, though don’t think that means she didn’t have some accompaniment onstage, particularly from Maddie Ziegler, the child actor featured prominently in both Sia’s viral videos for “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart.” Not that she needed more of a presence; after all, Kevin Hart was the host, bringing his bigger-than-life persona to the stage.
Any wonders about whether or not Sia would face away from the audience to perform, as she has done multiple times on TV appearances since the release of her album, were quelled fairly immediately, though it wasn’t a face-forward rendition of “Elastic Heart” either. Instead, Sia faced stage right, her face again covered in a veil from the nose up. Honorary Sia, Maddie Ziegler appeared again, as she does in “Chandelier” and the just-released “Elastic Heart” video, to redo the dance from the video, though the other part was played by Tonya Brewer this time, not Shia LaBeouf.
Related: Every Musical ‘SNL’ Host, Ranked
The second performance, as expected by most, was “Chandelier,” but it wasn’t like you’ve seen it. She forewent the usual Ziegler choreography, joined instead by a mime who went through the entire rendition in sign language. It was a far more stripped-down performance, too, Sia ditching the bombastic production for piano and strings.
Additionally, SNL lampooned the Justin Bieber Calvin Klein ad—big surprise, right? Kate McKinnon takes the reins once again, poking fun at a “grown-up” Bieber that’s still very childlike, or at least more like an annoying teenager. She nails the mannerisms yet again, which is always the star of any Bieber-featuring sketch. Don’t even make him talk, just get out the blessed hands. The short sketch popped up twice, the second time giving Bieber to show off his basketball prowess, such as it is.
In other music-related sketches, Hart played James Brown in a throwback sketch (all the way to 1971) during which his backing band wasn’t super about the idea of getting any more funky than they already were and instead focused on getting some chicken parmigiana in their life.
SNL returns next weekend with Blake Shelton as both the host and musical guest, meaning we’ll be able to add our first ranking of the 40th season to our list of the best and worst musical hosts.
