By Hayden Wright
As a songwriter for artists like Beyonce, Rihanna, Adele and Britney Spears, Sia has gotten accustomed to seeing her work hit the cutting room floor. The process of refining tentpole albums down to a dozen or so tracks leaves dozens more unrecorded or unreleased.
Related: Rihanna’s ‘ANTi’ Isn’t Finished, According to Sia
Next month, Sia will release her LP This is Acting, composed of 12 such songs that were meant for other singers. To tease the album, the intensely private singer-songwriter shared “Cheap Thrills,” written for Rihanna. It’s not clear which album the reject was intended for, but given the timing we could be hearing beats and lyrics first conceived around ANTi.
“Baby I don’t need dollar bills to have fun tonight,” the Australian pop star sings against a tropical beat. It might not have the high drama and minor key of textbook Sia singles, but hey—it wasn’t even written for her.
