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She mixes it up with the sweet 'Academia' (featuring harmonies from Beck) and a soaring cover of the Kinks' 'I Go to Sleep.' But think of those as bonus tracks, adding flavor to an already stunning CD.
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90In short, it's the album everyone's been waiting for her to make.
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The newly varied arrangements, moods, and textures of this album, from the mournful piano-led cover of the Kinks' 'I Go to Sleep' through the horn-based R&B swing of 'Electric Bird' to the sarcastic bounce of 'The Girl You Lost to Cocaine,' make Some People Have Real Problems Sia's most engrossing and satisfying album yet.
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Some People is stuffed to the rafters with love songs but they're never precious or cloying, even when the arrangements soar to rousing string/brass/choir-laden climaxes, or when the lyrics are comprised of little more than a string of clichés .
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80Her control has never been better and Jimmy Hogarth's production provides the perfect foundation for her deeply delicate expressions.
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80Sia still brings enough weird on Some People to satisfy old-school fans.
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80Some People Have Real Problems reveals the other Sia: plucky, bubbly, and growling purposefully through assertive pop songs.
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Her fourth album brims with sunny hooks on its best tracks, and the alluring opener, 'Little Black Sandals,' affords her a rich, layered backdrop.
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It just seems like everyone involved with Some People Have Real Problems wasn't trying as hard. [Winter 2008, p.84]
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60Fuler sounds wonderful on the woozy 'Little Black Sandals' and Ray Davies's 'I Go To Sleep,' though she could do with more restraint and better tunes to sing. [Feb 2008, p.100]
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60The album's finest moment comes on an aching version of Ray Davies' 'I Go to Sleep' that improves on the original (and the Pretenders' cover) by rendering it as a slow-motion, piano-splashed lament.
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There are glimmers of appeal elsewhere--the understated soul 'vamp on 'Day Too Soon,' or "Buttons,' the hidden rocker tacked onto the end--but the tunes feel too often like surface exercises that lack heart.
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50A bit more edge would have been good to distinguish this from the wide range of comfy female songwriters out there right now.
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The results are mixed.
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50It's good-girl soul for the Starbucks set.
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50Mixed up confusion.
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48If Sia spent more time at the piano, and/or hired Robyn to write her a couple of tracks, the results could be marvelous.
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40Her lyrics lack both Wino's wit and realism, and her orchestral-pop backdrops are pallid. [Feb 2008, p.89]
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The main attractions are Sia's smoky voice and quirky personality. Yet not enough of that personality makes it into the music.
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40At times a potentially great song seems to be trying to make itself felt, but none ever quite manages to bust through the beige arrangements.
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