Every Song on Sia's New Album and the Pop Star Who Was Supposed to Sing It

In her interview with Rolling Stone, Sia told the story of the song. "I had seller's remorse with 'Bird Set Free' every time it went away and then came back. First it went to Rihanna and then it was returned. Then it went to Adele, and Adele cut it and sounded amazing on it. Then it was returned. The truth is that we wrote 'Bird Set Free' for Pitch Perfect 2. They rejected it and took another song of ours called 'Flashlight.'"

According to Billboard, which featured a translated RTV Slovenija article, "Alive" is about Adele, but was rejected at the last minute. "It’s about [Adele’s] life, so I now sing a song from her perspective." Sia also offered a little more insight during an interview with Ryan Seacrest: "We wrote three songs in two days, and none of them made the cut, and 'Alive' was one of them. I said to [Adele], ‘Do you mind if I pitch it to, let's say, Rihanna?' She said, 'Yeah, but can you take my vocal off it? Because I don’t want my vocal floating around out there on a demo.' And I was like, ‘Sure.’ So I went and recut the vocal and everybody in my life was like, 'You can’t give this away to anybody.'"

In the aforementioned Rolling Stone piece, Sia mentions that "One Million Bullets" is the only track on the album she didn't send out. "I guess all of them were written with the intention of being for somebody else. But there is one I didn't send to anybody called 'One Million Bullets.' That one I liked — and I already had so much of the album completed — but I loved it and didn't want to give it to anyone else."

Sia had a very brief phone chat with One radio station, just after her performance on Saturday Night Live. The interviewer, Kannon, quizzed her about the lyrics in "Move Your Body" and who they were meant for. He guessed Rihanna, but Sia replied, "Shakira!"

Sia actually hasn't admitted anything about the song "Unstoppable." Many have connected Katy Perry and Demi Lovato to the track, because it sounds like the kind of anthemic power pop we've seen in "Roar" and "Confident," respectively. It's not a shot in the dark, either — in her interview with Ryan Seacrest from back in September, Sia listed both Perry and Lovato as artists whose tracks appear on the album.

In the Rolling Stone piece, Sia's interviewer suggests that "Cheap Thrills" sounds like a Rihanna song, and Sia confirms it. "Yeah, it totally was . . . her manager said, 'We want "Diamonds." We need soul. We want some music that has feeling.' I went to Greg [Kurstin], and that's what we came up with. I realized just as soon as I was cutting it that it sounded a little bit too Brit-pop for her. It's more Icona Pop. We did actually send it to her, but they passed on it."

Sia also talks about "Reaper" in great detail in Rolling Stone. She says, "There's one that I went into a session with Kanye, to write for Rihanna, so that one was intended for her, but then I'm keeping that one." When her interviewer asks if the track in question was "Reaper," she says, "Yeah! . . . I went into the studio to write for Rihanna with Kanye — neither of them showed up — and stayed for less than an hour. They had two tracks. They told me what they had wanted. There were notes from Kanye, and I can't even remember what they were. I remember I just raced in and raced out, and I thought there was something about the chorus that seemed fun about this song, but I never thought it would see the light of day."

"House on Fire" is the only track on This Is Acting that hasn't received any commentary from Sia or focused speculation.

Rolling Stone's interview had a brief mention of this song. "I feel connected to a song called 'Footprints.' That was a Beyoncé reject that I wrote in the Hamptons a couple years ago."

This is another song that Sia hasn't directly commented on, but popular consensus is that it was a Jennifer Lopez pitch. Music blog PopCrush referred to the song as "tailor-made for Jennifer Lopez," and one Tumblr user even pointed out that the lyrics “my peach, juicy, soft, and so delicious” seem like a direct reference to Lopez's booty-centric music.

There's no official confirmation that "Broken Glass" was a Demi Lovato track, but there's evidence to suggest it totally could have been. For one, it sure sounds like something Lovato could slay. Plus, it's certainly been tweeted about and speculated on more than once or twice.

Sia admitted this song was also meant for Rihanna during a chat on Good Morning America. "Even one I took back, actually, because I liked it so much." She confirmed the song was "Space Between," and when asked who she wrote it for initially, she said, "Well, Rihanna, but I really asked her if she wouldn't mind, and she said no, she didn't mind."