Sia’s new video for the aggressively uplifting, inspirational track “The Greatest” is part Oliver Twist, part Annie, and part Fame. Poor, artfully smudged urchins/orphans break free of the grimy prison housing them and spastically shimmy their way to freedom, led by Sia’s familiar and offical stand-in Maddie Ziegler, real-life escapee from the reality show “Dance Moms.”
The song itself, an anthem of self-empowerment in the face of assorted, vaguely outlined life obstacles is Sia boiled down to her hook-laden essence, while the video wins you over because Maddie and the other kids really can dance their asses off. Unfortunately, that official video (directed by Sia and Daniel Askill) isn’t set to the version of the song that features Kendrick Lamar, but we’ve included that just below the video.
Top photo of Sia and Maddie courtesy Getty Images.
