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Sia’s Coming Out

Australian singer-songwriter Sia Furler thought she was just “chatting with her mate” at the U.K.’s Attitude magazine when she casually mentioned she was having love problems – with an American girl.

“Is it serious?” the interviewer asked.

“It is for me,” she said. “For her, I don’t know.”

At 32, Sia is coming to terms with her sexuality, and she doesn’t feel prepared.

“I’ve been talking to my love interest about what I am, and she’s like, ‘Are you going to come out?’ And I said, ‘I guess already did in Attitude.’ And I’d already told all my friends.”

Sia continued: “The thing is I feel kind of straight because she’s kind of like a boy. [My love interest] thinks I’m straight. She’s like, ‘You’re straight; it’s just that your girlfriend is gay.’ So I’m straight, it’s just that my boyfriend’s a girl? She’s like, ‘I don’t care, whatever you’d like.'”

Clearly, Sia’s just trying to figure things out. She unexpectedly starting dating her “love interest” five months ago after spying her on a friend’s MySpace.

“I saw her picture and I guess I kind of knew who she was and I’d forgotten,” Sia said. “I, um, stalked her until she would be my love-a!”

Despite having done hours of press phone calls all day to promote her new album, Some People Have Real Problems, Sia sounds happy, and her thick Australian accent has an optimistic tone. Her speaking voice is very different from the vocals on her album and on past releases, such as her contribution to Zero 7’s “In the Waiting Line” from the Garden State soundtrack or her hit single, “Breathe Me.” Her vocals are sultry, deep and serious – which is why it’s so funny to hear her talk about learning to be a “lezzie.”

“There are so many stereotypes that I have to learn about,” she said. “It’s so new and it’s so fun because it’s basically like going to the library and finding like a whole genre of books you didn’t even know existed that now you can relate to.”

On the cover of Some People Have Real Problems, Sia is pictured with chin-length, straight blond hair, bangs cropped just above her eyes looking into the distance. Her mouth is slightly open, and she’s holding three markers in front of her like a microphone. On her face, she’s drawn a rainbow heart.

“I had to do an article for Rolling Stone about what my style was, and as a joke I wrote ‘sexy clown,'” she said. “Then I realized that it’s true – maybe I am a clown!”

Sia said she’s been obsessed with rainbows for a while, admitting to owning several rainbow items and “typing rainbow into eBay for years!”

As she put it, “I’m a rainbow addict!” But the rainbow on her face was a spur-of-the-moment idea she had at her photo shoot.

“I brought a bunch of different props and things like that,” she said. “I started singing and I was like, ‘I know! I’ll put a rainbow on my face.’ And it’s funny because this was years ago, way before I got lezzie.”

You might recognize Sia’s face if you frequent Starbucks – her latest record deal is with Hear Music, which promotes their music in the chain of coffee shops.

“I went in [to a Starbucks] and it was so funny and I was like [giggling] when the man was like, ‘Name,’ and I was like, ‘Um, Sia,’ thinking he would look at the cover and then think it was really cool – but he acted like he had never seen it before, like he never looked at the cover or like he didn’t give two s—s about what he was selling,” Sia said. “I guess I look totally unrecognizable in real life.”

Her past relationships with record labels have been somewhat tumultuous, so this time around, Sia isn’t so involved with the business aspects of record promotion.

“I’ve had some ups and downs and flops a lot of times, and it all feels like it’s running like clockwork for the first time,” she said. “I’m kept in the dark a lot, which is how I prefer it. I’ve got these amazing managers who just let me get on with writing and singing and dancing and being silly and making little movies and silly blogs and things like that and making videos.

“I think that if they keep me in the dark and not really included in the ups and downs of the business that I’m more productive. And so … I guess all I know is the management have been really pleased with Hear Music. … I don’t even know what happened, but I know we did some crazy-ass nontraditional kind of deal that was supposed to be amazing, though I don’t really know what the details are.”

Much of Sia’s recent success has come from the licensing of her music to movies and television. “Breathe Me” was famously featured in the finale of HBO’s Six Feet Under and also played on the Victoria Secret’s fashion show in 2006.

“I don’t really make money from selling records, and so I hope that people keep using my stuff in their TV shows because that’s the only way I’ve really made a living is through publishing,” Sia said. So far, songs from the new album have been featured on Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy, which Sia said she’s excited about since she likes both of the shows.

“I’m a TV addict,” she said. “And Rock of Love – that show! Oh my God. And like Tila Tequila? That s— is crazy. She’s a new star in the lezzie world, too.”

A fan of American pop culture, Sia sounds like she could be your best friend. If she becomes a big enough star that Us Weekly decides to stalk her, she’ll be regularly featured in their section Celebrities: Just Like Us! She’s into reality television, eBay and meeting girlfriends on MySpace.

She’s also a dog lover and owns a three-legged mutt (“like a Benji dog but really small”) and another she describes as “a pit-Chihuahua bulldog type that’s about 20 pounds.” Although she can’t bring her dogs on tour with her this winter, she is bringing pal, Har Mar Superstar (Sean Tillmann), who is known for his crazy onstage antics.

“He’s such a partier, I’m terrified I’m going to be revisiting some old habits,” Sia said. “But my music is slow – it’s easy listening and whatever. Sean is an entertainer; he will strip for the people. He’s really engaging and charismatic. I’ve got the fancy costumes and black lighting and s— so we just try to make it a good live show with a Capital S!”

Having recently moved from Los Angeles to New York City, Sia soon will be leaving her new home to tour, which she says will make her a little homesick.

“It’s f—ing amazing,” she said of her new city. “I live in Soho. I thought I lived in Chinatown, but people kept telling me I live in Soho. They made me Google it and then I realized I am – I’m in Soho, and I’ve got a really nice pad! I used all my money from the advance for this record, and it’s really amazing.”

Because she hails from Australia, friends warned her she wouldn’t take the East Coast winter too well, so she packed up her dogs and headed back to Los Angeles a few weeks ago – but she didn’t stay long.

“I missed my love interest too much, so I came back,” she said.

As someone who is so open about herself and her life, Sia said she is having trouble being so discreet about her exciting new relationship.

“I’m trying to be respectful,” she said. “I’ve never really dated anyone who was really private. I’m used to being really open about all my relationships, but I know that for her it’s an issue.”

Later on in our conversation while Sia is describing her coming-out process, she busts out singing: “I’m coming out! Bum, bum!” She adds, “It’s fun – it’s like a whole new sort of subject to study now.”

Welcome to the lesbian library, Sia. Here’s your membership card.

For more on Sia and her tour dates, visit her MySpace page.

 

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