“Elastic Heart” is a song by Australian recording artist Sia featuring The Weeknd and Diplo, taken from the soundtrack for the 2013 American film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The song was produced by American producers Diplo and Greg Kurstin. It was released on 1 October 2013 as a single from Catching Fire by RCA, Republic and Lionsgate.
“Elastic Heart” was well-received by music critics and peaked at number 7 on the singles chart of New Zealand and was certified gold by the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ). It also appeared on the charts of Australia, Belgium, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In 2014, Sia re-recorded a solo version of “Elastic Heart” for her fourth studio album 1000 Forms of Fear. The solo version was released in 2015 as a single from the album and was accompanied by a music video, which features actor Shia LaBeouf and Maddie Ziegler.
Background
“Elastic Heart” marked Sia’s first release as the lead artist since her 2012 collaboration with David Guetta for “She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)”. While the single was technically the second to be released, it was the second single to be confirmed, followed by Christina Aguilera’s “We Remain”. It was sent to US rhythmic contemporary radio by RCA Records, Republic Records and Lions Gate Entertainment on 8 October 2013.
Reception
“Elastic Heart” received critical acclaim from a variety of music critics claiming it as one of the best tracks from the album. Blue Sullivan of Slant Magazine wrote that “‘Elastic Heart’ is a seamless and highly successful team-up that reads like a grimier after-market version of Lady Gaga’s ‘Do What U Want’.” Spin magazine’s Chris Martins stated that “Sia soared” and it was a “bubbling ballad,” and Bradley Stern of MuuMuse claimed it was “a perfectly chaotic combination.”
“Elastic Heart” debuted at number 67 on the Australian ARIA Singles Charts on the chart issue number 1233 dated 14 October 2013. The single also charted at number 27 on the Walloon Ultratip, and number 36 in Switzerland. The song fared better in New Zealand, peaking at number 7 on the national singles chart and was gold by the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ). In the United Kingdom, “Elastic Heart” debuted at number 79 on the UK Singles Chart on 12 October 2013. On 17 January 2015, the single re-entered the chart at number 61.
Original music video
A self-directed music video for the track appeared on the Banana’s Music Club YouTube channel on 13 November 2013 (currently the video is made private). The video features a couple struggling to cope with their break-up. Most of the locations shown in the video appeared later on the artwork for the album 1000 Forms of Fear.
Sia solo version
In 2014, Sia recorded a solo version of “Elastic Heart” for her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear. AllMusic’s Heather Phares picked “Elastic Heart” as one of the three standouts from the album, alongside “Chandelier” and “Eye of the Needle”. Aimee Cliff from Fact named it a “great example of how only Sia can truly rock a song written for (rather than by) Sia.”
Music video
On 7 January 2015, the music video for the song was released. Directed by Sia and Daniel Askill and choreographed by Ryan Heffington, The video features Maddie Ziegler, who previously appeared in the video for Sia’s single “Chandelier”, and actor Shia LaBeouf. In the video, Ziegler and LaBeouf wear nude and dirt-smeared outfits. Justine Harman from Elle likened the concept of the video to the plot of Titanic. Analysing the video’s content, Jason Lipshutz from Billboard summarised it this way:
“The entirety of the video features the surprising pair interpreting the song through various body contortions: they dance-fight, collapse in the middle of the cage, crawl toward and away from each other, and make some wildly fantastic facial expressions.”
Upon its release, the visual faced criticism due to the depiction of a nearly naked adult and child dancing together, being accused of depicting images that may induce triggers to victims of pedophilia. Sia later apologised on Twitter: “All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring ‘Sia’ self states. I [apologise] to those who feel triggered by ‘Elastic Heart’. My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody.”
Live Performance
She performed Elastic Heart in SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE on 17 January 2015 with Maggie ziegler.
Commercial performance
In the United States, “Elastic Heart” debuted at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue chart dated 24 January 2015. The song also debuted at number 33 on the Hot Digital Songs chart with 50,000 downloads and number 2 on Streaming Songs chart. The same week, “Elastic Heart” debuted at number 7 on the Canadian Hot 100, becoming the first song to debut within the top 10 in 2015 on the chart. The song later re-entered as solo version at number 8 on the Australian Singles Chart.
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