A trip through Sia's many commercial uses

The last time you saw Australian pop singer Sia , it was probably during her brief stint as Christina Aguilera’s choice for co-mentor on NBC’s singing competition, The Voice . Regardless of the fact that on that show she basically sat around silently grinning and looking a bit like an eccentric art teacher, Sia has had a long and well-respected career in the music business, which has included releasing five solo albums, contributing vocals to Zero 7’s biggest hits, and even scoring a Golden Globe nomination for a song she wrote for last year’s Burlesque. Even if you don’t know her by name, it’s practically impossible you’ve never heard one of her songs, especially considering how frequently her 2004 song, “Breathe Me,” is used in commercials and television shows. Tonight, Sia is performing at Metro along with upcoming Norwegian pop star Oh Land (another artist whose music keeps popping up in ads), and what better way to celebrate than a look into the highs and lows of “Breathe Me’s” artistic uses?

Six Feet Under No matter how many more times music coordinators end up using Sia’s trademark song, nothing will ever top the way it was used to devastating effect during the last six minutes of HBO’s groundbreaking series, Six Feet Under . Set to the visuals of each of the main character’s eventual deaths, “Breathe Me” is largely responsible for the emotional wallop of what many television critics call the single best series finale of all time. If you know anyone who followed the Fisher clan for all five seasons of self-destructive neurosis, they’ll tell you this scene made them produce weird gutteral sounds they didn’t know they were capable of.