Singer Sia has debuted her latest music video, which has caused divided opinions online with many viewers branding the piece ‘paedophilia.’
The video for ‘Elastic Heart’ is the latest release from the Australian singer’s current album ‘1000 Forms of Fear’ and features actor Shia LaBeouf and child dancer Maddie Ziegler, which fans will recognise from the ‘Chandelier’ video.
The video shows both stars trapped in a bird cage, while they perform an interpretative dance.
While some have described the video ‘disturbing’, Sia has explained the choice of profiling the 12-year old dancer against 28-year old Shia was her attempts at representing two forms of herself. The singer added that her younger self is trying to pull her adult persona out of a ‘trapped cage’ she makes for herself.
Taking to her Twitter account, the 39-year old addressed the negative backlash, writing:
I anticipated some ‘pedophelia!!!’ Cries for this video. All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play
— sia (@Sia) January 8, 2015
These two warring ‘sia’ self states.
— sia (@Sia) January 8, 2015
I apologize to those who feel triggered by #ElasticHeart My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody.
— sia (@Sia) January 8, 2015
Video via SiaVEVO