On Tuesday, Sia released the video for her new single, \u201cThe Greatest,\u201d which features Kendrick Lamar (though his verse isn\u2019t in the video version). According to\u00a0various outlets, the video\u00a0honors the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shootingwhich occurred this past June in Orlando, Florida.<\/p>\n
Directed by Sia and Daniel Askill and choreographed by Ryan Heffington, the video stars Maddie Ziegler, the young dancer who also brought Sia\u2019s visions to life in videos for \u201cChandelier,\u201d \u201cElastic Heart,\u201d \u201cCheap Thrills\u201d and \u201cBig Girls Cry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clip starts on a black screen with the words #WEAREYOURCHILDREN printed across. Then, we see a crying Ziegler wiping paint under her eyes, as if crying rainbow tears, or perhaps applying warpaint for battle. A large group of kids lies on the ground below her, motionless, and she begins screaming (though we don\u2019t hear her), urging the kids to get up.<\/p>\n
Once the music starts, the group begins moving in unison, with Maddie leading the charge. Attitude reports\u00a0<\/strong>that the children represent the victims killed in the deadliest mass shooting in America\u2019s history\u00a0\u2015 \u201c49 dancers for 49 lives lost,\u201d as the magazine put it. With lyrics like, \u201cDon\u2019t give up, I won\u2019t give up \/ Don\u2019t give up, no no no\u201d and \u201cRunning out of breath but I \/\u00a0oh I I got stamina,\u201d it\u2019s hard not to draw those parallels.<\/p>\n The kids dance through an old house, eventually coming together as one group. They jump up and down, moving together as a single entity\u00a0(much like individuals would at a club as music blares through the speakers) before collapsing to the ground, leaving behind the haunting visual of bodies on the floor.<\/p>\n Dedicating the video wouldn\u2019t be an unusual thing for Sia to do. Following the tragic shooting, the singer dedicated a performance of her song \u201cTitanium\u201d to the LGBTQ community. As she sang lyrics like, \u201cYou shoot me down, but I won\u2019t fall, I am titanium,\u201d she was overcome with emotion and struggled to get through it. The result was one of the most emotional performances we\u2019ve seen from the singer.<\/p>\n Sia has yet to comment on the meaning behind \u201cThe Greatest\u201d video. We have reached out to a representative for the singer for comment.<\/p>\n She did, however, retweet Vulture\u2019s story, which called the video a \u201chaunting tribute to Orlando.\u201d<\/p>\n Take a look at the video clip:<\/p>\n