Rare public sighting of reclusive Aussie star

This surprise performance in the audience of a famous friend’s show marked a very rare public appearance for the reclusive Aussie.

Reclusive Australian singer Sia has made a surprise public appearance, singing her signature hit – from the middle of the audience in show by her friend, comedian Kathy Griffin.

Footage circulating online shows Sia, rising from the middle of the audience, belting out her 2014 smash hit Chandelier a cappella, as audience members crane their necks and record the apparently impromptu performance.

It makes for one of the few times Adelaide-born Sia, 48, has performed in public without her trademark disguise in recent years. The singer started hiding her face during public appearances a decade ago, due to her discomfort at being famous – ironically, a move that coincided with her becoming more famous than ever, thanks to hits like Chandelier, Elastic Heart and Cheap Thrills.

Sia makes an appearance at Kathy Griffin’s show.

Sia, seen here in November last year, usually hides her face at big public events. Picture: ANGELA WEISS / AFP

Sia’s 2014 album 1000 Forms of Fear was a multi-platinum, number one smash in her adopted home country of the US. But it was a very different story for her latest album, Reasonable Woman, released in May this year: That record debuted at number 153 on the US charts.

Sia back home in South Australia earlier this year.

Sia mostly keeps a low profile nowadays, but last year made headlines when she announced at an awards show that she’d recently undergone a facelift.

“I’m a pop star that normally hides my face and doesn’t lie about s**t,” she told the audience at the 2023 Daytime Beauty Awards, revealing she’d had “an amazing facelift.”

She also revealed she’d undergone liposuction, tweeting the news the day she went in for the surgery.

“Please know that I am so lucky to have the resources to change the way I look and that when you see me looking crazy foxy again that I want you to know it did not come from diet and exercise,” she posted on social media.

“I am insecure like most people and being in the public eye gives me anxiety, so I’ve made the choice to alter my appearance for my own confidence issues. Pray for me please!”

Earlier this year, Sia was spotted back on home turf, wearing head to toe pink as she visited the Bird in Hand winery in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills.

Originally published as Rare public sighting of reclusive Aussie star