Sia releases new song The Greatest with yet another video starring teen dancer Maddie Ziegler

SIA has surprised fans by dropping a new song featuring popular rapper Kendrick Lamar — but he’s missing from her music video.

Singer Sia releases new single The Greatest while on US tour. Picture: AP.

YOU know you are a member of the global pop elite when you can drop a new song and watch the internet melt.

Australia’s favourite eccentric hitmaker Sia Furler revealed her new single and video The Greatest on Tuesday afternoon.

The song has an upbeat tropical vibe reminiscent of her previous single Cheap Thrills and Justin Bieber’s recent hit with Major Lazer.

But the video is a downbeat affair, once again starring her mini-avatar, 13-year-old dancer Maddie Ziegler.

Maddie Ziegler has starred in most of Sia’s music videos and on stage since the release of Chandelier. Picture: Twitter.

The talented teen performer has become Sia’s alter ego on screen and stage since her award-winning 2014 single Chandelier.

For The Greatest, Ziegler and a troupe of child dancers are pictured in a cell and then racing through a derelict house to the chant “I got stamina”.

Directed by Sia’s longtime video collaborator Daniel Askill, the video does not feature her co-star on the recorded version.

Rapper Kendrick Lamar, one of the world’s most sought-after “featured” artists, is credited on the version streaming via Spotify and Apple Music but does not appear in the video which premiered on Vevo.

Sought-after rapper Kendrick Lamar appears on the recorded version of The Greatest but not the video. Picture: Rich Fury/Invision/AP.

Sia posted a short teaser four days ahead of the single launch, the first taste of her upcoming new record We Are Your Children.

But fans were still surprised when The Greatest lobbed, following the same guerilla marketing strategies which have proven so successful for Beyonce, Lamar and Frank Ocean this year.

It is also expected Lady Gaga will premiere her much-anticipated new single Perfect Illusion this week.

Sia is currently on tour in America with Australian fans hopeful she may add concerts here in early 2017 as she hasn’t played here since the Big Day Out in 2011.

Originally published as Sia releases new song The Greatest with yet another video starring teen dancer Maddie Ziegler