We Are Born
Studio album by
Sia
Released18 June 2010 (2010-06-18)
Recorded2009‒2010
Studio
Genre
Length46:23
Label
ProducerGreg Kurstin
Sia chronology
Some People Have Real Problems
(2008) 		We Are Born
(2010) 		Best Of...
(2012)
Singles from We Are Born
  1. "You've Changed"
    Released: 28 December 2009
  2. "Clap Your Hands"
    Released: 13 April 2010
  3. "Bring Night"
    Released: 10 September 2010

We Are Born is the fifth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Sia.[3] It was released on 18 June 2010. The album is more upbeat than her previous work, which she partly attributes to her relationship with JD Samson as well as her childhood influences Cyndi Lauper and Madonna.[4][5] The album was produced by Greg Kurstin, and features The Strokes' guitarist Nick Valensi.

At the J Awards of 2010, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year.[6]

The album's first single, "You've Changed" was released in December 2009 and the lead single, "Clap Your Hands", in April 2010.[7] We Are Born debuted at number 2 on the Australian Albums Chart and was Sia's first top 10 release in her home country. The album won Best Pop Release and Best Independent Release at the 2010 ARIA Music Awards. The album received Gold accreditation in the Australian ARIA charts in 2011.[8]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
BBC Music(mixed)[9]
Billboard(positive)[10]
The Boston Globe(positive)[11]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[12]
Paste(mixed)[13]
Pitchfork Media6.6/10[14]
Rolling Stone[15]
Slant Magazine[16]
Virgin Media7/10[17]

We Are Born was received with generally favorable reviews with a score of 68 at Metacritic based on 14 reviews. Entertainment Weekly said: "On We Are Born the chanteuse explores more caffeinated avenues...It's party music with a heart." Slant Magazine said: "While We Are Born may not be as immediate or distinctive a statement as its predecessor, there's ultimately very little about it that doesn't work."

The album was nominated for a J Award on 26 July 2010.[18]

At the 2010 ARIA Music Awards the album was nominated for Album of the Year, Best Pop Release and Best Independent Release. "Clap Your Hands" was nominated for Single of the Year.[19] Kris Moyes won best video for Sia's video for "Clap Your Hands".[20]

Sia and Samuel Dixon were nominated for Song of the Year at the 2011 APRA Music Awards for the single "Clap Your Hands".[21][22]

Commercial performance

We Are Born was noticeably more successful than Sia's previous work and charted in countries where no Sia album had charted before.

The album debuted at number 2 on the Australian Albums Chart behind Eminem's Recovery, at number 37 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart, at number 9 on the Greek international albums chart, number 7 on the Dutch Albums Chart, number 38 in Switzerland, number 78 in Belgium, number 14 in Denmark, number 24 in Finland, number 73 in Germany and number 60 in Canada. The album also debuted at #74 on the UK Albums Chart in the week ending 3 October 2010, making it her first album to reach the top 100 there.

The album received Gold accreditation for shipments of 35,000 copies in the Australian ARIA charts in 2011.[8]

Track listing

All tracks were produced by Greg Kurstin.

Standard edition (Europe)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Fight"
3:39
2."Clap Your Hands"
3:58
3."Stop Trying"
2:40
4."You've Changed"
3:11
5."Be Good to Me"
3:57
6."Bring Night"
  • Furler
  • Kurstin
2:57
7."Hurting Me Now"
  • Furler
  • Kurstin
3:26
8."Never Gonna Leave Me"
  • Furler
  • Kurstin
3:34
9."Cloud"
  • Furler
  • Dixon
3:43
10."I'm in Here"
  • Furler
  • Dixon
3:41
11."The Co-Dependent"
  • Furler
  • Kurstin
2:55
12."Big Girl Little Girl"
  • Furler
  • Henry Binns
4:18
13."Oh Father"
4:29
Total length:42:36
US & AUS/NZ Bonus Track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."I'm in Here" (Piano Vocal Version)
  • Furler
  • Dixon
3:47
Total length:46:23
Amazon MP3 bonus track[23]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
15."Hold Me Down"
  • Furler
  • Carey
4:22
Total length:50:45

Personnel

Credits adapted from Sia's official website.[24]

Charts

Weekly chart performance for We Are Born
Chart (2010–2011) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[25] 2
Belgian Flemish Albums (Ultratop)[26] 80
Belgian Walloon Albums (Ultratop)[27] 42
Canadian Albums Chart (Billboard) 60
Danish Albums (Tracklisten)[28] 14
Dutch Albums Chart (Dutch Charts)[29] 13
Dutch CombiAlbum Chart (Dutch Charts)[29] 19
Finnish Albums Chart (ÄKT / IFPI Finland)[30] 24
French Albums Chart (SNEP)[31] 42
German Albums Chart (Media Control) 73
Greek Albums Chart (IFPI Greece)[32] 9
Irish Albums Chart (IRMA) 25
Swiss Albums Top 100 (Media Control)[33] 38
UK Albums Chart (The Official Charts Company) 74
US Billboard 200 37

Certifications

Certifications and sales for We Are Born
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[34] Gold 35,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ a b Hoffman, Ross. "Sia – We Are Born". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  2. ^ Phares, Heather. "Review: Sia – 1000 Forms of Fear". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  3. ^ Schadewald, Amber (13 April 2010). Powder room confessions with Sia. San Francisco Bay Guardian.
  4. ^ McRanor, Graeme (10 April 2010). Sia frolics in the shallow end of the pop pool. Archived 4 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine Vancouver Sun.
  5. ^ Goldberg, Michael Alan (7 April 2010). Sia: Death of Cool. Seattle Weekly.
  6. ^ "The J Award 2010". Triple J. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  7. ^ Ambrecht, Wesley (6 April 2010). Top Ten Singles to Download Now. Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine The Cornell Daily Sun.
  8. ^ a b "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2011 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  9. ^ Lo, Chris. "Review of Sia – We Are Born". BBC Music. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  10. ^ "Album Reviews". Billboard. Vol. 122, no. 26. 31 July 2010. p. 32. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  11. ^ O'Neil, Luke (21 June 2010). "Sia, 'We Are Born'". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  12. ^ Greenblatt, Leah (16 June 2010). "We Are Born (2010) – Sia". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  13. ^ Lee, Christina (23 June 2010). "Sia: We Are Born". Paste. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  14. ^ Colville, Liz. "Sia – We Are Born". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  15. ^ Ganz, Caryn. "Sia - We Are Born". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  16. ^ Keefe, Jonathan. "Sia - We Are Born". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  17. ^ Laidlow, Matthew. "Sia – We Are Born – album review". Virgin Media. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  18. ^ "Tame Impala - Innerspeaker: J Awards 2010". Triple J. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  19. ^ "ARIA Award nominations 2010". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 September 2010.
  20. ^ "Six ARIA Nominations For Sia, Angus & Julia Stone". Billboard. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  21. ^ The Man Behind the Songs Archived 28 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine The West Australian, Retrieved on 2011-06-22
  22. ^ APRA AMCOS: Song of the Year - 2011 Archived 11 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine apra-amcox.com.au. Retrieved on 2011-05-27.
  23. ^ "We Are Born [+video] [+digital booklet] (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version): Sia". Amazon. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  24. ^ Sia. "We Are Born". Archived from the original on 27 September 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  25. ^ "Sia – We Are Born". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  26. ^ "ultratop.be – Sia – We Are Born" (in Dutch). ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  27. ^ "Ultratop: Sia: We Are Born". Ultratop. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  28. ^ "Danish Charts: Sia: We Are Born". danishcharts.dk. Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  29. ^ a b "Dutch Charts: Sia: We Are Born". dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  30. ^ "Finnish Charts: Sia: We Are Born". Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  31. ^ "Les Charts: Sia: We Are Born". Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  32. ^ "Greek Charts: Sia: We Are Born". Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  33. ^ "Hitparade Die Offizielle Schweizer Hitparade: Sia: We Are Born". Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  34. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
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