“The Greatest” is a song by Sia that she released in response to the shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, which was the worst mass shooting in United States history, resulting in the deaths of 50 people and leaving 53 others wounded (1). Though the song was not written about the Pulse shooting, the music video was completely dedicated to its victims (2). Originally, the song was written to remind her listeners that they can be the greatest regardless of sexual orientation, gender, sex, or religion. She felt that this message was an important one for the LGBTQ+ community to hear, seeing as it “has the highest suicide rates of any social group” , with an estimate by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center of 30 – 40% of LGBT youths who have attempted suicide (3). The music video is very symbolic, containing the same amount of dancers as people killed, and concluding with all of them collapsing to the floor (4). This song served not only as a tribute to victims of hate crimes in the LGBTQ+ community, but also as a message of hope for those who struggle to find it.
(4) Contrary to “Same Love”, the music video to “The Greatest” does not entirely match up with the lyrics of the song itself. Since Sia wrote the song before the shooting in Orlando occurred and produced the music video afterwards, a visible discrepancy exists. However, there is still a connection, as the lyrics of the song are supposed to be empowering towards those who feel marginalized due to their sexual orientation, sex, or gender identity. Thankfully, the existence of the music video allowed Sia to take her song one step further in order to honor the Pulse victims through the visuals presented, such as the rainbow paint on the principle dancer’s face and the imagery of all of the once happy and free dancers collapsing to the ground at the video’s conclusion. Had this song been released in the 1970s or the 1980s, however, there most likely would not have been a video released to add further meaning to the song. Therefore, the lyrics would have remained ambiguous in a sense, because listeners would not know if the song was meant to be dedicated to a specific event or to a community of people in general.
(1) Shapiro, Julie, and Melissa Chan. “Orlando Shooting: What to Know About Pulse Nightclub Attack.” Time, Time, 12 June 2016, time.com/4365260/orlando-shooting-pulse-nightclub-what-know/.
(2) Brucculieri, Julia. “Sia’s Emotional New Video Honors Victims Of Orlando Shooting.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 7 Sept. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sia-the-greatest-video-orlando-tribute_us_57cef294e4b06a74c9f09c34.
(3) Sia, and Kendrick Lamar. “Sia (Ft. Kendrick Lamar) – The Greatest.” Genius, Genius Media Group Inc., 5 Sept. 2016, genius.com/Sia-the-greatest-lyrics.
(4) Sia, Sia, director. The Greatest. YouTube, YouTube, 5 Sept. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKSRyLdjsPA.