Sia: Chandelier Meaning

Song Released: 2014

Chandelier Lyrics

Party girls don't get hurt
Can't feel anything, when will I learn
I push it down, push it down

I'm the one "for a good time call"
Phone's blowin' up, they're ringin' my doorbell
I feel the love, feel the love

1,2,3 1,2,3 drink
1,2,3...

1. anonymous

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   Feb 12th 2015 !⃝

   I read everyone's interpretation and I'm curious what everyone thinks about why sia has the little girl dancing with pink paint and writing on her hands. That's the one thing nobody shared their thoughts on. Is it vomit from drinking or an eating disorder?
2. anonymous

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   Feb 11th 2015 !⃝

   The song, although mainly confronting Sia’s parents alcoholism, and her growing up with barely more than the necessities, (exemplified in the music video through her wearing no excessive clothing, and the apartment lacking everything, bar large furniture items). A key part of the song which, the top comment has failed I believe, to acknowledge, is her confronting her own, internal demons. She alludes to the repetitive cycle of her life, and the alcoholism that surrounds her (1,2,3:1,2,3 drink) but she also briefly touches on her own suicide attempt. At 2:57 (this may require you to view the music video simultaneously) the lyrics say “But I’m holding on for dear life, won’t look down won’t open my eyes...HELP ME, I’m holding on for dear life”. However, it is what appears at this time in the music video which I find more interesting. From 2:57, the girl is wrapped in a curtain (perhaps symbolic of a burial shroud?) while she slowly appears to become asphyxiated by it. Why is this an allusion to a suicide attempt? Upon review, I have noticed that the curtain has a distinct splatter pattern on its right hand-side, this splatter, is blood. Why do I think this is blood? If you pause at 3:04, you can see this splatter pattern has a distinct red-tint, leading me to believe that it is in fact blood. Her actions, prior to this are also intriguing, her pulling on her left eye, exposing her entire eye, may be representative of a medical response team, or a doctor, shining a light on a patient’s eye (this is a test to see if the pupil dilates, and if the patient is still conscious/alive).
   
   That’s just what I think anyway.
3. Ayeleen

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   Feb 10th 2015 !⃝

   Someone is put in a mental hospital. This person drinks and takes drugs. When he/she wakes up the next morning, they feel they should change their lifestyle and successfully do so and get a good night's sleep.
4. anonymous

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   Feb 10th 2015 !⃝

   It is supposed to be about how her parents abandoned her as a child and she was left alone at home alone with nothing- my friends grandparents 'supposedly' helped sia

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. anonymous

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   Jan 11th 2015 !⃝

   It's About a girl (sia) as a child her parents had no money and the only money that they got was spent on alchohol her parents did not care about her they didn't buy her food hence in the video she was rubbing her tummy so she wanted to kill herself by swinging on a chandelier.
6. jennifer.jobbagystevens

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   Jan 8th 2015 !⃝

   I feel like its about someone who is desperate and struggling with a hard life or problem like a bad relationship, bad upbringing or addiction and are stuck, but want a change and have hope of being happy and swinging and flying carefree but cant make it happen at least at the moment so she is dreaming and trying and drinking or whatever to dull the pain in the meantime even if its not going to help come the reality each morning. Its about pain, desperation and being stuck alone. I understand it.
7. anonymous

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   Dec 28th 2014 !⃝

   Actually, rumors said that Sia's parents would leave her all alone without anything in the house so basically, chandelier is the story ofbSia and Maggie ((the dancer)) is the little Sia
8. anonymous

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   Dec 27th 2014 !⃝

   I think sia chandelier is about a teen or woman who keeps falling for these guys who make love with her and ditch her. Now, she feels like a nobody. She feels like an idiot. She decided to drink. "123 123 drink 123 123 drink" either means she's drinking shots of alcohol or bottles of it. Throw em back til I loose count means she's not even counting how much alcohol she's drinking. When she feels the love it's temporary because nobody likes her unless she throws these parties where she meets men and the same thing happens all over again. The part of the dance where she walks over to the curtains and put them around her neck showed suicide. Hanging.
9. anonymous

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   Dec 24th 2014 !⃝

   I think as she says push it down she mean push down the drugs and alcohol. Feel the love because she is drunk.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
10. anonymous

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    Dec 23rd 2014 !⃝

    The song is about love and good lighting... :)

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. anonymous

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    Dec 22nd 2014 !⃝

    Based on lyrics only and not the video, this song seems to be about a woman struggling with her addiction to sex.
    
    "Party girls don't get hurt." She turns to sex to escape the pain of relationships, possibly abusive relationships, or feeling of abandonment. This is further supported by "I'm the one 'for a good time call'" and "I feel the love, feel the love." This doesn't seem to be a prank by someone else as there are no accusations, and it appears she has chosen, perhaps out of emotional necessity, to be a "party girl."
    
    She seems to be wanting out of the cycle, but doesn't know how, so she drinks herself blind to mask her cravings. "1,2,3, 1,2,3 drink, throw 'em back 'til I lose count."
    
    She cannot find away out of her addiction, so she turns to thoughts of suicide:
    
    I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier. I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist, like it doesn't exist. I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night, feel my tears as they dry. I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier. But I'm holding on for dear life, won't look down, won't open my eyes. Keep my glass full until morning light, 'cause I'm just holding on for tonight. Help me, I'm holding on for dear life, won't look down, won't open my eyes
    Keep my glass full until morning light, 'cause I'm just holding on for tonight, on for tonight.
    
    Sober in the morning, she feels remorse and shame and the continuing need to break the cycle.
    
    The cycle begins again over and over.
    
    This could apply to any addiction, but based on the first stanza, it seems clear to me that the particular addiction in question on the surface says sex addiction. It very well could be based on her own alcohol abuse and suicidal ideations from the past expressed through another addiction.
12. anonymous

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    Dec 11th 2014 !⃝

    The song is about self destruction and how this girl is going almost crazy trying to make sure she doesn't commit suicide or do anything she'll later regret ('I'm just holding on for tonight', her dance style and the pictures and design of her house)
13. anonymous

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    Dec 10th 2014 !⃝

    This song is about one way many people choose to try and cope with their pain: escaping it.
    
    Party girls' don't get hurt because they never allow themselves time to feel anything (pretty straightforward, yes, but hold on). They are always burying themselves in parties, drowning themselves in alcohol, surrounded by "friends" all to willing to do the same so that they don't have time to feel anything real. They get as drunk, and party as hard, as possible all in an effort to forget that anything but that party, including tomorrow, even exists. This is all in an effort to hide their pain, keeping it hidden and fleeting, like a bird in the night, so that no one, including themselves, can see it.
    
    The song very, VERY, cleverly makes a point about how this coping mechanism fails. Even during the partying there are fleeting moments of clarity where the party girls (and boys) realize what they are doing but refuse to open their eyes to it, to look down and see it. They believe that if they can just keep partying then the pain and loneliness waiting waiting in the real world won't be able to penetrate the drunken bubble of their party girl life, so that's what they do, refill their glass and hold on to the party for dear life.
    
    The party CAN'T go on forever though, eventually morning comes, bringing sobriety and the pain of reality, likely accompanied by the shame of things you did in your drunken state the night before, or even some vague realization of the sad cycle you've trapped yourself in while trying to escape your pain. Unfortunately this just causes the party girl to realize her "mistake" in letting the painful loneliness of reality catch up by allowing the party to end. She pushes it down and runs to the next wild, drunken night of partying, eager to escape that pain and start the cycle again.
14. anonymous

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    Dec 5th 2014 !⃝

    From where parents thing came up in many interpretations. I think she is just showing her emotions of rage to compete with party girls and she is failing to achieve that much of competitiveness, and that's why she is ashamed of herself in the morning. Swinging from the chandelier is same emotion as flying like bird to achieve a goal. We do not interprete flying like a bird as sitting in a aeroplane, do we? Then why to interprete swinging from chandelier as suicide.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
15. anonymous

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    Nov 21st 2014 !⃝

    I think that when she says "I'm gonna swing from the chandelier" it literally means that she's going to swing from the lamp on the ceiling! Like she's gonna play with her life in a risky way. Chandelier means, besides spider, lamp on the ceiling.

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