How Pis Herself Saved

Before she could have a career unlike any other pop star, she had to learn how to live

- Hillel Aron

Sia furler is looking for love. This being 2018, that means using apps like Tinder and Bumble. She doesn’t use her real name, but she does post real photos of herself on the apps. Not that anyone recognizes her; although she’s scored hits like “Chandelier” (1.9 billion YouTube views and counting) and “Cheap Thrills” (which made her one of only a handful of women in their forties to have a Number One hit), she has for years obscured her face with an oversize blond wig whenever she performs. When a potential date asks what she does for a living, she’ll say she’s a writer. Eventually, she might say, “I’m actually also a pop star called Sia.”

“I went on a couple of dates, and they were nice,” says Sia, who grew up in Australia but has lived in Los Angeles for about seven years. “It was very funny, and it was great practice. I’m trying to practice intimacy. ’Cause we don’t date in Australia. We just get together.”

In the past, Sia has been trusting to a fault, jumping feet-first into love. She dated filmmaker Erik Lang for two weeks before they got engaged in 2014. Two years later, they were divorced. She’s trying to date with the same measured control she applies to her professional life. “I probably go on two or three dates before I say, ‘Hmm,

I don’t think this is my person,’ ” she says. “It’s an interesting process, dating at 42.”