Cheap Thrills (song)
"Cheap Thrills" is a song by Australian singer-songwriter Sia from her seventh studio album, This Is Acting. It was written by Sia Furler and Greg Kurstin, while solely produced by Kurstin. An official remix version of "Cheap Thrills" featuring Jamaican singer Sean Paul, and was made available for digital download on 11 February 2016 as the album's second single. This version was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The song is a "bouncy", "reggae-tinged" synthpop and dancehall song that incorporates "a constant tropical beat and electropop-style synth layers". Paul added his own lyrics to the remix of the song.
In the United States, "Cheap Thrills" peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 becoming Sia's first number one single in the chart, and Paul's first since "Temperature" in 2006; it also topped the national Mainstream Top 40 and Radio Songs charts. Among other countries, it also reached the top positions in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and french-speaking Switzerland; as well as the top 10 in Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Iceland, Guatemala, Lebanon, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, the song reached number two on the UK Singles Chart. At the APRA Music Awards of 2018 it won Most Played Australian Work Overseas for the song's writers Sia and Kurstin. It won the award again at the APRA Music Awards of 2019 and again at the APRA Music Awards of 2020.
Background and composition
"Cheap Thrills" was written by Sia and Greg Kurstin, and produced by Kurstin. It was originally intended to be performed by Rihanna for her album Anti, but was rejected. It is a "bouncy", "reggae-tinged" synthpop and dancehall song. The song features "a constant tropical beat and electropop-style synth layers"."Cheap Thrills" is written in the key of F minor and set in a common time, 4/4 time. The vocal range in the song spans an octave, from B3 to B4.
Critical reception
Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone called it a "bouncy party anthem", whilst The Guardian described it as "a perfectly serviceable party tune". Nick Levine of NME praised the track's production "and there's no denying this is another superior slab of on-trend ear candy from one of pop's finest songwriters." A CBS affiliate's critic wrote that the song was the No. 3 song that "saved 2016", calling it a "formidable hit".Year-end lists
Chart performance
In Australia, it was eventually certified Quadruple Platinum for shipments of over 280,000 copies, and reached No. 6. In New Zealand, the song reached No. 3, and was certified Double Platinum for sales of over 30,000 copies. The song was awarded Quadruple Platinum in Sweden, Five time Platinum in Spain, and Double Diamond in Poland. In the UK, it peaked at No. 2 for four weeks, and was certified double platinum for shipments of over 1.2 million copies.The song became the best selling and highest certified single in Italy for a female artist, reaching 10x platinum status, with sales of over 500,000 copies. On 25 September 2017, the song received a Diamond certification in Italy, making Sia the first female singer to ever achieve such status.
In the United States, the song debuted at No. 81 and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the issue dated 6 August 2016. The song became Sia's first number-one single in the country, and Sean Paul's fourth; he returned to the top 10 after ten years. It stayed on top for four straight weeks until it was dethroned by "Closer" by the Chainsmokers featuring Halsey. With "Cheap Thrills," Sia became the first woman over 40 to top the Hot 100 since Madonna topped the Hot 100 with "Music" in 2000. It sold 1.7 million copies in the US in 2016, becoming the tenth best-selling song of the year in the country. It has sold 1.9 million copies in the US as of May 2017.
Live performances
Sia has performed "Cheap Thrills" on various television shows and concerts, with a group of dancers usually led by either Maddie Ziegler or Stephanie Mincone dancing to the same choreography as in the music video, including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in January 2016, American Idol in March, Coachella in April, and YouTube's Brandcast event in New York City as well as the season finale of The Voice, both in May.Music videos
A lyric video featuring Sean Paul performing a new verse was released on 10 February 2016. In the video, a faceless couple wearing wigs, which have become part of Sia's signature look, win a dance contest on a retro 1960s black-and-white television show reminiscent of American Bandstand or The Buddy Deane Show, using visual effects to recreate the look of early 1960s TV cameras. The video, directed by Lior Molcho, has been viewed more than 1.5 billion times.Sia and Daniel Askill directed a performance video featuring Maddie Ziegler dancing with two male dancers to Ryan Heffington's choreography, which was released on 21 March 2016. The three dancers wear beige, with black and blonde hairstyles and gloves in the half-and-half style used in most of Sia's videos for This Is Acting. They dance on a bare stage, with Sia at a rear corner in the background singing into a microphone while wearing a similar bobbed two-toned wig, a large bow and a white dress. Billboard wrote that "the video features the same type of intense, captivating choreography as some of other work. This time, Ziegler is backed by two other dancers, and the trio seems to blend as one". Teen Vogue said that Ziegler "delivers another powerful performance". As of July 2020, the video has been viewed more than 470 million times.
Track listing
Digital download- "Cheap Thrills" – 3:44
- "Cheap Thrills" – 3:30
- "Cheap Thrills" – 3:49
- "Cheap Thrills" – 3:39
- "Cheap Thrills" – 4:09
- "Cheap Thrills" – 4:11
- "Cheap Thrills" – 5:35
- "Cheap Thrills" – 4:45
- "Cheap Thrills" – 5:16
- "Cheap Thrills" – 3:32
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
| Chart | Position |
| Hungary | 16 |
| Hungary | 94 |
| Italy | 89 |
| Uruguay | 54 |
| US Adult Contemporary | 8 |
| US Adult Top 40 | 43 |
| US Radio Songs | 50 |