Maddie Ziegler Thought Nobody Would See Her First Sia Video, ‘Chandelier’

Thanks to Dance Moms, Maddie Ziegler became well-known in the competitive dance world at a young age. However, when she was just 11 years old, she was catapulted into new levels of fame. After Sia cast Ziegler in her music video, Chandelier, she became a bonafide celebrity. Shortly after the success of the music video, the dancer was performing on some of the world’s biggest stages.

Maddie Ziegler gave a great performance in ‘Chandelier’

In Chandelier, Ziegler dons a blonde wig and a nude leotard and dancers around an empty apartment. And while the concept seems pretty sparse, The Fallout actor gave a memorable performance in Sia’s music video. Of course, Dance Moms fans weren’t surprised that Ziegler did such a great job in the music video. For years, the Pittsburgh native had shown that she had a gift for bringing complex stories to life through dance.

Sia reached out to the ‘Bloody Hell’ star via Twitter after seeing her on ‘Dance Moms’

In fact, Ziegler’s performances on Dance Moms were what first got Sia’s attention. The Australian singer found herself emotionally moved when she’d watch the Bloody Hell actor perform a solo. Eventually, the “I’m In Here” singer reached out to Ziegler and her mother, Melissa Gisoni, via Twitter. In a 2014 tweet, Sia gave Ziegler the opportunity to play her in Chandelier.

Because Ziegler was passionate about dance, she jumped at the opportunity to do a professional job. However, she didn’t expect anything to come of it. In fact, Ziegler was convinced that nobody would ever see her performance in Sia’s music video. In an interview with Elite Daily, the dancer recalls telling her friends about her experience filming Chandelier.

Ziegler assumed that nobody would see the music video

“I didn’t think anyone was going to see this music video because I didn’t even know who Sia was,” Ziegler recalled. “I remember going to LA, filming it, coming back, and my friends at dance were asking me, ‘What did you do?’ and I was like, ‘I wore a wig, it was so weird. No one’s going to see it, but it was really fun.'” 

Ziegler has worked with Sia numerous times since ‘Chandelier’

But Ziegler couldn’t have been more wrong. The video became a viral sensation, with millions of people tuning in to watch her performance. The video also led to her dancing at high-profile venues like The Grammys and Saturday Night Live! Furthermore, after Ziegler did Chandelier, Sia would continue to collaborate with the dancer for other music videos like “Elastic Heart” and her directorial debut, Music. In the interim, Ziegler went on tour with Sia, dancing on stages all over the world.

It’s pretty wild that Ziegler didn’t think anyone would see her very first music video with Sia. To date, Chandelier has racked up over 2.5 billion views on YouTube alone. And as Sia has stated that she doesn’t want to work with anyone else besides Ziegler, we wouldn’t be surprised if the pair collaborated again in the future.