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Music

Sia Posted Her Own Nude Before the Paparazzi Could Sell It

She's helping to make them irrelevant as a result. Thank fuck for that.
Lauren O'Neill
London, GB

Something quite weird is that in the year 2017, there are still people whose job it is to take candid pictures of famous people (usually women) just out in the world living their lives – at airports, on beaches, in supermarket car parks – and sell those photos to media organisations. Paparazzi play on the pervading idea that celebrities aren't like the rest of us, so catching them on film cavorting in a bikini with a little cellulite on their legs, or a stomach roll, or something else completely ordinary is akin to a goldmine.

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Or, at least, it was. Social media, however, has started to change that. First of all, the goalposts of beauty standards have shifted a little from 'slim and white' (though this isn't to make light of the still-massive amount of work to be done), due to the accessibility of image sharing and the wide platform provided by services like Instagram. Secondly, while inevitably, everyone filters their lives and appearances considerably for #online, celebrities are now far more in touch with their fans, and have much more control over what the world sees of them. The celebrities who choose to do so can now share unretouched images, so people can remind themselves of what normal human skin looks like before about three people have blurred it and shaded it and sculpted it. And this is where Sia comes in.

Sia's whole schtick during her this most recent wave of her solo career has been 'don't look at me, I'm under a wig!!' whether performing or making other public appearances. It's… whatever. It's her choice, it's not that interesting, we let her get on with it. But recently, invasive photos of her were taken by paparazzi, and, in her words, "Someone is apparently trying to sell naked photos of me to my fans." So, she did what she had to do. She shared a photo of her bare arse on Twitter, while also slipping in a casj plug for her Christmas album:

(The below is a bit NSFW by the way, if your workplace is of the sort that frowns on out-of-focus bare arses on employees' screens)

Extremely chef's kiss, I'm sure you'll agree.

She's one of a few people to have shared nudes in order to eliminate embarrassment caused by paparazzi (Kim Kardashian, a victim of an iCloud leak, published hers in a book). Not everyone has to take on that approach, but this is a good time to remind ourselves that these paparazzo take these photos because they think there's a market for them. But if celebrities run the photos themselves, that takes away the element of exclusivity – and that's what makes these pics lucrative. Honestly, Sia's decision is a fun reminder of just how irrelevant these 'photographers' are becoming. If your job relies on chasing people down on the road, surrounding them as they try to walk somewhere, almost-blocking their way into a car or doorway and then making them feel worried and shit about their appearance when the photos do get published, it probably shouldn't be a job anymore.

Lauren is pretty NSFW on Twitter.