Calling all Sia mega fans!

Are you loving all over her brand new album, We Are Born? So are we! (In case you haven’t already, check out the MuuMuse album review now.)

To celebrate the release, MuuMuse is proud to be giving away ONE SIGNED COPY of Sia’s new album, We Are Born.

To enter to win, send me an e-mail with the subject line “SIA” telling me why you deserve to win.

Has her music affected your life in a special way? Are you one of the nut-jobs who comes to her concerts with loads of gifts to give her? Tell me everything. I want to hear about it!

Be creative. I accept pictures, videos, audio–anything! Just have fun with it. You know…like Sia would.

One very special winner will be selected and notified on July 1.

Good luck!

In the second installment of what may very well become an recurring column here at MuuMuse, MamaMuuse sounds off about Sia.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for the below comments and/or criticisms. To dispute a claim, you’ll simply have to take it up with my mother. I can, however, confirm the claim that I am well versed in Play-Doh.

I said it before and I will say it again. Sia’s cover art is beyond shit. I know you said it’s supposed to be ironic, whatever the hell that means. (That’s what I get for giving you a fancy pants education).

And if they wanted to go that route they really should have contacted you. Now, you were a master of pipe cleaners, Play-Doh, crayons and labels. And if anyone wants to dispute it I still have your first grade artwork on display to prove it!

Thank you for your time.

For years, Australian songstress Sia Furler‘s name was inextricably linked to all things blue.

There were her cosmic, soulful ballads with Zero 7 including “Destiny,” assorted slow burning singles from 2004 album, Colour the Small One such as “Where I Belong” and “Don’t Bring Me Down” and of course the singer’s now signature “Breathe Me,” the instant tearjerker that won the singer literally thousands of fans overnight thanks to its perfectly timed inclusion in the series finale of Six Feet Under.

With her 2006 album, Some People Have Real Problems, Sia slowly began tracing the outlines of something much bolder and brighter for herself. Bubblier up-tempos, such as “Buttons” and “The Girl You Lost to Cocaine” demonstrated Sia’s ability to go beyond the realm of the ballad. But perhaps more than anything, they suggested that perhaps the singer simply wanted to have some fun for once.

This week, Sia releases her fifth studio album, We Are Born, and it appears as though the singer finally got her wish.

Each song on We Are Born is vibrant and playful, colored by zany guitar riffs, celebratory hand claps, and impossibly catchy collection of lyrical hooks. Like a toy box stuffed to the brim with springy sounds and silly noises, it’s perhaps fitting that Sia’s new album sees its release only a week after the premiere of Toy Story 3.

Songs like “Bring Night,” “Clap Your Hands,” and “You’ve Changed” are so instantly familiar that it’s almost hard to believe we’d never heard these songs before. “Bring night, bring the night on!” Sia chants on the former (along with the voices of half a dozen or more celebratory participants) as she bounces above loud sirens and frenzied guitar licks brighten up the anthem.

Others including “The Co-Dependent” and “Never Gonna Leave Me,” simply ooze with feel good melodies, providing summer jam-ready guitar riffs and sing-a-long friendly lyrics.

The cohesive flow of the album is due in large part to the genius production by rising pop legend, Greg Kurstin. The producer has seemingly tapped directly into Sia’s on-stage persona for this record, providing a soundscape of bright beats and noises that completely translates the singer’s on-stage effervescence into music (as witnessed live in Boston, check out the MuuMuse review here.)

Even in Sia’s most solemn moments, the beat remains (mostly) bubbly, as with the gorgeous “Hurting Me Now”: “You think it’s a joke, but baby, you don’t even notice,” Sia softly murmurs during the song’s otherwise slap-happy chorus. It’s a devastating number, but you’d never know it if you weren’t paying attention.

It’s only with the album’s major ballad, “I’m In Here,” that Sia revisits the territory that first catapulted her into the public’s consciousness with Zero 7 and her trademark single. In short, it is the album’s “Breathe Me”–vulnerable, pensive, and an utterly gorgeous display of Sia’s range and delivery style.

Ironically, perhaps no song on the album captures Sia’s essence best than with her cover of Madonna‘s 1989 single, “Oh Father.”

While a major undertaking to begin with (covering the work of legends is always the stuff of danger), the singer masterfully tackles the Queen of Pop’s grief-ridden ballad, complimenting the track with her own signature warble and Kurstin’s playful, bells-and-beats production. The song may be Madonna’s, but the sound is completely and undeniably Sia’s–a perfect representation of what a cover should sound like.

With We Are Born, Sia has finally colored in the lines drawn by her past efforts. The album is not only Sia’s first major pop moment, but also her personal best and brightest yet.

To preview and purchase We Are Born on iTunes, click here.

MuuMuse Approved Tracks for the Week of June 13, 2010

5. I Blame Coco – Self Machine
She sounds just like her father, but this moody electro number pushes all the right buttons in my e-book.

4. Sia – Clap Your Hands
In eager anticipation for the singer’s latest studio release, I’ve been revisiting her latest swaggering single (and still trying to figure out which puppet I’d be in the video).

3. Christina Aguilera – I Hate Boys
I’m not sure why I hated on this song for so long, but I apologize for ever having done so. It’s so fun! “I need more bananas.” Preach, Xtina…preach.

2. Miley Cyrus – Can’t Be Tamed (Wideboys Stadium Club Remix)
Say what you will (she’s a slut, rabble rabble), but this mix is GODLY. It’s stomping. It’s roaring. It makes me want to throw off the chains of social conformity, rip off all my clothes, and let my tweenage body run FREE AS A BIRD.

1. Kylie Minogue – Aphrodite (Album Megamix)
Between “Get Outta My Way” and “Aphrodite,” Miss Minogue’s upcoming release has already been providing enough sizzle and sass to soundtrack my commute for days on end. Summer smash album? Bet on it.

Christina Aguilera appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman last night looking fresh and flawless like usual.

Along with a rather well spoken, enjoyable interview with the host, Aguilera performed one of the best cuts off of her new record, the Sia-penned “You Lost Me.”

Amazing. Much like her Idol performance, she absolutely nails this song. Effortlessly. Just listen and, as my friend Anthony of Tastes Like Caramel said of the performance, let the voice speak for itself.

On a side note, I’m absolutely loving the looks she’s been giving us ever since the MTV Movie Awards performance. The colors, the designs, the jewelry–everything sort of ties together quite cohesively with the Bionic packaging and imagery.

God. I’ve turned into such a Xtina fan boy. Oh, well.