{"id":485417,"date":"2026-03-20T07:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485417\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T07:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:20:16","slug":"you-shouldnt-even-know-about-that-id-rather-not-speak-about-it-the-contentious-origin-of-the-david-guetta-monolith-that-brought-sia-to-mainstream-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485417\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cYou shouldn’t even know about that. I\u2019d rather not speak about it\u201d: The contentious origin of the David Guetta monolith that brought Sia to mainstream attention"},"content":{"rendered":"

2011 was a pivotal year for Sia. Though it\u2019d be a further three years until her global mega-hit, Chandelier<\/a> established her as a household name, it was the impact of her lead vocal on David Guetta\u2019s monster hit Titanium that first introduced her room-shaking power to the world at large. <\/p>\n

After spending the previous decade pursuing her own artist career, the outset of the 2010s found the Adelaide, Australia-hailing Sia Furler tiring of the endless press rounds and relentless touring schedule.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wanting to retreat from the limelight, Sia decided to re-orient herself. Instead of pursuing musical success as an artist, she would pivot into being more behind-the-scenes figure, and lean into her abilities as a proficient pop songwriter.<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to sit at home with the dogs on the sofa, record in a closet in the office, send them off and, if I\u2019m lucky, make a million dollars,\u201d Sia told Billboard<\/a>. It was an understandably alluring idea.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, French DJ and EDM heavyweight David Guetta had successfully undertaken a transition of his own. The club-focussed deck-spinner had now become the unlikely architect of a number of pop’s biggest success stories.<\/p>\n

One only needed to look at the Black Eyed Peas\u2019 Guetta-produced behemoth, I Gotta Feeling<\/a>, then there was those chart-scaling collaborations with Kelly Rowland (When Love Takes Over<\/a>), Akon (Sexy Chick<\/a>) and Fergie and LMFAO (Gettin\u2019 Over You<\/a>) from his 2009 pop breakthrough, One Love.<\/p>\n

It seemed that David Guetta had become the man with an industrial supply of the secret sauce that was flowing through late ’00s pop’s.<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

Learning that she was now a songwriter for hire, and already a fan of work, Guetta reached out to Sia to help write a track for his next album, 2011\u2019s Nothing but the Beat.<\/p>\n

Inspired by the recent indie chart victories scored by the likes of Coldplay and Kings of Leon, Guetta decided that his next record would incorporate a few more guitars and even bigger choruses. It would also be a double album, with its first disc spanning this new salvo of chart-angled fare, with an entirely instrumental second disc.<\/p>\n

As with its predecessor, Nothing but the Beat would feature a who\u2019s-who of contemporary pop and hip-hop vocalists, with featured artists ranging from Lil Wayne, Taio Cruz and Nicki Minaj to Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Afrojack, Flo Rida and many more.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

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\"David\n<\/p>\n

“I have the biggest people on the album and she has a different profile, more like an indie kind of artist” (Image credit: Dario Cantatore\/FilmMagic\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Despite sporting a hefty voice of her own, it was Sia\u2019s abilities as a songwriter that Guetta was after.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was totally amazed by Sia,\u201d Guetta told Australia\u2019s The Daily Telegraph. \u201cThis has made me more curious to study her music more because I was really impressed. I have the biggest people on the album and she has a different profile, more like an indie kind of artist and it makes [Titanium] even more special, it makes it stand out I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enthusiastically taking Guetta’s commission, Furler was promptly sent 10 instrumental ideas, with the brief being to use one or more of these instrumental bedrocks to build a song that would suit Alicia Keys.<\/p>\n

There was one problem – Sia wasn\u2019t a fan of Guetta\u2019s populist flavours.<\/p>\n

\u201cElectronic dance music is not my kind of music,\u201d Sia told The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, there was a piece that Sia found herself drawn to. It incongruously began with an Every Breath You Take-recalling, palm-muted guitar motif. \u201cThe only track I liked was [Titanium\u2019s] guitar riff,\u201d Sia told the New York Times.<\/p>\n

This looping motif, which exploded outward into a four-to-the-floor, vibrant club throbber, sparked Sia to write something fittingly tough. A resolute lyric that served as a rebuttal to those who\u2019d tried to pull her down, or critically maul her in the past.<\/p>\n

She turned to Google. \u201cI typed into Google, \u2018What is bulletproof?\u2019 . . . I wrote Titanium in 40 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

I’m criticised, but all your bullets ricochet
Shoot me down, but I get up<\/p>\n

I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose
Fire away, fire away
Ricochet, you take your aim
Fire away, fire away<\/p>\n

Guetta\u2019s music – co-written with Giorgio Tuinfort and Nick van de Wall and produced by the three alongside a young Afrojack – transitioned seamlessly from its indie-leaning intro to a more club-friendly pulse, which balanced a typical verse\/pre-chorus\/chorus\/verse dynamic journey of a pop song with the synth-heavy, sonic trappings of EDM. A monstrous, sidechain-compressed kick defined its surging drop.<\/p>\n

Recording her vocal atop Guetta\u2019s template, Sia played it back to her manager Jonathan Daniel.<\/p>\n

Daniel was overawed. But, to him, this was more than just a demo. It was clear that Sia\u2019s distinctive vocals were intrinsic to the song\u2019s potential; \u201cSia loves straight-up rhythmic pop. She loves Beyonc\u00e9,\u201d Daniel told Billboard<\/a>. \u201cShe wrote Titanium for Alicia Keys. But I told her, \u2018No one is going to take your voice off of that.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan was right. Sia had landed upon a hit that would grant her the commercial success that had so long been unobtainable as a solo act.<\/p>\n

The only problem was that, by this point, she had little ambition to front it.<\/p>\n

When Guetta heard the demo, he was similarly besotted with Sia\u2019s guide vocal. With Alicia Keys (mystifyingly) passing on being the track\u2019s feature artist, David tried to persuade the song’s reluctant co-writer to allow him to put out the version with her vocal.<\/p>\n

It was a hard \u2018No\u2019.<\/p>\n

With Sia not permitting her vocal’s use, Mary J. Blige took a respectable stab at taking the lead. While Blige made a solid pass, it just didn\u2019t compare to Sia’s towering original.<\/p>\n

Much to David\u2019s dismay, in the wake of Titanium\u2019s success, this early Blige-led take on the song was actually leaked online. \u201cYou shouldn’t even know about that,” Guetta told Australia\u2019s Adelaide Now<\/a>. “I’d rather not speak about it. That [leak] was annoying. It wasn’t supposed to be out there.”<\/p>\n

Guetta kept pushing Furler.\u201cThe first time I heard what Sia did, because she was not in the studio with me, I fell in love with it,” Guetta said in a News.com<\/a> interview. “I didn’t even want to give it to anyone else; it was perfect the way it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Sia wouldn’t budge, remaining stubborn in her refusal.<\/p>\n

Enter Katy Perry, who had just had a similarly-themed flush of success with the effervescent Firework<\/a>. Perhaps she would be up for taking on this obvious blinder?<\/p>\n

Naturally, Katy loved the song. But, she realised that even she would be up against it when trying to match that Sia vocal.<\/p>\n

In Perry\u2019s view, it was just too good as it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember specifically listening to Titanium on the plane, I was like, \u2018Oh my god, this song is so good. Who is the person on the record?,\u201d Perry remembered during 2020\u2019s Tommorowland conference<\/a> which she did alongside David Guetta.\u201c\u2018They [the vocals] should stay on the freakin\u2019 record. This is a hit.\u2019\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Sia\"\n<\/p>\n

Sia’s original guide vocal was irreplaceable (Image credit: Anthony Pidgeon\/Redferns\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

That was the final straw for David, who redoubled his efforts, insisting that Sia take the lead. It would later cause no little amount of consternation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took [Mary J Blige\u2019s] vocal off it, and put my vocal back on, my demo vocal, without asking and released it,\u201d Sia said in a 2014 interview with NPR<\/a>. \u201cI never even knew it was gonna happen, and I was really upset. Because I had just retired, I was trying to be a pop songwriter, not an artist.”<\/p>\n

Guetta however, stressed that Sia did indeed actually give final permission to let the song be released with her original vocal. Albeit as the result of a lot of begging.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really had to beg her and almost force her,” Guetta said in a video interview, clipped on this YouTube Short<\/a>. “She was like \u2018No, I don\u2019t want this.\u2019 So we agreed that, yes she would stay on the record, but she would not do any promo, she would not do any interviews, she would not be in the video – and she wouldn\u2019t have to tour or support the record in any way. All she [wanted] was to stay home, write songs and have a quiet life.\u201d<\/p>\n

How David Guetta convinced Sia to sing “Titanium” \ud83c\udfa4 #edm #dancemusic #producer #davidguetta #sia – YouTube
\n\"How<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Sia\u2019s attitude toward Titanium changed when the song, sporting her vocal, was released as the album\u2019s fourth single on December 9th 2011. <\/p>\n

It transpired that Guetta and his team\u2019s instincts were bang-on. The song went big, quick. In tandem with a video, which depicted a boy struggling with controlling his X-Men-like superhuman powers<\/a>, it became a global smash hit. It shifted 4 million copies in America alone, hitting number 7 in the Billboard Top 100, and topping the chart in the UK where it continues to be a club perennial.<\/p>\n

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\"David\n<\/p>\n

“It was so incredible for me to discover what I consider probably the biggest talent on the planet.\u201d We assume he’s talking about Sia there, and not himself\u2026 (Image credit: Denise Truscello\/WireImage\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Beyond opening the floodgates for her solo success with the epic Chandelier a few years on (more on that here<\/a>), the impact of Titanium brought Sia some not inconsiderable rewards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d spent such a long time building what I thought was my own credible music career, and I found myself embarrassed by the commercialism of that music,\u201d Sia told The Sunday Times (as referenced in NME here<\/a>). \u201cBut, of course, when it buys you a house, it stops feeling like such a bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Titanium was unavoidable not just through 2011, but across the ensuing decade. Enmeshing the communal spirit of dance music with the thrilling dynamics of an infectious pop banger, Titanium perfectly married Guetta\u2019s vibrant club magic with Sia\u2019s powerhouse vocals and her resilient theme.<\/p>\n

It resonated with millions the world over. On the back of this phenomenal success, Sia obviously forgave Guetta for his nagging, and would go on to collaborate with the DJ a further 8 times, with the latest being last year\u2019s Beautiful People.<\/a><\/p>\n

A decade on from Titanium\u2019s release, David Guetta reflected on the enduring majesty of the track, and its role in bringing Sia to the attention of the wider world. \u201cThat is probably the song that makes me the proudest in my career,\u201d Guetta told Billboard in 2021<\/a>.\u201cFirst, because I think it\u2019s probably the song that really revealed Sia to the world. She was successful, but in a more underground way, a more indie-pop way. She didn\u2019t really cross over so massively before, and it was so incredible for me to discover what I consider probably the biggest talent on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2011 was a pivotal year for Sia. Though it\u2019d be a further three years until her global mega-hit,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-485417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}