Sia - This Is Acting, album review: 'feels thin'

Like an indie actor who has buffed up for a Hollywood blockbuster, Sia Furler has come a long way from singing with chillout band Zero 7, to pop songwriter-for-hire, to 40-year-old chart star in her own right.

The scale of her ambition on her seventh solo album is evident both from the small print – the bombastic single Alive was written with Adele and intended for 25, while Reaper is a co-write with Kanye West – and the thunderous production throughout.

Her dreamy, slurred voice, usually a perfect fit for a peaceful ballad, is guilty of oversinging on Space Between.

The thumping, Gaga-style Eurotrance of Move Your Body is pretty horrible and when she does calm down, as with the tropical house of Cheap Thrills, vacuous partytime lyrics leave the song feeling thin.