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"A problem that seems so big at the time"
Carrie Underwood

"Some People Have Real Problems" (stylised on some websites as "Some People Have REAL Problems") is the fourth studio album by Australian singer and songwriter Sia Furler, released under the mononym Sia. The album was released globally to music retailers on 8 January 2008.

Background[]

Sia has explained on multiple different occasions that the title's unique inspiration came from her realisation of being privileged:

During recording people would come in and complain about traffic, and I'd say, 'Some people have real problems.' Like, they're waiting for a lung or they don't have a mum. I thought it would be a funny name for an album. And then I thought if I were to get rich and successful I would remember to not turn into an asshole. But I am one, so it didn't work.
— Sia

In an interview with KCRW, Sia explained that the album's title was a reminder to herself to not to start complaining about her "rich-people problems."

[In the recording studio,] if anyone would complain, the running gag was 'yeah, some people have real problems.'
— Sia

Reception[]

Some People Have Real Problems received generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 64, based on 20 reviews. Reviewers such as Rolling Stone and The Guardian were highly critical of the album, each awarding the album only 2 out of 5 stars. Other reviewers, however, such as AllMusic and Slant Magazine (both of who awarded the album 4.5 out of 5 stars) and Entertainment Weekly (who gave the album an "A-") were highly positive towards it.

Charts[]

Following its release, the album debuted at number 26 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling about 20,000 copies in its first week. The album was also chosen as iTunes' Top Pop Album of 2008.

Chart Peak
Australian Albums (ARIA) 41
Belgian Albums (Ultrapop Flanders) 83
Belgian Albums (Ultrapop Wallonia) 52
French Albums (SNEP) 58
UK Albums Billboard 200 26
US Top Alt. Albums (Billboard) 5

Certifications[]

The album was certified Gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association in 2011.

Trivia[]

  • Sia has explained that the U.K edition's album cover's meaning is that the girl on the left is upset because it is raining on her, but the girl on the right has no arms or legs and she is happy living her life.
  • The track "Buttons" was a hidden track on the album, however, when the track gained popularity it was stripped from the track "Lullaby" on the digital version and new physical copies of the album and soon became a single with a music video being filmed to go with it.
  • There was a large number of cut tracks on this record, most of them being B-sides. The tracks "Bring It to Me" and "Blame It on the Radio" were the B-sides to the singles "Soon We'll Be Found" and "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine" respectively. "Pictures", the first track on Sia's first live album, has also been considered to be a cut track from this album. Finally, there are three unreleased songs that were leaked in late 2016 (one being a snippet): "The Corner", "Untangle You" and "Losing You", thought to be cut tracks from this album. However, this has yet to be officially confirmed.

Track listing[]

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Little Black Sandals" Sia Furler · Dan Carey 4:14
2. "Lentil" Furler · Samuel Dixon 4:27
3. "Day Too Soon" Furler · Dixon 4:24
4. "You Have Been Loved" Furler · Clifford Jones · Peter-John Vettese 4:23
5. "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine" Furler · Rob Allum · Phil Marten · Eddie Myer 2:40
6. "Academia" Furler · Carey 3:16
7. "I Go to Sleep" Ray Davies 3:47
8. "Playground" Furler · Dixon · Felix Bloxsom 3:29
9. "Death by Chocolate" Furler · Greg Kurstin 5:03
10. "Soon We'll Be Found" Furler · Rick Nowels 4:21
11. "Electric Bird" Furler · Henry Binns 4:26
12. "Beautiful Calm Driving" Furler · Dixon 5:02
13. "Lullaby" (including hidden track "Buttons") Furler · Dixon 4:31
Total length: 57:23
Digital version bonus tracks
14. "Buttons" Furler · Nick Huntington · Michael McGroarty 3:20
15. "Cares at the Door" Furler 3:49
Total length: 1:04:32

See also: Some People Have Real Problems songs[]

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