On her new, most recent album, “This Is Acting,” Australian singer and songwriter Sia Furler—who performs under the stage name Sia—displays her eclectic creativity through both word and voice. Although “This Is Acting” has been criticized as being an uncoordinated collection of singles, Sia offers her audience a wild combination of thematically messaged and musically styled songs originally meant for other artists to perform. While the album speaks of acting and much of Sia’s exterior serves as an act to protect her inner self from the darker realities of a career in the spotlight, these songs almost ironically seem to capture the fullest representation of an artist undercover.

The album’s name, however, does hold essential meaning. As Sia explained in an interview with New Musical Express (NME), “I’m calling it ‘This Is Acting’ because they are songs I was writing for other people, so I didn’t go in thinking, ‘This is something I would say.’ It’s more like play-acting.”

Though the album may seem like a collection of castaway songs written for the world’s most high-powered artists, Sia brings each piece to life, creating a compilation of potential hits, most of which have the captivating rhythm and strength to stand on their own at the top of the charts.

Beginning with the song “Bird Set Free,” Sia encourages her audience to find themselves in the music and melody, just as she does herself. Although the song was co-written by Adele and originally made for the singer’s most recent album, “25,” it was dropped at the last minute. By introducing light piano music before incorporating greater acoustics and Sia’s quickly identifiable vocals, “Bird Set Free” leaves listeners hungry for more and with high expectations for the rest of the album, yet entirely ill prepared for the diverse range of sounds and musical genres heading their way. (P.S.: Be on the lookout for this song at an upcoming Stereotypes event!)

The album continues into its second song, “Alive,” which also serves as the record’s lead single. Also co-written by Adele, the single was meant to be sung by Adele herself, powerfully capturing life from her personal perspective. With the first few notes, listeners may identify a strong similarity to Adele’s “Hello,” which continues to hold a spot on the Billboard Top 100. Prior to becoming Sia’s own personal piece, however, the song was run past Rihanna, who also rejected it. Instead, Sia uses it to demonstrate her artistry in both word and sound, performing equally well in vocal range and strength as her more widely recognized musical colleagues.

The album continues with prior promotional singles “One Million Bullets,” “Cheap Thrills,” the Kanye West co-written “Reaper” and “Unstoppable.” Due to the naturally motivating lyric and beat of “Unstoppable” and its similarity to Demi Lovato’s track “Confident,” as well as the Rihanna-like bounce and velvety rasp of “Reaper,” numerous artistic parallels have raised great speculations as to who many of the songs may have been written for.

Among the newest songs on the album are “House on Fire” and “Footprints.” While “House on Fire” speaks of one’s passionate desire to “keep burning” and keep a failing love alive, the originally Beyonce-bound song “Footprints” emotionally reacts to seeing only one’s own footprints in the sand after having lost a desired love. “Sweet Design” offers a high-paced and high-pitched refrain, incorporating electric dance music vibes in its climax. Near the end, “Broken Glass” throws everything for a loop by opening with simplistic chords on a sitar, before falling into a more instrumentally robust yet similarly fervent call to never give up one’s faith in finding love. Although most likely unintentional, the songs’ messages are quite appropriate for Valentine’s Day.

Serving as the final song on the album, “Space Between” does not necessarily save the best for last. Its slow build and surprising lag even at peak tempo leaves something to be had, but its lyrical emphasis on imagination rings true and seemingly wraps up an album highly representative of Sia’s own personal creativity and imagination.

Without a doubt, Sia does herself well in this album made by—but not entirely for—her. Hopefully she keeps up the act.