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A fantasy sequence in Music, starring Maddie Ziegler.

Music review – Sia's tone-deaf treatment of autism

In the singer-songwriter’s simplistic directorial debut, a cartoonish portrayal of autism clashes with a tale of addiction

F or many years, Australian pop star Sia has hidden behind a fringe that covers her eyes. Using actors instead of starring in her own music videos, she has preferred not to centre herself. Yet her directorial debut appears to draw from her own experiences with addiction; its protagonist Zu (a near-bald Kate Hudson) is a recovering alcoholic. This is confusing, given that the film’s title refers to her non-speaking, neurodivergent younger sister Music (Maddie Ziegler), whose main purpose is to absolve Zu from her troubled past.

Ziegler, who appeared on the reality TV show Dance Moms , and features in some of Sia’s best-known videos (including Chandelier and Elastic Heart ), is not herself on the autistic spectrum. It’s a problem, especially given the cartoonishness of her portrayal, which sees her gurning, grimacing and mumbling through her scenes. Music uses an augmentative and alternative communication device to translate rudimentary expressions such as “I am happy” and “I am sad”. Her interior world is just as simplistic, conveyed via goofy musical interludes rendered in childlike primary colours and abstract shapes. The lyrics, jaunty platitudes about Music’s “magic mind” and failing body, are offensive too. These self-consciously upbeat moments clash horribly with the wider redemption narrative.

Available on multiple VOD platforms from 15 February

Drama films
The Observer
Music (2021 film)

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‘Music’ Review: A Woefully Misguided View of Disability

The pop star Sia’s feature directorial debut, about an autistic teenager, at times seems indistinguishable from mockery.

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By Teo Bugbee

The cringeworthy drama “Music” introduces its central character in a song and dance sequence so gasp-inducingly crass, the scene almost demands that the movie be shown in theaters. At least then, audiences would be able to exercise the right to walk out.

The film is directed by the pop singer and songwriter Sia, and it stars her frequent collaborator, Maddie Ziegler, as an autistic teenager named Music. The film begins with Ziegler performing an interpretive dance set to a new song by Sia about bodies failing and spirits being set free.

Ziegler’s dancing is as expressive as ever, but she has been directed to pantomime an exaggerated apery of disability. She gapes, her eyes wide and unfocused, as the choreography leads her through a cruel approximation of twitches and whoops. Neither Ziegler nor Sia are autistic, and their collaboration on this film reduces disability to mannerisms that look indistinguishable from mockery.

The film spins away from this shocking opening to introduce its characters in a more realistic world. There, Music lives in a crowded apartment with her loving grandmother, Millie (Mary Kay Place). When Millie suddenly dies, she leaves the teenager in the care of Music’s half sister, Zu (Kate Hudson, nominated for a Golden Globe in the role).

Zu is ill-equipped for the responsibility of watching Music, but the attention of a handsome neighbor, Ebo (Leslie Odom Jr.), provides her with enough incentive to stick around. As Zu and Ebo begin to imagine what a family with Music could look like, they sing Sia songs composed specifically for the film in their fantasies.

This is a bizarre movie, one that parades confused ideas about care, fantasy and disability with a pride that reads as vanity. It is audacious, in the sense that making it certainly took some audacity.

Music Rated PG-13 for language, drug references and brief violence. Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes. Rent or buy on Google Play , FandangoNow and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.

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100 Best Musical Movies of All Time

Holiday Inn turns 80, and Hairspray celebrates its 15th anniversary this year!

If you’ve got a song in your heart, we’ve got a list for your eyes: The best-reviewed musicals from Wizard of Oz to La La Land! With Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights finally making the leap from Broadway to screen, we’ve put together 100 showstoppers that’s all-singing, all-dancing!

Every expression of the musical movie is present in this cavalcade of the 100 best-reviewed: the classics ( All That Jazz , The Sound of Music ), the mostly moderns ( La La Land , Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again , Mary Poppins Returns ), the MGMs ( Singin’ in the Rain , An American in Paris ), the Astaire & Rogers ( Top Hat , Swing Time ), intimate indies ( Once , Dancer in the Dark ), and stuff for the kids ( Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory , Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ). We kept this countdown to live-action musicals, so nothing animated except for the partially so, like Mary Poppins .

And we picked movies where people break into song and dance, not ones where they just perform music; in other words, Crazy Heart , Bohemian Rhapsody , and the 2018 A Star Is Born don’t work for this list, but the Judy Garland A Star Is Born does. Recently, we’ve added Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story , tick, tick…BOOM! , which netted an Andrew Garfield Best Actor Oscar nomination, and Cryano , starring Peter Dinklage. Then, we sorted all the movies by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh films first.

And now it’s time for the big showstopper: The 100 Best Musical Movies of All Time! — Alex Vo

Singin' in the Rain (1952) 100%

Top Hat (1935) 100%

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) 100%

The Wizard of Oz (1939) 98%

A Hard Day's Night (1964) 98%

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) 88%

A Star Is Born (1954) 98%

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) 98%

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) 97%

Once (2007) 97%

A Night at the Opera (1935) 97%

An American in Paris (1951) 95%

Mary Poppins (1964) 97%

The Muppets (2011) 95%

Sing Street (2016) 95%

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) 95%

In the Heights (2021) 94%

Funny Girl (1968) 94%

My Fair Lady (1964) 95%

Enchanted (2007) 93%

Cabaret (1972) 92%

West Side Story (1961) 92%

Hairspray (2007) 92%

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) 92%

La La Land (2016) 91%

West Side Story (2021) 92%

The Sapphires (2012) 91%

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) 92%

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (2022) 93%

Topsy-Turvy (1999) 90%

Little Shop of Horrors (1986) 91%

Sunshine on Leith (2013) 90%

Rocketman (2019) 89%

Oliver! (1968) 90%

The Lure (2015) 89%

Blinded by the Light (2019) 89%

The Muppet Movie (1979) 88%

Funny Face (1957) 88%

Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021) 87%

Gigi (1958) 88%

All That Jazz (1979) 87%

Chicago (2002) 86%

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) 86%

Cyrano (2021) 85%

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) 83%

The Sound of Music (1965) 83%

Fiddler on the Roof (1971) 81%

Chi-Raq (2015) 82%

Hair (1979) 83%

Mary Poppins Returns (2018) 80%

Muppets Most Wanted (2014) 80%

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) 79%

Dreamgirls (2006) 79%

8 Women (2002) 79%

The Saddest Music in the World (2003) 80%

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) 80%

White Christmas (1954) 77%

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) 77%

Everyone Says I Love You (1996) 77%

Grease (1978) 66%

Labyrinth (1986) 77%

Moulin Rouge (2001) 74%

The Blues Brothers (1980) 72%

French Cancan (1955) 100%

The Court Jester (1955) 97%

Swing Time (1936) 93%

Victor/Victoria (1982) 97%

42nd Street (1933) 96%

The Cocoanuts (1929) 95%

The Music Man (1962) 94%

On the Town (1949) 93%

The King and I (1956) 93%

Royal Wedding (1951) 92%

Easter Parade (1948) 91%

Guys and Dolls (1955) 91%

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) 91%

Bye Bye Birdie (1963) 86%

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) 89%

Help! (1965) 86%

Viva Las Vegas (1964) 87%

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) 86%

Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 82%

Oklahoma! (1955) 87%

The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) 85%

Pennies From Heaven (1981) 83%

Going My Way (1944) 83%

Fame (1980) 80%

Bugsy Malone (1976) 79%

Hipsters (2011) 80%.

The Jazz Singer (1927) 78%

The Wayward Cloud (2005) 79%

Carmen Jones (1954) 78%

The Great Muppet Caper (1981) 78%

Cry Baby (1990) 72%

The Great Ziegfeld (1936) 71%

Meet the Feebles (1990) 72%

Annette (2021) 71%

Beauty and the Beast (2017) 71%

Into the Woods (2014) 71%

Tommy (1975) 71%

More countdown.

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Music Reviews

the real issue is that, though the movie is centred and even takes its name from a nonverbal teenager who's on the low-functioning side of the autism spectrum, it doesn't seem to care about exploring who she really is.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 18, 2023

For those buying into the manipulation, the film is padded with fantasy sequences that double as music videos for pop star Sia, whose directorial debut feels more self-indulgent than sincere.

Full Review | Jul 13, 2023

Offensive and poorly judged, it intends to be inspirational but merely inspires confusion.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/10 | Jul 11, 2022

What is the distance between trailblazer and tragically out of touch? In the case of singer, songwriter and pop-cultural maverick Sia, the answer is the length of her debut as director.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 1, 2021

Music is a disastrous attempt at being a sprawling musical about a community of misfits. It comes off as not only incoherent, misguided and self-indulgent, but also devoid of empathy, patience or understanding of its subject matter.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2021

It's a debacle.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2021

Not only does Music fail to sing, it fails to even carry a tune. Don't quit your day job, Sia.

Full Review | Jun 6, 2021

Sia's clumsy drama hits all the wrong notes...

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Apr 22, 2021

Music is more than just a trainwreck of Sia's first frustrating attempt at a feature. It represents the depressing realization of just how misinformed the public still is about autism and how dangerous the misinformation in media is turning out to be.

Full Review | Apr 16, 2021

Other than the performances, there is nothing redeeming about this complete mess.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/10 | Mar 5, 2021

Despite talented cast, drama is a misguided look at autism.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 4, 2021

Despite being intercut with extremely Sia-esque singing and dancing vignettes, the story is all too familiar and the script very ropey. Hudson does what she can with a cliché.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 3, 2021

There's so much that this movie gets wrong about the community that is searching to uplift.

Full Review | Feb 25, 2021

A completely misguided mess.

Hudson goes to some emotionally raw and dark places, and really puts it out there in the song-and-dance department too.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 24, 2021

Lacking any direction, Sia slips bits of each and every style in at random and fails to achieve any of them.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 22, 2021

Sia isn't the first musician to try her hand at filmmaking. Music is barely a movie, however.

Full Review | Feb 21, 2021

It's pitiful stuff.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 20, 2021

The imagination and craftsmanship nearly compensate for the film's cliché characters and screenplay.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Feb 19, 2021

Four years ago, a musical genius shot a stinker. That she's promoting it so aggressively now suggests that she can't see, or smell, what's right under her nose.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 19, 2021

Cast & crew
User reviews

Zu is newly sober when she receives news that she is to become the sole guardian of her half-sister named Music, a young girl on the autism spectrum. The film explores two of Sia's favorite ... Read all Zu is newly sober when she receives news that she is to become the sole guardian of her half-sister named Music, a young girl on the autism spectrum. The film explores two of Sia's favorite themes: finding your voice and creating family. Zu is newly sober when she receives news that she is to become the sole guardian of her half-sister named Music, a young girl on the autism spectrum. The film explores two of Sia's favorite themes: finding your voice and creating family.

Dallas Clayton
Kate Hudson
Leslie Odom Jr.
Maddie Ziegler
433 User reviews
67 Critic reviews
23 Metascore
4 wins & 3 nominations

Police Officer
Woman at AA Meeting

Radgicals Host

Administrator on Phone with Zu

Felix's Dad

Felix's Mom

Evelyn's Mom

Tanner, the Boxer
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

Trivia The first film nominated for both the Golden Globe for Best Picture and the Razzie Award for Worst Picture.
Goofs In a page of a book detailing how to take care of Music, it lists her communication tablet as a item of comfort. She does not own this tablet until Ebo teaches her how to use it later in the film.

Music : Sis, don't go.

Crazy credits In Sia's special thanks, she credits "Godchild" in reference to Maddie Ziegler, "Bunkie" in reference to her makeup artist, Tonya Brewer, and "Le David", a nickname for her manager, David Russell. She also credits "My Australians"
Connections Featured in Midnight Screenings: Music (2021)
Soundtracks Oh Body Written by Sia (as Sia Furler), Americo Garcia, Jorge Medina, Diplo (as Thomas Pentz) Performed by Maddie Ziegler

User reviews 433

cronictaylor
Feb 16, 2021
How long is Music? Powered by Alexa
February 12, 2021 (United States)
United Kingdom
United States
Official Site (Japan)
Sia's Official Site
Landay Entertainment
Atlantic Films
Crush Pictures
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$16,000,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 47 minutes
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Digital
IMAX 6-Track

More to explore

Oof, What Are We to Do with Sia’s New Movie, Music ?

An old-fashioned piece of shameless hokum, Sia’s Music might be hilarious if it weren’t so offensive. The trouble started late last year , when the singer-songwriter-turned-director’s feature debut was called out by many for casting Maddie Ziegler, the neurotypical dance prodigy and child star of several Sia videos, in the role of Music, a teenager with autism. Some took understandable exception to leaked scenes featuring characters in the film casually using on Music a form of restraint that can, in fact, be quite dangerous. They were further perturbed by reports that the YouTube clips Ziegler watched for research into her role were videos parents had posted of their children having meltdowns — scenes showing these kids at their weakest and most vulnerable, that were now presumably being used to extrapolate a whole set of behaviors.

All of this is troublesome, certainly (and Sia has made some apologies since) but Music ’s greatest sin may well be that in the guise of giving exposure to an underrepresented community, it actually delivers a silly, cliché melodrama that manages to sideline that community even further. Even if Sia had done everything right — cast differently, vetted the procedures being depicted, etc. — the movie would probably still be terrible thanks to its story, which is more about Music’s older half-sister Zu (Kate Hudson) and her attempts to straighten out. Zu comes back into Music’s life after their grandmother (Mary Kay Place), who was caring for the girl, dies of a sudden heart attack. Zu thinks there might be money in the will, so she shows up, only to discover that not only is there no money, she is also now responsible for the care and well-being of an autistic child.

But any real drama that could have come from the premise of callow, childish, opportunistic Zu learning to understand and love her sister is undermined by the fact that Sia doesn’t seem that interested in their life together. Instead, we get a subplot about Zu dealing drugs to make ends meet, her extended conversations with her very odd, possibly psychotic supplier Rudy (Ben Schwartz), to whom she owes a lot of money, and a bunch of scenes where she tries to pass Music off to others. We get the point of Zu’s irresponsibility, but all this prompts further questions: What exactly does Music do all day? What does caring for her actually entail? What are her needs, other than the walk she takes every morning and the list of allergies that grandma helpfully wrote out in a notebook? The film never really offers us insight into such matters. It simply assures us that it’s all quite a challenge — which might actually be the most offensive thing about it.

Meanwhile, a kindly neighbor, Ebo (Leslie Odom, Jr.), who had already been helping grandma out, comes by to offer guidance, wisdom, low-key romantic tension, and occasional somber glances to make sure that we know he’s quietly suffering, too. (Unbeknownst to Zu, he has HIV.) Also hovering around Music’s life is a kindly, quiet teenage boy across the street, who trains to box in the gym where Ebo works, even though he really yearns to be an artist, much to the disapproval of his hard-ass dad. It’s like one of those music videos from 20 or 30 years ago where we would see a whole cavalcade of people in quiet agony, so as to validate a pop ballad’s Big Themes. Who knows? Maybe Music would have worked in that format. But at feature length, its characters’ challenges don’t come across with the specificity or sensitivity required to immerse us in their worlds and bring them to life. Everything is drawn with the broad-strokes shorthand of a music video, where narrative depth is rarely the point.

But then there are the musical numbers. The film is filled with them, and here’s where Sia is more assured. The surreal, primaryy-color dance sequences are usually dream visions — filled with the kind of exaggerated facial expressions, ridiculous costumes, and sudden, grandiose moves that have become a staple of her videos over the years — and they have an infectious, hallucinatory energy, like Busby Berkeley tried to remake The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T in the world’s biggest foam pit. Ziegler is a terrific dancer, to be sure. And the songs are wonderful, because, well, you know, Sia. With their bright colors, trippy sets, thundering beats, and aching melodies, these scenes remind us of what an accomplished musician the director remains — and they even hint at the kind of filmmaker she could become. But then the dancing ends, the movie and its hackneyed story kick back into gear, and any good will we might have mustered dissipates once more.

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