As one of music’s most prolific songwriters, Sia has no shortage of material for her own singing career. So, rather than start from scratch, on her next album, This Is Acting (out January 29), she’s kept a few of those songs for herself. We’ve already heard “Alive,” which was written for and with Adele, and now here’s her other Adele song — written by Sia, Adele, and Tobias Jesso Jr. — called “‘Bird Set Free.” According to Adele’s new Rolling Stone cover, though she ultimately didn’t use any of her work with Sia for 25, she had a blast finally getting to write with another woman: “I actually love the dynamic of us both being in there and just fucking being bossy. And it’s all these male producers, and they’re all fucking shitting themselves ‘cause we’re in there.” So, what more can we learn about Adele from this one? Well, with lyrics like, “Had a voice but I could not sing,” and, “I’m not gon’ care if I sing off-key,” it’s pretty clear Adele was trying her damnedest to persevere even after her tour-ending vocal struggles tried to throw her off her game.
