Sia and Pussy Riot share more than a fondness for disguises and a distaste for Donald Trump. The Australian pop star and the Russian punk collective also find inspiration in the same pre-teen muse: 11-year-old Prymrr LoBasso, who replaces repeat Sia collaborator Maddie Ziegler in the new lyric video for Sia’s Lion soundtrack contribution “Never Give Up.” If you don’t recognize Prymrr’s face, you’re not alone — the tiny entertainer appeared in Pussy Riot’s “Straight Outta Vagina” video wearing one of the group’s signature ski masks.
Sia’s video has a slightly more somber vibe than Pussy Riot’s anti-Trump ode to female sexuality. It draws inspiration from the plot of Garth Davis’s profound coming-of-age-film, which in turn is adapted from Saroo Brierley’s memoir A Long Way Home. At age five, Saroo was separated from his older brother on a train station. He is taken thousands of miles across India and adopted by an Australian couple before embarking on a mission to reconnect with his birth mother 25 years later using Google Earth.
In the new visual, Lion‘s theme of dual identity plays out in two faceless children — one dressed in a checkered shirt and one in a pink nightgown, both in moccasins and matching blunt bob wigs — as they run across abandoned train tracks painted with the song’s lyrics. Watch the video below and catch Lion in theaters now.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Image via YouTube