Sia has contributed a new version of “You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” to the forthcoming film redux of “Annie” and, boy, is it bonkers. It's mastered to the max, it's got new, original fillings (just like your teeth!), it's got Sia still working out whatever accent Sia does, and it's trashy as hell. I kind of love it.
If the film is anything like the accompanying music video to this “Never Fully Dressed,” then prepare for divine and obnoxious child actors forcing your mouth into a twisted dumb grin for its duration. A patent corporate smarm will act as a thin layer of wax on the “Annie” of old and transition it into a viral video-binging, non-stop comic, New York-worshipping, anti-cynical pill to swallow.
And maybe it's best this way, because I am going to watch this movie so hard. One reason is because “Annie” was one of a couple of Broadway musicals that got top spin in my family growing up. “Empty belly life / rotten smelly life / …it's a hard-knock life” was my refrain when I had to do chores, with a swarthy arm-sweeping motion. (We also loved “A Chorus Line.” The 7-year-old version me will remain in hypersleep until a version of “Dance 10, Looks 3” is remixed, and sung by Beyonce, to wake me.)
Sia and Greg Kurstin combined to re-arrange and executive produce the old songs and create new ones including “Opportunity,” “Who Am I,” and “Moonquake Lake” featuring Beck. Sia collaborated with Stargate for “The City's Yours.” All some pretty big names, all creative for Overbrook (Will Smith), Roc Nation (Jay Z), RCA and Sony's Madison Gate.
So far it looks like this “Annie” may be saccharine, and it sounds overexposed, and it will make me drink all of the Coke and eat all of the Junior Mints. Still scratching my head at the Cameron Diaz casting, but at least now she knows we're all looking at her. Quvenzhane Wallis wowed everyone with “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and here she looks like an excited Disney princess, just shy a couple years. I'm so excited. Now, when's the Jay Z cameo?
The “Annie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” album will be out on Nov. 17, and the movie — starring Wallis, Jamie Foxx, Diaz, Bobby Cannavale and Rose Byrne — heads to theaters right before Christmas, on Dec. 19.
Here is the tracklist for “Annie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack”:
1. Overture – Cast
2. Maybe – Quvenzhané Wallis, Zoe Margaret Colletti, Nicolette Pierini, Eden Duncan-Smith and Amanda Troya
3. It's The Hard-Knock Life – Quvenzhané Wallis, Zoe Margaret Colletti, Nicolette Pierini, Eden Duncan-Smith and Amanda Troya
4. Tomorrow – Quvenzhané Wallis
5. I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here (2014 Film Version) – Quvenzhané Wallis, Rose Byrne and Stephanie Kurtzuba
6. You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile (2014 Film Version) – Sia
7. Moonquake Lake – Sia and Beck
8. Little Girls (2014 Film Version) – Cameron Diaz
9. The City's Yours – Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis
10. Opportunity – Quvenzhané Wallis
11. Easy Street (2014 Film Version) – Cameron Diaz and Bobby Cannavale
12. Who Am I? – Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz and Quvenzhané Wallis
13. I Don't Need Anything But You (2014 Film Version) – Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhané Wallis and Rose Byrne
14. Tomorrow (Reprise) – Cast
15. Opportunity (Sia Version) – Sia [Version does not appear in film]