Why hide your face in music?

Pop stars are usually everywhere: red carpets, social media, magazine covers. Their faces are part of the product. But not every artist wants that. Some choose to cover up, to let avatars, masks, or even other people perform in their place. These faceless music artists make us wonder: why would anyone hide the very thing the music industry thrives on?

The reasons behind faceless music are as layered as the disguises themselves. For some, it’s privacy. For others, it’s branding, mystery, or even trickery. And sometimes, hiding a face has consequences no one expects.

Different ways to be faceless

• Masks and helmets: Daft Punk became global faceless music icons wearing futuristic robot helmets. Slipknot’s horror-inspired masks turn every concert into a spectacle. Marshmello built an entire EDM empire behind a smiling marshmallow mask.

• Avatars and holograms: Gorillaz exist only as cartoons, while Hatsune Miku is a hologram idol who sells out stadiums without ever being “real.”

• Industry fakery: Milli Vanilli in the 1990s were two men lip-syncing on stage to voices that weren’t theirs. When the truth came out, it was one of pop’s biggest scandals. The actual singers stayed faceless, while Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan were only the borrowed faces of the project.

• Stand-ins: And then there’s Sia, a faceless music artist who not only used wigs, but also a child dancer to hide in plain sight.

Sia: Australian faceless music artist

Unlike most pop stars, Sia Furler never dreamed of the spotlight. She began as a cult artist in Australia and the U.K., then quietly became one of pop’s most in-demand songwriters, penning hits for Rihanna (Diamonds), David Guetta (Titanium), and Beyoncé (Pretty Hurts).

Reasons behind her facelessness

But behind the success, Sia was deeply conflicted. She battled drug and alcohol addiction, survived an overdose in 2010, lived with chronic illnesses like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and Graves’ disease, and later revealed she is on the autism spectrum. On top of that, she struggled with extreme anxiety and stage fright. Moreover, in an industry that constantly judges women on their appearance, Sia didn’t want to be reduced to how she looked.

In her own words: “I don’t want to be famous, or recognizable. I just want to make music.” The price of fame was too high. She needed a way to keep making music without sacrificing her privacy or mental health.

So she found another way. She entered the world of faceless music.

The wig as a logo and a shield of faceless music

Sia’s answer was to cover her face with oversized wigs. The half-blonde, half-black bob became her trademark.

• It gave her privacy:  she could walk the streets unrecognized.
• It created mystery: the hidden face made people curious.
• It shifted focus to her voice and lyrics, not her looks.
• Protest: as a woman in pop, she refused to be judged by appearance.

In branding terms, the wig was like a logo. In psychological terms, it worked because mystery sells. Humans are wired to be curious about what’s hidden, and Sia used that to her advantage. In a celebrity culture obsessed with exposure, she turned absence into power.

Maddie Ziegler: the borrowed face

In 2014, Sia cast 11-year-old Dance Moms’ star Maddie Ziegler in the Chandelier video. Wearing Sia’s wig, Maddie danced out raw emotions that Sia herself couldn’t perform on stage. Overnight, Maddie became Sia’s alter ego, and the video racked up over 2.5 billion views on YouTube.

From Elastic Heart to Cheap Thrills, Maddie wasn’t just a background dancer; she was Sia in the public eye. At award shows and on tour, Maddie performed while Sia sang hidden in the shadows. Some fans even thought Maddie was Sia.

Mentor, muse, or more?

But their bond went far beyond art. Sia was nearly 30 years older, yet she became a constant presence in Maddie’s life, not just a mentor, but a godmother who called Maddie her “first child.” They spent time together offstage, had sleepovers, and even sparked rumors of sharing a toothbrush. To some fans, it looked like love and protection. To others, it seemed like blurred boundaries and control. Some would even accuse the faceless music singer of grooming, though Maddie and her family consistently defended her against such allegations.

Elastic Heart backlash

The first real backlash came with the Elastic Heart video in 2015. Maddie, then 12, performed in a cage opposite actor Shia LaBeouf, who was nearly 30. The imagery was meant to symbolize inner struggle, but many viewers saw something disturbing in the sight of a young girl and an adult man wrestling in minimal clothing. The outrage was loud enough that Sia issued a public apology, insisting her intentions were purely artistic. But the criticism lingered.

Music controversy

Then, in 2021, Sia released her directorial debut, Music. Maddie was cast as a nonverbal autistic character, sparking accusations of ableism. The controversy was so intense that Sia briefly deleted her Twitter account after arguing with fans online. The thing was, Maddie had concerns about the project and even cried on set, but the faceless music artist promised her everything would be fine and she could protect her. She was wrong.

Redirected fame paradox

What tied both scandals together was a bigger question: had Sia, by hiding behind Maddie, placed the very pressures she wanted to escape onto a child? Even The Guardian questioned whether the faceless music artist had projected the fame she hated onto Maddie, forcing her young protégé to carry the weight of global attention before she was old enough to handle it.

In this sense, Sia’s decision to be faceless became a paradox. By hiding herself, she didn’t escape the spotlight. She simply redirected it onto someone else, somewhat losing control over her image, with consequences that grew harder to ignore as Maddie got older.

Faceless, but not quite: Sia without a wig

The thing is, Sia’s face was never truly hidden. Long before the wigs, she had released albums, performed on stage, and appeared in music videos barefaced. Anyone curious enough could find her image in a quick Google search. The disguise was never about erasing herself. It was about control. By making her face something rare, she turned every appearance into an event. When she chose to step out without the wig, whether at an award show or in an interview, it wasn’t breaking the act. It was the act. In this way, she could use her fame for the causes she truly cared about, like animal activism and gay rights.

Sia wasn’t faceless because she couldn’t be seen; she was faceless because she decided when to be seen.

The future of faceless music artists

Faceless music isn’t going away. Today, holograms like Hatsune Miku headline concerts, and AI is creating fully digital pop stars. In the future, we might not just hide human faces; we may not need them at all.

Sia’s story shows that choosing to become a part of the faceless music world can have many effects. It can protect an artist, build a brand, and spark curiosity. At the same time, it can create controversy, make your image unpredictable, or bring challenges you did not expect.

Takeaways from the artists of faceless music

To sum up, faceless music artists are not new, and they are not just about hiding. They show creativity, strategy, and sometimes risk. From Milli Vanilli to Sia and Maddie Ziegler, we can see how hiding a face can make an artist unforgettable, but it also raises questions about fame, identity, and control.

Would you like to become a faceless music artist, but you're scared you'd end up with consequences like Sia's? Book a consultation with me and let me help you save your face!