RocketNews 24 (by Casey Baseel):

Let’s say you’re producing a music video. A tried-and-true method is to simply splice together some clips of the artist’s last concert tour. Or, if the song hasn’t been performed live yet, you could do a “behind-the-scenes” sort of thing with footage of the singer in the studio.

But here’s what happens when you take a third option: Making a music video starring Japan’s most amazing nine-year-old karate expert.

A while back we took a look Mahiro Takano, by far the most intimidating seven-year-old we’d ever seen, as she unleashed a flurry of lightning-fast punches and kicks. Young Miss Takano has been busy since then, celebrating standard childhood milestones, like her ninth birthday, as well as some less common ones, such as winning her age group’s kata division for the third consecutive year at the All Japan Junior Karatedo Championships.

Since there’s usually not a lot of overlap between the demographics of “cute nine-year-old kid” and “fierce barehanded warrior,” YouTube videos of Takano performing her karate strikes have become a worldwide hit, and they recently caught the attention of vocalist Sia. The singer has just released the video for her new song “Alive” in which, true to form, the 39-year-old Australian makes no appearance, so that instead all of the screen time can be given to Takano.