Years ago, Troye Sivan was the talk of all B-list celebrity discourse on Twitter. His YouTube following was cultish, and his melancholic, lovesick baritone vocals felt like an uninteresting, twink-ish divergence from the masterful works of previous art-pop pioneers. Maturing from the flocks of devout “stans,” Sivan treks towards the mainstream without losing his romantic roots.
Blue Neighborhood, Sivan’s 2016 debut depicted a sorrowful, Tumblr-esque daydream; it was a youthful, yet nonradical work. With innumerable thematic parallels to Lana Del Rey’s breakthrough Born to Die and Halsey’s dystopia-inspired Badlands, the album barely made ripples—and for good reason. I am no economist, yet I know an oversaturated market when I see one. His intended audience was uninterested, and Blue Neighborhood passed the pop world by.
Come 2017, his die-hard fans have grown up. Perhaps they traded in their Pac Sun chokers for more a mature look. I might even go so far as to say they have jobs. Hence, a shift to piano ballads and verses with pop’s elite e.g., “Dance to this (feat. Ariana Grande)” ushered in a new era for the Aussie native. Sivan was no longer a specialist for the internet’s niche.
Bloom (2017) introduced danceable “bops” and a glimpse of the sexual libre that would be fully realized in his third studio album. It was just the right concoction to get him on stage for a duo with Ms. Swift during her Reputation Stadium Tour and keep his work in the minds of global pop-heads before his five-year hibernation. With a solid repertoire of work under his belt (or jock strap) and a cemented character as a public icon, it is clear Sivan was out to perfect his “sound” through a third album. And so, he did.
To chemists, alkyl nitrites are volatile liquids or chemical reagents, substances gaseous at room temperature. To gay culture, they are much more. The aptly named “Rush,” Troye’s first single of Something to Give Each Other, is a head-pounding adage to inhalable sex drugs aka. “poppers” frequented by many with such tastes.
Promoted in a flurry of snippets online and suggestive posters around Los Angeles and N.Y.C., the song smashed expectations and earned Sivan his first Grammy nominations. In speaking of its theme, Sivan describes “Rush” as “the feeling of kissing a sweaty stranger on a dancefloor, a 2-hour date that turned into a weekend, a crush, a winter, a summer.” If there is one thing Troye can do, it is maintaining a theme. The visceral single was followed by the October release of Something to Give Each Other, carrying the same sexuality and vivacity through all thirty-three minutes of the record.
Within the haze of lust, Sivan punctuates the record with playfulness. “Got Me Started” runs on a pitched sample of Bag Raiders’s memeified “Shooting Stars”—a shock to the unexpecting ear—but ages beautifully with a second listen. With a voice robotized by a 90s era vocoder, he acclaims “I’ve seen enough of your body/Come back and feel the vibe.” It is nothing but slick and high-paced, recounting the revival of romanticism—a “fresh start” between two unsuspecting souls.
Other tracks recycle his yearning for love, but on a global scale. “What’s The Time Where You Are” closely resembles a late-night voicemail, with the small cost of an international calling fee. Sivan longs, “I’m right on top of this groove/But god, I wish it was you” in an erotic stream of consciousness, while “Honey” celebrates the very existence of a soulmate.
Sonic perfection is no easy task—yet Sivan comes close—pure basslines and the voice of a sweated seductress carry the project to unforeseen heights. Straight women everywhere are now hooked on poppers, and it is Troye Sivan’s fault. His project solidifies his deserved status as a multi-generational pop idol, and gives promise to a more electric, alluring future for the genre.