Troye Sivan and the Age of Connection
The so called ‘post-pandemic’ years following 2020-2021 have evoked a new perspective on what it means to be touched. Our bodies remember what it was like to fumble desperately for a hand to hold from a 1.5 metre distance. Now, the world is waking up from that long, dark night. In the wake of an age of touch deprivation, physical connection is treasured more than ever before.
There was no better time than (Australian) Springtime of 2023 for Troye Sivan to release his fourth studio album, Something to Give Each Other. It’s a fruity cocktail of electronic-pop sounds and scandalous songwriting. His song Rush, has become a queer anthem, its popularity propelled by its entrancingly erotic music video directed by Gordon von Steiner. His video for One of Your Girls has also attracted widespread media attention, Troye himself starring in drag alongside actor Ross Lynch. Troye has since collaborated and toured with Charli XCX following their remix of her song ‘Talk Talk’ on her worldwide hit album Brat. For Troye, Something to Give Each Other was the start of a widely successful endeavour to release a thirst for elation bottled up within post-Covid Zoomers.
‘One of Your Girls’ music video directed by Gordon von Steiner
Something to Give Each Other is an exploration of the desire to connect to one another, and the many complex ways in which this desire manifests. In mid 2023, Emily Ratajkowski welcomed Troye onto her podcast High Low, where he discussed how radical vulnerability has shaped a kind of ‘rebirth’ within him. He discusses that at the crux of his music, are the intimate exchanges found in romantic encounters. Each connection, however fleeting, contains micro-universes of passion, trust, understanding and vulnerability. It’s these moments that make us move, give us faith in strangers, make us fall in love with falling in love, and feel bliss amongst transience. Troye’s songs express a freedom of bodily autonomy- a desire to explore the limits of pleasure and seek the full extent of your body’s capabilities. It’s a characteristic manifested through the sexy, yet uniform choreography of the album as seen in Rush and Got Me Started, designed by Sergio Reis.
I admire Troye for many reasons. Blue Neighbourhood was the soundtrack of my high school years, and I still remember his ‘Coming Out’ video on Youtube from 2013 (remind me why these were such a big thing again?). It was amazing to see an angel-faced boy from Perth, bloom (literally) into someone who touches people with his art, particularly following a time where touch was forbidden. Troye’s music was that hand to hold in the dark, and it continues to hold, pulling us towards a lighter, more connected world.
There’s a lot to be said about parasocial relationships between celebrities and fans, but there’s a relatability about Troye that allows him to connect with his listeners on an especially intimate level. Maybe it’s because his TikTok is filled with embarrassing stories and shower thoughts- an unfiltered video diary that feels like you are on a FaceTime call with a friend. He has always been real and raw online, from recording himself singing Celine Dion at 13 years old, to starting a series on his channel called ‘Awkward Conversations with Troye’ at 20 years old. It feels as if from a very young age, Troye has understood the importance of vulnerability. His authenticity has fostered a community of fans who see themselves in him, a quality that has laid the bed for this new album to flourish within minority spaces.
Though much of his album celebrates the sweetness of momentary romance, Troye does not shy away from experiences of loneliness and longing. In his fifth track ‘Still Got It’, Troye describes mourning a close partner that has fizzled into something like “an old colleague”. There’s a feeling of hope stirred by confusing physical interactions like touching “in the back seat of the party bus on 10th Street”, but ultimately lost in impermanence. Troye is no stranger to the flipside of being vulnerable- that is, once you release what’s inside, you have no control of what it becomes. Knowing that someone feels the same as you is sublime, knowing the opposite can be terrifying. At the end of the Rush music video, Troye smiles to himself as the lines “to love with reciprocity is so good'“ repeat like a choir hymn. This risk associated with reciprocity is the balancing scale between the highs and lows of the album. In the end, the risk of being vulnerable is always worth the fear of being judged.
Something to Give Each Other makes me think of other current pop artists who have been unapologetic in expressing vulnerability and desire through music. I think of Sabrina Carpenter, singing about jealousy and seduction in cheeky vintage-inspired mini-dresses. I think of Chappell Roan, knee deep in the passenger seat, caught in claws of the all-too-familiar ‘situationship’. I think of the phenomena of Charli XCX, who sprinkles her 365-party-girl aesthetic with lyrics describing deep insecurity, imposter syndrome, conflicts with girls, and uncertainty about motherhood. All of this to say, in the midst of ecstasy, there is uncertainty.
Perhaps this uncertainty is what fuels the incessant need to physically connect now more than ever. Not only are the target demographic of these artists experiencing the peaks and troughs of young adulthood themselves, but they are doing so with the lingering uncertainty that connection is not promised. Physical connection is cherished, because we have seen first-hand what a world devoid of it can look like. The uncertainty that another pandemic could come along and threaten that once more, causes a sense of urgency to embrace each other like it’s the last time.
Something to Give Each Other album cover, shot by Stuart Winecoff
A note on this album cover: is this not the cutest photo ever?!
On the Zach Sang show, Troye talks about how he hates his smile and even though he had this idea, he was nervous to make that the cover. Apparently, the man behind him (who Troye knows personally) tickled his ribs and that’s how he got this smile. In this photo, nakedness and bliss align. What better two words to describe this album, to describe this age.
Listen to Something to Give Each Other here.
