Sultry, horny and erotic; Troye Sivan is creating a new face for queer pop artists. His new album hits like a jolt of poppers, with the lyrics and visuals leaving very little to the imagination. Sivan is an Australian singer-songwriter who has been on music scene since 2015. He has released two other popular albums, prior to this new release, that have celebrated queer identity, love and desire. However, on the 13th of October, Sivan launched his newest and most raunchy album to date – ‘Something to Give Each Other’. This album is already being discussed as ‘2023’s queerest pop culture moment’ and is receiving a lot of attention from within and outside the queer community.
Sivan has stated in an interview that part of his inspiration for the album derived from Lil Nas X’s album ‘Montero’, which was ground-breaking in the typically closeted world of rap. The albums music videos involved provocative visuals, namely in “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”, which drew on biblical imagery and finished with him giving an erotic lap-dance to the devil to claim his crown. Although this did spark some controversy, it was a defining moment in pop culture, pushing boundaries where Lil Nas X unabashedly celebrates queer identity. In response to Lil Nas X, Sivan said ‘I was just so inspired by how unafraid he was to take up space’, prompting the creation of ‘Something to Give Each Other’.
The albums lead single ‘Rush’ was first released in July, making its way to becoming the dance anthem of the summer and bringing all kinds of heat. Gordon von Steiner directed the accompanying dance-heavy, rowdy music video in which you begin to see Sivan’s creative influence from Lil Nas X come to light. The ‘Rush’ music video is energetic, seductive and sexy, portraying a sense of fluidity among the array of romances shown. There was some backlash to this video, with people accusing Sivan of a lack of body diversity. To which he responded that it was something that he and his team had not put much thought in to, but that he did hear the critique. ‘Rush’ definitely geared us up for the unapologetic queerness that Sivan’s album would be providing.
‘Got Me Started’ soon followed with a similar upbeat, energetic and dance anthem vibe. It is about the thrilling rush of emotions that people feel entering a new romantic relationship and the infatuation and intoxication this can result in. The accompanying music video continues to spotlight Sivan’s experimentation with the electric colourful sets that we have previously seen in ‘Rush’. The video is also dance-heavy, racy and animated, mirroring the zinging pop sound of the song and
highlighting the excitement of queer nightlife. Overall, Sivan made a clear statement of his stylistic reinvention from both of these early releases. They are brazenly horny and are Sivan’s way of saying that he doesn’t care anymore if people want to censor him, which happens often with queer artists.
Sivan then ripped the rug from beneath us upon the release of ‘Something To Give Each Other’, challenging all our expectations. Alongside the album release he debuted a new music video to one of his favourite tracks – ‘One Of Your Girls’ which completely contrasts the original visuals we have been seeing. Prior to the video release fans were teased with certain clips of the videos, showing a shirtless Ross Lynch and a woman whose full face we are not shown. What the video offers is far more than we could have ever wished for.
The ‘One of Your Girls’ music video opens with seductive black and white visuals of straight, masculine presenting men smouldering at the camera (Sivan and Lynch included). Intermittently we are given glimpses of this mysterious women dressing and applying makeup. When the chorus finally comes in her identity is revealed, and it is Sivan debuting his first ever drag look. This new persona is nothing short of life-altering. She is serving ballet-core and Britney Spearsesque outfits throughout, looking feminine, sultry and completely breath-taking. Seen to be giving Lynch a lap dance and also providing us with her own dance numbers, this video is more raw and honest compared to those that we have seen previously.
The message behind this song is slightly more personal than others we hear on the album. It is about Sivan’s experience being hit on by straight men who have wanted to experiment with him sexually. To which Sivan has once iconically responded ‘Well let me know if you’re feeling gay on Saturday night’, poking fun at how this men are identifying as straight yet wanting to have sex with him. These sort of interactions have at times made him feel empty and lonely, inspiring the visuals of him pining after a straight man (Lynch) in the music video. Sivan’s favourite lyrics: ‘Give me a call if you ever get lonely / I’ll be like one of your girls, / Give me a call if you ever get desperate / I’ll be like one of your girls’ perfectly convey these conflicting feelings of engaging in relations with a straight man and trying to pretend to be like of their girls to fit in with how they are identifying.
‘Something To Give Each Other’ on the whole, both lyrically and visually, is helping to pave the way for more unapologetically queer visibility in the music mainstream. He successfully depicts the electrifying buzz of queer nightlife and romance through ‘Rush’ and ‘Got Me Started’, yet has also able represented the more nuanced challenges that queer individuals may face when navigating relationships through ‘One of Your Girls’. Alongside other queer artists like Lil Nas X and Frank Ocean, Sivan is creating sexually liberated and provocative content that challenges some of the critiques that queer artists often receive. By taking up this sort of space in the music and pop culture industry it provides the representation needed for the queer community.
Overall, Sivan’s drag persona is ethereal, enlightening and her debut has ultimately gained the title of ‘2023’s Queerest Pop Culture Moment’. She is paving the way for more queer expression and acceptance within the mainstream, and the inspiration for many is already evident on social media. This whole album has been nothing but orgasmic for the ears and I am excited to see the creative vision Sivan deicides to further develop on tour. He is an artist to keep an eye and ear out for in the future, and we can hope to see many more queer pop culture moments like this from Sivan himself and many others.
by Verity Newberry
