Having a monster summer hit before releasing a new album can put you in a difficult position. Especially when, in the same summer, you manage to make an appearance on the biggest television dud of the season, “The Idol.” The pressure continues to mount with such a successful publicity run — good and bad alike. Troye Sivan makes it clear that pressure is nothing but a passing motivation by releasing his strongest work to date, “Something to Give Each Other.” The finished project is an album that demands attention equally from high-end club DJs and humble house party bluetooth speakers.
The Australian actor/singer double threat celebrates the grooves of the dance floor and the human body with complete reverence, making for a rip-roaring and viciously sexy adventure from start to finish. Sivan has been threading his way through the entertainment industry from Down Under since he was 11, kicking off with performances on Perth’s Channel Seven Telethon from 2006 to 2008. He continued to garner buzz through his participation on television shows, competing all the way to the finals of “StarSearch” in 2007 and releasing his debut EP, “Dare to Dream,” the year after.
Refusing to box in his talents, Sivan embarked on an acting career simultaneously, performing onstage in Perth, resulting in a call from Hollywood to play the young Wolverine in “X-Men: Origins.” His notoriety in Australia grew quickly and his international status was soon to follow, charting all over the world with his debut LP, “Blue Neighborhood.” Fashion collaborations with Valentino and Beyonce’s Ivy Park only served to confirm the obvious — Sivan was a bona fide up-and-coming star.
A queer male artist aiming to take on the helm of mainstream pop royalty had been practically unheard of at the time of his coming out in 2013. Even today, big labels are still fumbling their way through attempts to successfully engage with queer audiences. Sivan’s coming out was prior to the rise of Lil Nas X, or even Sam Smith, within the historically heterosexual confines of the Top 40. His sexuality has since become a major aspect of his art. In almost every music video he features queer romance and celebration. The lyrics don’t sugarcoat, something that might still hamper commercial success and radio airplay due to the long process of audiences unlearning homophobia. Yet Sivan continues to defy the ‘shoulds’ in pop music.
The lead single, “Rush,” doesn’t simply manage to capture attention — it steals it with an infectious earworm so over the top that to play it at full volume on the stereo system of a sunroof-less car seems to be the only proper way to experience it. To hear it just once is a disservice — it insists on being played two, three, four times in a row. Having the song on repeat is practically a requirement once you feel the rush for the first time.
Paired with the music itself was a video that somehow dazzled even more. It begins with a booty slap and revels in that energy for the entire runtime, triumphantly moving in images of bare chests, flirtatious eyes and skin against skin, perfect for a queer anthem of its status.
The next pair of singles, “Got Me Started” and “One of Your Girls,” combine in a sugar-sweet mashup of bedroom ballads that deal in a much more subdued form of the artist’s personality. Instead of showcasing the floor shaking confidence of their predecessor, they lull and yearn, as Sivan finds himself in an almost pathetic state of worship for a love interest. “Give me a call if you ever get desperate”, he cries on “One of Your Girls,” subtracting his self worth for an overpowering crush that ripples throughout many of the tracks. “Got Me Started” is another entry in the current trend of nostalgia-based hits (think Paul Russell’s “Lil Boo Thang” or Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World”) by using a sample of the Bag Raiders’ “Shooting Stars” that fits the late night shyness of the lyrics perfectly.
Much of the album is dedicated to overcoming this type of shyness. Sivan’s most prevalent theme continues to be the struggle to simply say what’s on his mind. “I’m right on top of this groove, but God, I wish it was you” is the place he’s stuck in on “What’s the Time Where You Are?” However, if the entire album was frozen in this phase of cat-got-your-tongue, it would not be as marvelous of a display of charisma. He rides right over it on “Honey,” ready to be given “the courage to say all the shit I mean” from the very beginning of the song. It’s a fantastic example of what’s so special about “Something to Give Each Other,” that it respects its disco-inspired party as a process, rather than an unchanging purgatorial state. He may be struggling to get the words out to his lover on one song, but he can be straightforward and indulging in complete honesty on the next. It’s testament to the power of music, and especially disco-pop, in giving the courage to make the moves before it’s too late. When he’s peaking in his raucous conviction and says what he means, it’s both fabulous and relentlessly horny, in such a way you can hear the bite of a lip and the caressing of arms in the sound of his voice.
It’s hard to say what kind of love the album is all about. Sivan himself doesn’t even quite know — “Maybe it’s admiration, copulation, or adoration, no defense, infatuation” he sings on “In My Room,” but it’s precisely this ambiguity that makes the whole of the record so exciting. Nothing is a sure thing in this romance, except that it will continue to excite and, at times, break hearts. “Still Got It” is the artist experiencing his love in hindsight, and how he still wants it badly out of the undeniable beauty of his since-gone partner. It’s a thoroughly touching song that depicts the unparalleled frustration of being hung up over someone, through Sivan’s unique lens and story. He’s not trying to fool you into thinking this is some kind of cutesy boy-next-door tale — this is messy, sexual, physical attraction. You can probably guess what ‘something’ he means in the title “Something to Give Each Other.”
Sivan displays his full glamor in every moment because he uses his music to free himself. It’s for the same reasons that he lists Lady Gaga, Cher, and Madonna as some of his biggest influences: they understand that people aren’t born with self-acceptance — they slowly, but surely step into it. He walks in their footsteps effortlessly and without trading his individuality. And as a result, “Something to Give Each Other” seamlessly weaves in between romantic longing and sex-fueled ecstasy.
