“I’m obsessed with pop music and think I will be forever”: Troye Sivan on new album She’s the Best
As Troye Sivan releases his fourth album, She’s The Best, he talks to EE72 about Madonna, medieval raves and the women who shaped him.
It’s a hive of activity at Stone Nest. Numerous crew members are running around, transforming the former Grade II Welsh Presbyterian chapel on Shaftesbury Avenue into a medieval hall. Huge swathes of material are draped from the cavernous ceiling and surrounding balconies, there are strategically placed throne-like chairs scattered about while candelabras light up the dimly lit club as barstaff mix up themed cocktails. It’s giving Game Of Thrones. Gay Game Of Thrones.
Upstairs, tucked away in a room featuring a huge and healthy looking table laden with fruit and cheese is the reason for this commotion; South African born, Australian raised pop star (as well as occasional actor and homeware influencer) Troye Sivan. The singer, 31, is in London to promote the release of the video for his new single, “Party”. Featuring a sample from Madonna and a voiceover from Sir Ian McKellen (the two first met in Perth in 2010 on a theatre production of Waiting For Godot), the Gordon von Steiner directed short shot in a castle in Berkeley imagines what a rave might look like circa the times of King Arthur. Let’s just say, in true Sivan style, there’s a lot of bums and boys kissing! “It’s essentially exploring partying. We were talking about partying as this grand idea, and how people have surely always partied because it’s quite innate to humans to want to let loose. It’s a period piece part!.”
It’s the second track that Troye has teased from his fourth album, She’s the Best, released later this week. The first was the lovingly laconic title track and lead single, a celebration of the women in Troye’s life, accompanied by a video featuring Nicole Kidman (with whom he worked with on Boy Erased) and photographer Anna Bloda. Both tracks, and FF, released today, mark a sonic and lyrical departure for the softly spoken, thoughtful singer, whose previous works – “Bloom”, “Rush”, “Got Me Started” – have hedonistically, emphatically and gloriously celebrated queer sex and queer life through a distinctly euphoric pop lens. This time round, with help from producers and musicians including Jack Antonoff, powerhouse pop-girls producer Luka Kloser, George Daniel (aka Mr Charli XCX), longtime collaborator Leland and Sivan’s brother, Tyde Levi, Troye’s looking for love in a very real and – he insists – musically unpredictable way.
Troye! How are you? How’s life?
Life’s really good, thank you. Releasing an album is always crazy but I seem to forget that every time. And then when I’m in it, I’m like, Oh my god, surely it wasn’t like this last time? But I think it’s always an insane experience.
What’s the most insane part of it all?
Obviously, the schedule is really intense, but it’s more the vulnerability. You feel like you’ve skinned yourself and put yourself out there in a way that you wouldn’t do normally. I love it because I love to release the thing that I’ve made, but it’s definitely an intense experience.
It can be exposing to share your art with the world.
Yeah, and in a very sort of look at me way, which I wouldn’t say is my usual MO between albums (laughs).
How do you hope people respond to She’s The Best?
I’m really curious what people are going to think. It’s completely honest and I know that everyone always says that about their music – it’s the most cliché thing to say – but it really is. This time in my life has been really full of quite insane highs but also quite low lows. Rather than trying to sum up my life in a way that’s easier to explain to people, I decided to let the album truly represent the last couple years of my life. I’ve always looked at albums very diaristically and this one is no different. Because of the nature of my life, there’s these really high octane dance songs, almost to a point of irreverence – because there’s a kind of self awareness there where it feels like I’m watching myself have those moments – and then there’s this other side of the album that’s very internal. I’m excited for people to hear it.
PHOTOGRAPHY MARCUS COOPER
The album is the first one that doesn’t feature your face (or the back of your head) as the artwork. You have the model and photographer Anna Bloda in this vintage-feeling New York setting. How does that visual contextualise the album?
So the song She’s the Best is a very important song on the album. That’s why I wanted it to be the first one that people heard. The album is about the up and down journey, it’s a lot about my trials and tribulations and romance – or lack thereof – and I had this moment when I was writing that song where I realised that the only constant that’s always been there is the women in my life and the feminine presence in my life. Those have been my true safety nets and guidance and icons and role models. So it’s one song on the album but it felt like such an important message for me and something that I really wanted to honour. When I saw that image – it’s a still from the “She’s the Best” video – I was like, This is exactly what I’m talking about. There is such power and it exudes the exact energy that I think that song is about. I wanted to honour Anna and so that became the album cover.
These women – your mum, sister, Charli and so on – how have they supported and guided you?
I mean, how haven’t they? Pretty much at any pivotal moment in my life, I can point to you the woman that was nearby me at that time that I was leaning on. I’ve had the two same best friends since I was two years old. Career-wise, at every peak that I’ve ever experienced, there’s always been a girl there.
Was this celebration of women a response to the rise of the manosphere, the rolling back of reproductive rights, the horror of the Giselle Pellicot case and so on.
I am petrified of the internet. I do genuinely believe that. Did you see there was an experiment in Australia, on the Sydney Morning Herald, where they set up an account as a 17-year-old boy. Within 13 minutes, he started getting misogynist content, within an hour he was getting videos saying that women should wear lipstick around the house and be agreeable. I think algorithms are rotting society. So, yes, maybe in the back of my mind. And then there’s also the unpredictability of the music too; the three tracks you’ve heard – “She’s The Best”, “Party” and “FF” – are all so different. I think that was a subconscious response to AI music platforms. I wanted to make something that felt almost weirdly human. So there’s a lot of randomness in there that I really fell in love with. I wanted something that felt very, very, very alive.
When did recording start to take place?
So I started in February of last year. I really just let myself explore. On my last album [Something To Give Each Other], I was really focused on pop music as an idea and a set of structures and techniques that work well. They work well for a reason because they’re amazing, and I’m obsessed with pop music, and I will be forever. But at this point, the thing that felt more challenging was to try and make something that felt a little bit more spontaneous than that. So there was nothing off limits as far as exploring, musically. It’s definitely my most experimental album, for sure. I was really trying things and pushing. I was making a lot of it at home for the first time. I’m a producer on some of these songs for the first time. My little brother is a producer on a lot of the album too, so it evolved a lot as we were going.
Nicole Kidman, what a get. What makes her so mega?
I don’t know, that’s the thing! It’s like everything, you know what I mean? She’s so statuesque. She’s so talented. She throws herself at everything that she does. And she’s charming and obviously so beautiful and smart and funny and just…. everything. I’m like, wow. The thing that gets me is how she just goes for it. I really admire that.
ALBUM ARTWORK
She’s almost as exciting as Ian McKellen, who is involved in the “Party” video.
Yes, he does the voiceover in the beginning.There were so many touch points that made Ian make sense. But first of all, my personal connection, I met him at a time in my life where I was about to come out of the closet, but was not yet out of the closet, and I was very inspired by him. Also, exploring this idea of queer lineage because again, the video was a period piece. I think that’s something so important to the queer community, this idea of welcoming in the new generation, knowing where they’re coming from and having been in their shoes before. I think that paving the way is a really beautiful part of our community. And I mean, what a legend. He’s done such an incredible job for so long, and so it was truly such an honour to me.
More icons; this time Madonna, whose 2000 single “Music” you sample on “Party”. How does that work? Do you have to put a call into the Madonna gay hotline? Did Elton or Ian put a word in?
She made it really easy, which I didn’t expect. I’m totally in awe of her, as the rest of the world is. She is absolutely Madonna. It’s not like she’s like a mate that I can hit up and ask for a favour. So I was very surprised that she said yes. In the song, before the sample comes in, it feels like there’s a vacuum that sucks the air out of the room; all of a sudden you go from watching the party to being the person at the party. In my head, it’s based on me being on a dance floor and hearing Music by Madonna and the way that would send me into space.
So we had the party vibe, we had the celebration of women, and then the third track I’ve heard “FF [Fucking Forever]” which isn’t a thirst trap but a much lonlier, lovelorn song.
The majority of the album is this longing and searching. The thing about “FF” is it’s borderline pathetic because I wrote quite a lot of the album to this person that I don’t know. It’s an undying love song for this stranger. There’s a song on the album called “Le Bo”y, and it’s literally about exactly that. It sums up that side of the album, talking about how fun it is to have everything going on and to be so fulfilled in so many areas of my life, but I still haven’t found ‘le boy’. And not knowing where he is, you know.
PHOTOGRAPHY MARCUS COOPER
Is there a part of you that maybe just hasn’t settled rather than hasn’t found?
I definitely haven’t done that but for work and other life goals, I have a laser focus; I really prioritise it and clear out other aspects of my life to make space for it. But maybe this requires the same level of attention and I don’t think I’ve given it that. So I think it’s a me thing.
You are quite busy, to be fair.
But, okay, so then become unbusy!
Could you take a year out and make space for love?
I sort of fantasise about it, but then I also know myself. I’m so creatively stimulated all the time that I don’t think it’ll be a total break. Maybe it’s me finding a way to express myself in a way that keeps me in the same city for a while or something. Maybe I do a play? I’d love to do that.
It’s a chic thing to do.
Right. And good career vibes..I don’t think I would do a musical though. I think that really scares me. But I would do a play.
If your career was a calendar, what month are we in?
Winter?( laughs) No, no, we’re in winter but going into spring. Please God.
There’s darkness, but there’s light also.
I hope so, yes. The last song on the album is also dedicated to the man, but there’s some real hope in it.
She’s The Best is out on Friday 9th October
@TroyeSivan
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