Actor and singer-songwriter Troye Sivan rose to fame on YouTube for posting funny videos from the comfort of his home. Prior to releasing his first EP, TRXYE, he ran a hashtag on Twitter, #asktroye, in which fans were prompted to ask him questions to answer in short Q&A style videos. These easygoing videos brought laughter and smiles to viewers all over the world, spotlighted the singer’s charming personality and got him up to a million subscribers pretty quickly.
Troye’s first full album, Blue Neighborhood was a hit, and for good reason. The synthy pop sound paired with his warm, baritone voice fills me with nostalgia each time I click play on the record. Listening back, it’s hard to believe that Troye wasn’t always the gay sex icon he’s seen as now. In fact, our first few looks at his sexuality in this album’s music videos are full of shame. To accompany three of the album’s tracks, “Wild,” “Fools,” and “Talk Me Down,” Troye and his team created three consecutive short-film style music videos. The trilogy depicts a young Troye and his male best friend, who grow up to have romantic feelings for each other, ones they’re told shouldn’t be there. “Wild” bears lyrics like “Leave this blue neighborhood, never knew loving could hurt this good” and “You make my heart shake, bend, and break, but I can’t turn away.” In addition, his love interest has a homophobic, alcoholic dad, which puts unbearable pressure on the relationship. The music videos display hardships like parental abuse, sexuality denial, and consideration of suicide, all stemming from shame of one’s homosexual identity.
Then, Troye took a mind-boggling masterpiece of a 180°. The music video for his 2023 single “Rush” strikingly starts with a male handprint-ridden ass in the middle of the frame, shortly followed by it being spanked for the unknownth time. The film depicts Troye in a scene packed full of grinding and groping extras that emphasize this shift in the singer’s public identity. Troye has never been this raw on-screen. This video celebrates queer joy and expression in a way he never has before.
Similar tones and choreography can be seen in his later 2023 single “Got Me Started,” in which he’s featured almost completely naked. While unafraid to accentuate his own homosexuality, he is also comfortable displaying female sexuality and eroticism. His music videos eat, live, and breathe sex. Sex for women, sex for men, sex for everyone in between! Everyone is allowed to be sexy. Everyone should feel sexy. Not a note of shame reveals itself in Troye’s music. That is what makes his media presence so powerful.
The biggest “oh my god.” of my year was without a doubt, the world’s first look at Troye Sivan in drag. In the music video of his 2024 hit, “One of Your Girls,” Troye broke the internet by delivering the catchy chorus of the song in full-out drag. To sum it up, my jaw was on the floor. From the clothes, to the hair and makeup, he’s one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen. His radiance combined with the severe vulnerability of the song hits like nothing else he has produced in his career. The song is filmed almost exclusively against a pure white background which starkly contrasts the diverse range of beautiful people featured in the video. Alongside models of varying color and ages, he tells a raw story about indulging into his feminine side to please an emotionally detached straight man. At the end of the last chorus, he shakily delivers “Give me a call if you ever get desperate, I’ll be like one of your girls” with tears in his eyes. This music video is honest and vulnerable. I also connect it with some of his earlier mentioned Blue Neighborhood releases. Troye shamelessly highlights both the positive and negative feelings of being a part of the LGBTQ+ community. This is what real queer representation looks like.
Troye continues to prove he is an undeniably vital component of the modern queer music scene. It’s safe to say that we’re all feeling the rush.
Tamar Wachi is a first-year Film major who has seen “Boy Erased” twenty times. They can be reached at [email protected]