23 November 2023
Newsdesk
Proud Radio host Hattie Collins is joined by Australia’s Troye Sivan whilst in London to speak about heartbreak, queerness and his new album ’Something To give Each Other’.
Troye Sivan describes new album ‘Something to Give Each Other’ and it’s creation…
You know what? I think the best way to describe it maybe is, I went through this really, really massive breakup and I started writing. And it's really just that journey and everything that I've learned along the way, and I realised along the way, I feel like I met myself again. And in the process as well, I feel like I reconnected with the world. I started writing it during COVID, in between lockdowns, when we would get this freedom, and I started to feel just so unbelievably grateful and moved by just being able to connect with people again. Whether it's dancing on a dance floor, that just felt so unbelievably euphoric and spiritual, and so I just was having all of these experiences and I started writing. So I think it's a really warm and joyous, for the most, part album, but it's also very introspective and personal.
Troye Sivan discusses the making of ‘One of Your Girls’ and the heartbreak that came from it…
The song is basically about, I'd had a few experiences with guys who had previously identified as straight and were showing me interest, and sometimes it went really well, and sometimes it left me really heartbroken and I didn't know how I felt about it. There was something that was weirdly gratifying about it to me. I think maybe internalised homophobia or the fact that I think that these boys, probably would've been really scared of them in high school, and thought that they were going to beat me up or something, and now they're showing me attention. So I think I really gravitated towards it, but at the same time, I often got left feeling really empty afterwards because you're kept as a secret or you feel a bit like an experiment and I didn't know how I felt about it, and I just started to write. I think all of those nuances and all of the layers to that conversation with myself are all in the song and I'm really proud of it.
Troye Sivan on what the queerness means to him…
To me, it's almost like a lack of definition. It removes all of the rules or structures that maybe have typically been imposed on us for a really long time, and I think it brings a real sense of freedom. I also think it just brings a massive sense of community. I think that queer people anywhere should be looking after queer people everywhere, and I love that.
Troye Sivan on coming out and how artists like Lil Has X inspire him to be himself…
I think I'm extraordinarily privileged. I have very, very supportive family and very supportive friends. So I always felt once that was out of the way, and I was out to my parents and I was out to my siblings and my friends, I was like, "Okay, well, I don't really have anything to lose because I've got that." So that really freed me up to explore.
But then I still feel like I definitely have censored myself over the years, or just try to stay in my lane a little bit and maybe keep things a bit more quiet. And then honestly, seeing artists like Lil Nas X, who just was so unafraid of taking up space and doing honestly the same thing that all the other pop stars are doing- but just doing it as a queer person, with so much fun, I was really, really, really inspired by that. I was like, "You know what? Why can't I do whatever I want as well?" So I just took a bit of inspiration from that.
Troye Sivan on collaborating with Guitarricadelafuente on ‘In My Room’, the only feature artist on the album…
I met him just organically. We met at a dinner and I really, really, really loved his energy. Then I went home and I was on his Instagram and just listening to his music, and I loved the visuals, I loved the music, I love his voice. We just had a day in London where we were both there and we wrote. And I loved the song so much, and his lyrics are beautiful, even though I was ChatGBT translating them so that I could figure out what we were actually singing about. But it's one of my favourite songs on the album, and I also just think for me, being able to collaborate with queer artists is so... It's just awesome.
Troye Sivan on his life goal to collaborate with Janet Jackson…
I mean, there’s so many artist’s. I would say the life goal is still probably Janet Jackson. Yeah, that would just be so awesome.
