[Eds Note: This article has been published in partnership with Spinnaker Radio to feature LGBTQ+ music artists and celebrate Pride Month.] 

Pride Month Spotlight: Troye Sivan

Initially attracting attention by his presence on social media, Troye Sivan is a 26-year-old multi talented artist.

Sivan’s career in music started when he performed with Guy Sebastian, an Australian Idol winner, in 2006 on the show Telethon. In the year proceeding, Sivan released his first EP, Dare to Dream. In 2009, Sivan played the role of young Wolverine in the movie, Z-Men Origins: Wolverine.

When he was 12, Sivan started making videos on YouTube including lifestyle vlogs, trendy challenges, and music videos. Around the time that he acquired 500,000 subscribers, he posted a video titled Coming Out to confess to his followers that he was gay. Sivan now has nearly eight million YouTube subscribers, nine million Twitter followers, and 13 million Instagram followers.

Released in December 2015, Blue Neighbourhood was Sivan’s first full album. Blue Neighbourhood (Deluxe Edition) includes songs from his EP Wild that was released just a few months prior to the album as well as 10 new tracks. Some of the most popular songs from this album include Fools and Talk Me Down.

Continuing to grow in popularity, Sivan has collaborated with many artists such as Zedd, Kacey Musgraves, and Ariana Grande.

The songs, You, I’m So Tired, and Angel Baby have earned time on the Billboard Hot 100.

Strawberries and Cigarettes, a single Sivan released in 2018, also became one of his most popular songs. A big part of the single’s popularity was derived from its feature on the soundtrack of Love, Simon, a movie about a high school boy finding his identity.

Co-written with Michael Pollack, JHart, Jason Evigan, and Sarah Hudson, Sivan released the single Angel Baby in September 2021. Currently, the song has over 100 million streams on Spotify.

Angel Baby is a song about how Sivan was pulled out of loneliness by falling in love with someone.

“I’ll tell you how I almost died while you’re bringing me back to life. I just wanna live in this moment forever ‘cause I’m afraid that living couldn’t get any better,” Sivan says in the song.

Electric synth piano subtly progresses through major chords while Sivan’s solo vocal track opens the first verse. Soon, a percussive track of a drumstick hitting the rim of a snare drum introduces the common time beat.

At the end of the first verse, a bright, lead synth introduces the chorus. The percussion becomes full of a kick, hi-hat, and reverberating snare drum. Harmonious background (BG) vocals sing with the melody of the chorus while an electric guitar embellishes between lyrical phrases. The guitar rings on its last notes.

Full percussion carries through the second verse while all BG vocals are omitted, bringing energy down from the chorus. Bass guitar is added, richening the familiar chord progression. A lull in the instruments and percussion is filled with only an ascending electronic melodic line to transition to the pre-chorus.

Synth again opens the chorus, and the vocals are texturized with the same BG vocals from before.

Bright tones transition to dark as the lead synth and electric guitar cut out for the bridge. An electric bass plays a chromatic descending line while numerous vocal tracks are processed in a new way that sounds like phasing.

Percussion is shortly cut out while the last chorus is introduced with a single, distorted vocal line sung over the instruments. The bright, lead synth then emerges and brings the instruments and percussive groove back in. Counterpoint vocal melodies are sung at the same time while the hook of the song is repeated. The last phrase of the song lingers with a long tail of reverb.

Troye Sivan’s music can be found on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music. 

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