101about his casual embrace of same-sex
romance. It wasn’t a gimmick, though;
it was just Sivan as Sivan, which the fans
were happy to support.
That story continues in his latest
additions to his YouTube canon: bold,
sensual music videos to go along with
the singles onBloom that are rich with
artful, gender-blurring visuals. In the
videos, Sivan sports red lacquered lips,
reclines in high fashion and dances
in high heels. To him, ilming those
moments was a peak: “This is what
you wanted your entire life,” he says
he told himself. “I had a bit of envy in
how conident he was in his queerness,”
says Sivan’sBloom co-writer Brett
McLaughlin, who performs under the
name Leland. “I was like, This is what
I want to be a part of. This is the train
I want to be on.” The response to the
visuals, Sivan says, “felt electric.”
SIVAN ISN’T THE FIRSTmale pop star
to identify as openly queer or defy
gender norms; award-winning artists
like David Bowie, Elton John and Sam
Smith already broke through those
barriers. Nor is he the irst to pivot
from his fame on a digital platform
to a more traditional celebrity career.
Consider Justin Bieber or Shawn
Mendes, both of whom got their start
uploading videos as well. But his
seamless transition from YouTube
vlogger to actor to major-league
pop star, using his fan base to test the
boundaries of what’s expected from
male artists, is a case study in the
form. Instead of being introduced to
Sivan through his music, fans became
familiar with him over a decade of
online interaction. They’ve tracked
him from project to project, growing
with him. Their support transcends
the strength of any one song, and
they’ve given him implicit permission
to express himself authentically. It’s
a uniquely modern experience of
stardom, and it sets Sivan apart.
“It’s all a part of the story,” says
McLaughlin. “I don’t
think it makes Troye any
less powerful in terms
of his music. It just adds
accessibility.” Luckily,
Sivan’s viral start led to
a well-received debut
album with a platinum hit,
granting him credibility in
the music industry.
OnBloom,
Sivan continues his
musical evolution,
pairingefervescent dance anthems
like lead single “My My My!” with
more dreamy, introspective fare; he
calls this album a “time capsule”
of the past few years. “The Good
Side,” a melancholy acoustic number,
was made by indie producer Ariel
Rechtshaid (Haim, Kelela) and earned
Sivan comparisons to indie-folk
stalwart Sujan Stevens. On dancier
numbers, like the slow-burning
“Plum,” breathy Grande duet “Dance
to This” and lirty title track, he sets
of little sparks of joy among the
cool-toned soundscapes. And on the
lush album highlight “Seventeen,”
Sivan relects on a formative but
complicated romantic experience:
“Maybe a little too young, but it was
real to me,” he sings.Radical transparency like this is
unusual in the highest echelons of
pop stardom, but it’s important to
Sivan to be honest about his own
experiences. OnBloom, he lips
from documenting explicitly queer
narratives to using gender-neutral
pronouns. He says he grew up feeling
accepted in his queer identity, and it
was important to him to make music
that felt equally non-judgmental.
“I wanted to be a pop star since I was a
little kid,” he says. “What do pop stars
do? They write love songs. They put
love interests in their videos. I don’t
see it as some radical statement.”
He wants fans to feel connected
with the causes that matter to him
too. Sivan teamed up with LGBTQ
organizations including the Ally
Coalition and the Trevor Project to
promote local activism while he’s on
his upcoming tour. He also appears
alongside Lucas Hedges and Nicole
Kidman in the upcoming ilmBoy
Erased, out this November,
about a young man who lands
in conversion therapy. He’s
cautious when he talks about
his need to be a role model
in the LGBTQ community:
“This is a responsibility that I
take really seriously.”
If staying poised and
apolitical used to be the
savviest move for stars who
wanted to play to the largest
possible audience, Sivan
represents a new kind of celebrity,
who’s comfortable engaging with
social issues and getting vulnerable
with fans. He and his contemporaries
are eager to be seen and valued as role
models and friends to a generation
growing up in uncertain times while
seeking new modes of connection
with one another and the world. And
Sivan knows that his popularity creates
more space for people who look and
act like him. “There’s a lot of hunky
straight white male pop stars,” Sivan
says, “but I think we’re heading in the
right direction.”
Back at the photo shoot, Sivan
strikes pose after pose, awash in warm
morning light. He may stand alone in
the camera’s lash, but whatever he
does, he knows his fans will follow. □‘What do pop
stars do?
They write
love songs ...
I don’t see
it as some
radical
statement.’
TROYE SIVAN