Image source: Rolling Stone
As the world becomes progressive by the minute, the LGBTQ community continues to seek proper representation in the media. Although there have been queer stories popping here and there, such as Call Me By Your Name and Love, Simon movies, there is still so much needed to be done. Australian singer-songwriter Troye Sivan shares the same sentiments. More than two years after the release of his album called Bloom, it remains the top-tier track that tackles queerness in pop songs.
His songs are a breath of fresh air. For so long, queer stories have revolved around unrequited love and forbidden relationships. However, Sivan’s Bloom album shies away from the traditional queer narrative. Instead, his songs explicitly tell he’s out and proud, and his LGBTQ fans can do the same too, that is, to be themselves no matter what.
Right at the beginning, the Bloom album directly caters the modern listeners. For example, the “Seventeen” song relishes Sivan’s first sexual experience with an older man from a dating app. Instead of portraying the music in a predatory narrative as most mainstream queer stories do, it shows Sivan’s perspective of how he naively believed everything to be true. For his queer fanbase, the song depicts a queer boy’s discovery of his sexuality and identity.
“My My My!” comes next in the album, which illustrates the first electrifying stages of a relationship. This theme is present in all relationships, especially queer ones. In the music video, Sivan plainly shows lust over his new boyfriend as he pens, “an ode to the boy he loves.” Like the first stages of love, the ‘80s aesthetic and tune of the song are purely euphoric. There is no argument that the track resonates deeply with Sivan’s growing fanbase.
Perhaps, one of the best songs on the album is “Bloom.” With its catchy tune, the song tells a story about losing one’s virginity and the beauty of gay intimacy. Troye Sivan openly admits in an interview, “You know, for me, this is really real life, being able to celebrate these things, being able to talk about these things, and just being as open and honest as you want, and I didn’t want to come to this album writing for anyone but me and my friends. I wanted to make an album that I was proud of, that felt exciting to me, and that felt honest to me, and felt like something that made sense of me. And a big part of that was exploring these themes the way I would amongst friends or whatever.”
On the other hand, there is the “Good Side,” a mature, slow ballad showing Sivan getting the best part out of a breakup. It juxtaposes the song “Bloom,” which is about lustful beginnings. “Good Side” is all about heartbreaking goodbyes.
This whole album of Troye Sivan is one of his queer-positive projects. Over the years, he has earned loyalty from his LGBTQ audience because of his no-bullshit attitude. He does not try to preach his ways. He simply just lives.
Follow Troye Sivan on Instagram and Spotify.
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