Music’s wonder boy Troye Sivan is back with a “grimy, sexy” new sound. And we’re ready for it…

Words Cliff Joannou Photography Damon Baker Styling Joseph Kocharian

Troye wears jacket by Diesel, tank top by Dries Van Noten at MR PORTER, cap by DSquared2 Troye wears leather jacket by Moschino, tank top by Marni, rings by Alexander McQueen

troye sivan

Troye wears leather jacket by Schott NYC, tank top by Topman Design, jeans by Off-White at Harvey Nichols, trainers by Converse, socks, stylist’s own, nose ring (throughout), Troye’s own

Where Troye Sivan’s critically lauded debut album Blue Neighbourhood embraced the mixed emotions of queer teen life, his follow-up is ready to peel back the innocent veneer of his angelic image. “It’s both light and sexy,” the South African-born singer says of the new music.

The first singles, My My My! and The Good Side are flip sides of the same coin in terms of where the album is placed. The video for My My My! — set in a vast, empty warehouse — has Troye revelling in the kind of sexual confidence that a young gay man’s early twenties brings when freed from the confusing state of coming out. Meanwhile, The Good Side plays to his vulnerability with a direct retelling of a break-up. Then there’s Bloom, which sits between these two extremes, lyrically delivering all the homoerotic undertones of bottoming for the first time, without explicitly giving us the details.

I’ve been saving this for you/Promise me you’ll hold my hand if I get scared now/Might tell you to take a second baby, slow it down/You should know I bloom, I bloom just for you, he sings.

Troye, 22, is unabashedly embracing his sexuality, albeit through a more poetic lens. Whether you’re a chaste Catholic priest or a proud burlesque performer, sex is a defining factor in all our lives, something that Troye believes is especially true for gay men.

What distinguishes us from wider society is our affection — and sexual desire — for other men. It’s what makes us different, and we can’t escape that fact.

Troye wears sleeveless shirt by Alexander McQueen

“I just wanted to be real and honest and if right now that happens to be sexy warehouse party, that’s where it is ”

“If anybody ever tries to say that I’m shoving anything in anyone’s face, I’m just doing the same thing that all of the straight pop stars are doing,” he says, his voice soft, yet carrying all the confidence you’d expect from somebody who has spent the past eight years sharing his views with more than six million subscribers via his YouTube channel and impressive social media fanbase.

“It just maybe feels a bit more confrontational to you because I’m gay,” he adds, acknowledging how being gay will always be the counterpoint to normal in society, how regardless of social change, we’re always going to be othered as a minority. “I had so many ideas and felt I’d grown so much and figured myself — and my music — out so much more, but I was still like: ‘I’m not sure how this is going to go’.”

As confident as Troye is about pushing his sexuality to the forefront of his music, he’s aware it’s still a commercial risk. For every proud step we take towards social progress, repressive forces seem to be more eager than ever to push us two steps back. Among all this noise, Troye represents a new dimension of pop star who won’t be silenced.