Pop phenomenon Troye Sivan Mellet, professionally known as Troye Sivan, dropped his junior album “Something to Give Each Other” October 13. With 10 songs and a little over 30 minutes of runtime, Sivan uses his experiences with queer love to tell musical stories. This new album, delivered after his impressive 2018 “Bloom album dives deeper into his form of love and broadens Sivan’s artistic range.
Tied to electronic dance music (EDM) roots, the first single and first album track, “Rush,” tells the story of meeting someone on the dancefloor, a meeting that eventually leads to excitement. An electric track about finding amusement with another person and catchy lyrics keep listeners hooked. Dropping the highly-anticipated single earlier in 2023, Sivan raised excitement for this album by promoting it on TikTok to garner public attention.
By singing lines such as “Recreate the sun,” “I feel the rush” and “My body blazin’,” this track clearly serves as a carefree club track. “Rush” takes Sivan down a different path artistically. This single, compared to his others, undoubtedly serves as an outlier. Troye’s earlier music included soft dance beats to emphasize his vocals and lyricism, such as “Dance to This” featuring Ariana Grande. This new release does not focus on one main musical factor: vocals, instrumentals and adlibs share the same spotlight. These musical aspects of the song equally supply each track’s life.
“I think I’m just used to putting stuff out to my very safe, immediate audience that I know have my back because they’ve been there for so long and everything. This time feels very different for some reason. The feeling that you get listening to it — the kind of joy and the hope and the sex of it all — is definitely new. I know that I’m really super happy about it, and I also think I am a little bit intimidated, it’s good intimidation, because it just makes me think, ‘We’ve got to make a great video for the second single,’” Sivan said.
Sivan followed “Rush” with the story-like sampled track “Got Me Started.” Even though this song came out initially as a second single, “Got Me Started” serves as the seventh track on the album. This track samples Bag Raiders‘ hit meme song “Shooting Stars.” Impressively, Bag Raiders let Sivan sample the song without repercussions.
“I was emphatic about using ‘Shooting Stars’ — I just kept humming it in the studio. I’m over the moon about the opportunity to sample that track because this song is iconic to me. Ian Kirkpatrick’s production technique of recording the vocal at a slower speed and then speeding it up is what you hear in the chorus. I instantly loved the way it sounded,” Sivan said.
According to Sivan, “Got Me Started” exists as a confidence booster. One can come alive after feeling emotionally dead from a rough relationship. Along with “Rush,” “What Time is it Where You Are?,””Silly” and “Honey,” “Got Me Started” contains perfect pop sounds with meaningful lyrics and deep connections.
“This song has a dancy feeling to it. It’s fun and one of my favorites out of the millions you’ve played around the house. You know I don’t like Troye Sivan, but this song is fun. “Rush” has been played more times than I can count, so this is refreshing,” NC senior Amyra Mitchell said.
Following track order after “What Time is it Where You Are,” Sivan delivers a different robotic feel to the album with the song “One of Your Girls,” a personal favorite of his. Featuring performer Ross Lynch in the music video, this song certainly stands out in Sivan’s discography.
“I think this is my favorite song I’ve ever worked on. This thing kept happening where I’d always end up heartbroken. We wrote three different choruses and ended up coming to this sad robot thing, inspired by a movie I’d seen. Even that spoke to the way I’d felt: like I was expected to be there when they wanted me, then disappear when they freaked out, then be there again when they wanted. Like this emotionless object,” Sivan said.
“Something To Give Each Other” serves as a breakup album and an album about self-discovery and wholehearted love. Sivan delivered an electric-pop collection of songs filled with beautiful samples, exclusive meanings and groovy beats. This album stands as an extremely cohesive group of music showing Sivan’s journey with himself through life.
“This album is my something to give you – a kiss on a dancefloor, a date turned into a weekend, a crush, a winter, a summer. Party after party after party after after party. Heartbreak, freedom. Community, sisterhood, friendship. All that. I love you,” Sivan said.
The Chant’s Rating: B
