Troye Sivan - Something To Give Each Other

Five years after the lusty reintroduction of ‘Bloom’, on ‘Something To Give Each Other’ we find Troye Sivan in full command of his sexuality. Its lead – the noughties-inspired, gloriously double entendre-utilising ‘Rush’ - is uproarious as it depicts an adoration for a poppers high (and the fun that follows) with a jeering football-style chant. Then, the kitschy ‘Got Me Started’ (which thrifts Bag Raiders’ ‘Shooting Stars’ from 2017 meme hell) oozes the kind of irreverent style that characterises contemporary cool kid pop culture: an air of suave irony, coupled with a not-too-distant throwback reference, a penchant for the gauche, and an aching for tangible experience.

The pair of tracks introduce ‘Something To Give…’ perfectly. It’s an album that captures fleeting connection - be it sex, drugs, community or love - through wiry dance pop and popular iconography. It’s brief, kaleidoscopic in scope, but with purpose, and its immediacy grabs at fast-escaping youth with a clammy white-knuckle grip. As whispers of 2020 EP ‘In A Dream’ skirt across the scratchy industrial breakdown of desire anthem ‘Honey’, Troy confesses adoration. Meanwhile, kinetic techno captures long-distance lust on ‘What’s the Time Where You Are?’; creeping grooves weave through down-low hook-ups on ‘One of Your Girls’, and the deep synths and flirtatious sax in ‘How To Stay With You’ dance through being “a little bit fucked”. It’s as fun and messy as it is timelessly trendy; as silly as it is erotic. On ‘Something To Give Each Other’, Troye Sivan’s melancholic pop euphoria encapsulates an entire subculture of modern queer masculinity.