Photo from iTunes.apple.com
By Kayla Shults
News Editor
Born in South Africa and raised in Australia, Troye Sivan is best known for his presence on the internet, more specifically YouTube. Sivan currently has nearly four million subscribers who watch his advice, lifestyle and challenge videos.
Most recently, the 20-year-old has set his sights on the music scene. His debut album, “Blue Neighborhood,” follows two EP’s, “Wild” and “TRXYE,” and proves that the singer has the ability and the talent to fill an entire album.
“Blue Neighborhood” showcases Sivan’s ability to write and sing about love and loss. Most of the songs have a Lana Del Rey-esque feel to them, almost becoming depressing or melencholy.
Each one comes across as a breakup song, full of love and pain. On the song “Wild” he sings, “Leave this blue neighborhood, never thought loving could hurt this good, and it drives me wild.” Sivan is attempting to convince his lover to escape their town to salvage their relationship.
The song is featured as one of three thematic videos that Sivan released.
“It’s all autobiographical,” he said in an interview with The Guardian. “It takes place in both the suburbs of Perth where I’ve grown up, which I consider to be my blue neighborhood, but then also in this fast-paced, crazy, whirlwind life that I’m now living in hotel rooms and planes. And it takes place inside the mind of a 20-year-old kid.”
The experiences on the album seem to be his own, and not those that have been influenced by producers or music industry professionals.
“Talk Me Down” takes a look at the harsh and long-lasting effects of homophobia, which Sivan also spoke about in the YouTube video when he came out as a homosexual over two years ago.
“Blue Neighborhood” features songs with Broods, Tkay Maidza, Allday and maybe the most high-profile, Australian “Somebody Loves You” singer, Betty Who on Sivan’s song “Heaven.”
The album’s message comes across clearly on the song “Lost Boy,” especially with the line “I’m just a lost boy, not ready to be found.” It adds a hint of honesty to the album that shows Sivan is still trying to figure out who he is and where he belongs, and not just in the music industry.
With “Blue Neighborhood,” Troye Sivan proves that he is a force to be reckoned with beyond the computer screen.