THE SONG OF THE SUMMER HAS ME DANCING INTO FALL
“A kiss on the 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. <3”
Since the beginning of time, Troye Sivan has always been an icon and a staple piece of queer coming of age ness within this generation. Even in the early stages of his career back in the YouTube days, days that some would even remember as the golden era of YouTube, Troye Sivan was always true to himself. As he transitioned with songs like Bloom, embedding his personal phases of life into his artistry–making songs about love, lust, and everything else that matters. Now, even working on projects like The Idol, Sivan shows genuine growth, growing alongside OG fans who started watching him because they hoped to grow too. Sivan’s new song Rush, literally makes you feel the rush—the rush of celebration, the happiest of times, the essence of being alive, being queer, being excited to live, and to rejoice the people you love. It doesn’t have to be for a special occasion; it can be for anything. Rush is about breathtaking, life-changing energy, even if it’s just for one night.
This can really mean so much.
Troye Sivan has always enjoyed being sexy, and he’s never held back from diving deep into his intimate, almost catalyzing experiences in the dating world, but he explores and embraces a new form of connection through Rush and his forthcoming album.
“We go to parties every weekend where there’s like a dark room and what ever is happening there is happening there, and I love that stuff.”
“Rush’s” music video brought some normality to queer embodiment through widespread media to fans, watchers, and lovers of his work and up-and-coming music. “Rush” is a celebration of gay sex. From outfits expressive of club culture, comfort, and queer sexuality, covered in the smell of sweat and ecstasy–reveling through clubs in Berlin–never fully dressed, only embellished with bright pops of color, and adidas striped pants. The hues. Saturated, sexy, and golden-tinged, bringing a new side of cinematography and vibrance to the popular dance chart-topper, adding to the song's essence, the rush–a sense of hope and excitement that can belong to anyone. The feeling you get in the middle of the dance floor when you never want the lights to turn on. When you wish you could dance and listen to whatever song is playing forever–the only moments that feel like everyone is really there, together.
As mentioned on Emily Ratajkowski’s podcast High Low, “Rush” represents the idea of community. Sivan adds “I think, just like the thing that I fell in love with the most over the last two and a half years or three years since being single is my community.” The pop star has chosen to collaborate with one of his best friends, Gordon Steiner, this being his first time working with a creative director for a musical project, Steiner, will also be working on the rest of his album.“I couldn’t be more proud to make something so unabashedly gay.” Steiner gushes on Instagram after the release. “Rush is about that queer party that lasts forever. Those heart-pumping moments and the rush of new friends, dance, sex. Loved making this with MY best friends and meeting all of the absolutely bonkers talented cast and crew from Berlin.” After going to Berlin for a week to film the music video, Sivan emphasizes how important it was for it to be completely genuine, with his main goal to ultimately “make the thing that I would have dreamt to make without censoring.”
After facing backlash on the lack of body representation in the music video, Sivan confessed, “To be honest, it just wasn’t a thought we had — we obviously weren’t saying, ‘We want to have one specific type of person in the video.’ We just made the video, and there wasn’t a ton of thought put behind that.” Yes, it is essential to go out of your way to represent others, to make sure they are seen, but to what extent can we embrace ourselves authentically if we need to deny the art others create for themselves instead of finding our own ways to resonate with them?
To icon Charli XCX’s portrayal, she mentions, “I feel like we live in a world where audiences feel like expression or art isn’t worth their time unless it appeases every single unspoken requirement,” adding, “IT IS SO BORING. if something breaks common aesthetics, it’s “weird” or “try hard” if something conforms it’s “offensive” and “not diverse enough.” What a boring discourse.”
His new release has posed a substantial question, Is it possible for artists to make art that both pushes boundaries, remains authentic, and pleases everyone?
In a new age of media, audiences, fans, watchers, lovers, and haters are over-exposed, over-stimulated, and presented with new artists who, like us, are always trying to do something new, to do the next thing, predict the next trend, or feed into current ones. It seems uncommon and almost outrageous even, to resonate with an artist's work because of their openness. The genuine paths to connection through art shouldn’t have to come through similarities; they should come from vulnerability and, in essence, a representation that truly embodies an artist without trying to be something else.
As censorship dominates, we are less inspired by new media because it doesn’t speak to us. At its core, Rush is a sign of hope, a potential for a new age of media, and a newfound representation of groups of people simply looking to express how they feel when they feel their best. For now, we can look forward to October 13th and Sivan’s upcoming album. Rush might have been the song of the summer, but it has kept me going into this Fall: the song about letting go and dancing all year long. Rush’s music video illustrates intimacy that exudes the feeling of a single touch. Just one touch that means everything, one kiss, one dance–reminding us that these moments are what life is all about.
As censorship dominates, we are less inspired by new media because it doesn’t speak to us. At its core: “Rush” is a sign of hope, a potential for a new age of media, and a newfound representation of groups of people simply looking to express how they feel when they feel their best. For now, we can look forward to October 13th and Sivan’s upcoming album. Rush might have been the song of the summer, but it has kept me going into this Fall: the song about letting go and dancing all year long. Rush’s music video illustrates intimacy that exudes the feeling of a single touch. Just one touch that means everything, one kiss, one dance, reminding us that these moments are what life is all about.
Story for PhotoBook Magazine. Read for more @PhotoBookMagazine.
