Troye Sivan talks touring with Charli XCX on their joint 'Sweat' tour, the success of his third album 'Something to Give Each Other,' how the album's sound was inspired by Janet Jackson, getting a Grammy nomination for his song "Rush," having a 'Saturday Night Live' skit about the viral choreography in his "Got Me Started" music video, dressing up in drag for the "One of Your Girls" music video, the evolution of his songwriting over his music career, his collaborations with Hyujin of Stray Kids, PinkPantheress, Ariana Grande, Tate McRae, Kacey Musgraves and more!
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00:00It was a crazy experience and also I think kind of like the biggest risk was like
00:03What if I look super busted? Like what if this just does not work?
00:07I don't think that was gonna be a problem. No, but like you never know, you know, I'd never done drag before hey
00:11This is Troye Sivan and this is Billboard News
00:17Hey, it's Tetris with Billboard News hanging out with Troye Sivan. How's it going Troye? It's going good. How are you?
00:23I'm great, man. I'm here to talk about one of my favorite albums of the year. So yeah it come on, man
00:27Come on, it was such a great project and we gotta start with Rush
00:30Okay
00:31Tell me about living through that process and how it was to kind of have this song take over in the way that it did
00:36Well, yeah, I mean honestly Rush
00:39Completely like changed my life
00:46I kind of had the concept for the album something to give each other and and I had it was all about rather than like
00:51waiting to kind of
00:52Have specific stories that I wanted to tell I really strived for like trying to capture specific feelings
00:58and there was this one feeling that we didn't have on the album yet, and it was this like
01:05thick air sweaty hot nightclub
01:09Moment that I had enjoyed so much over the years in in my real life
01:14and it was just such an important experience for me and
01:18I'd been I knew that the album wasn't done because we didn't have it yet
01:20And then when we got Rush, I was like, okay, I feel like I feel like that's it
01:26I think about how like certain songs can hit a community, right?
01:28Yeah
01:29And so I think even in my friend group I think about songs like Rush
01:32And put on put on how they hit the queer community in such a way
01:35But then you know you turn around and you're Grammy nominated
01:38So how did that feel to then notice like hey, this is for everybody and people love this song
01:42I'm so used to releasing music to this group of people that I love that have been with me for like
01:49you know ten plus years at this point and then all of a sudden this was just like
01:53So much wider than that and I didn't I didn't expect that. I mean, I hope for it always but but it was really really cool and
02:01yes, and I'm like
02:03Grammys and then also they did the like the SNL spoof
02:12How was it to see that did you do you get like warnings about stuff like that
02:16The only warning that I got was because like they needed to license the song to be able to use it
02:20so they had to let me know about that and
02:22I just thought it was gonna be used in a skit. I didn't know that the skit was like about me. It was crazy
02:27It's crazy. Yeah, no, that was really fun. And of course when a song gets as big as that it also has its critiques
02:32So, how did you handle that when you would see people online discussing the music video and the and the song itself?
02:38I think one of the perks of being like
02:40chronically online since I was
02:4210 basically is that I kind of understand how
02:47You know online conversation moves and changes and like, you know when to listen when to not listen
02:52I think that you know, it's like important to protect your sanity as well. So it's like I think
02:57yeah, like listening learning engaging conversation while also knowing when something is also like just you know,
03:03Somebody like sitting in their basement or something like that like just trolling just to troll
03:08Um, I think kind of having an understanding of how to navigate that has been really helpful
03:12Well, then you took the party with the album. You kept it going with got me started
03:19So tell me about the dancing part of this and how you were dancing in russian
03:22Then I mean the obviously how viral got me started when so how did you think like did you think ahead of the game?
03:27Like I want to do choreography. I really want to hone down on that
03:30So I obviously I like I grew up on Janet and like Madonna and Michael and Britney and whatever
03:36So it's like I was so lucky to have these like like the greatest pop stars of all time
03:40to to grow up with and
03:42Choreography and dance was such a big part of their worlds
03:45and so I think you know when it came time to like doing pop in a way that um that felt
03:51Like I had always always wanted to I knew that I I had to
03:55Have a go at least like try and it was the scariest thing ever because I'd never done choreo before
04:00Never, you know considered myself. We always had the vibes, you know
04:03It's just like all the way all the way to that level
04:06I would like jump around and stuff like that
04:07but I think I don't know for some reason it was always like, um,
04:10just narrative that I told myself that I couldn't dance and um, and so it was a really really
04:15terrifying challenge for me, um, but
04:19Super rewarding like super super rewarding to discover something new that that I love as much as I love dancing
04:26Uh, like, you know 27 or 28, however old I was
04:30That's so exciting and so fun. Yeah, it makes me want to like scream from the rooftops about
04:34I I want everyone to dance. I think everyone should dance
04:37Well now you got me thinking because obviously as a queer guy myself i'm like, okay britney all these janet
04:41Do you channel any of them when you're doing the choreography?
04:43I'm, like which pop star that popped into your head when you're like i'm doing my dance and i'm about to kill it
04:48Janet, I mean obviously like janet is janet. There's no there's no comparison. But um, but just like
04:54the the inspiration was definitely we we joked about
04:58When we're trying to find um our choreographer for the videos gordon von steiner and I we were like, okay
05:03So it needs to be like jenny jackson goes to eastern europe. Like what does that look like, you know?
05:08and so, um, that was kind of our starting point and then we found sergio race based out of the netherlands and
05:14um
05:15yeah, he's just like
05:17He nailed the brief nailed it. You kept having fun with it with this album one of your girls
05:22I mean that was another again amazing single
05:24So talk to him about create like moving on that creative process and working with ross lynch
05:34I had kind of like planned out the the rollout of these three
05:38videos and these three songs and
05:40Always knew that one of your girls was going to be
05:42Kind of like the centerpiece of the album for me and it was my favorite song on the album still is my favorite song on
05:47The album i'm i'm super super proud of it. And um, yeah having this like
05:52Fit this concept in my back pocket for the for the music video. I was pretty excited by it
05:57When did you decide like I want to do drag or I want to I want to create this concept?
06:01I didn't really think about it as me doing drag. I thought about it as like me being like a woman
06:04You're just being a woman. So I was like when we when we came to the um, organizing the glam team and everything like that
06:11instead of going to
06:13Uh, like a drag artist, you know, we thought about that and that would have been incredible obviously, but we went to
06:19mark who like
06:21literally does like just like
06:24Celebrity women and like beats them, you know beats them down
06:27And so I was like, that's what I want. Like I want to feel like kendall jenner, you know what I mean? So
06:32um
06:33it was it was a crazy experience and also I think kind of like the biggest risk was like
06:37What if I look super busted like what if this just does not work?
06:41I don't think that was gonna be a problem
06:42No, but like you never know, you know
06:44I'd never done drag before and i'd never done makeup like that or had a wig like that or anything
06:48And so we did like a test the day before
06:52And the only thing we didn't have at the test was hair. So it was like a party city wig literally a party city wig
06:58And I need the photo of that. Well, no, the thing is that dara who styled the video is so incredible. Um, she
07:05I don't know. She like did some crazy stuff to that wig like plucked made a little cute hairline like
07:12Really really like went in on it and by the end of that test
07:16I was like, oh, okay cool. Like I felt good. I felt good
07:20I want to talk about one of my other favorite tracks on the album. What's the time where you are?
07:30That song to me really just captures a mood a spirit
07:33So I want to know what was your inspiration behind that particular track?
07:35Because of course my brain takes it to how I feel about it. But how do you feel about it?
07:39totally, I think again it started with this like feeling of these like really kind of warm like
07:43Pianos and this beat that was really cutesy reminded me of maybe a little of like the demita joe album by janet
07:49Which is again kind of like the forever reference
07:51um
07:52and so we started with this like warmth and at the time I was um,
07:56I was just kind of like talking to this guy who was overseas and um
08:01He had asked me he's like what's the time?
08:04Where you are and I he knew where I was
08:07And so I knew that he could have googled that but he decided to ask me instead
08:12And I just saw that little gesture as like of him trying to connect over something. So kind of like mundane
08:18I thought it was really sweet
08:20And it made me realize that like there's kind of you know
08:23A bigger conversation here than than the one that we're actually having and so it was just a sweet little inspiration
08:28I wrote it on my phone and um and started working on the song, but essentially it was just like
08:33Um, I love the lyric where it's like i'm right on top of this groove, but god, I wish it was you
08:42Dating a songwriter that's got to be crazy. He just like asked you that question and then now it's an album title
08:47So that's pretty cool, what's your favorite known single on the album maybe still got it the ballad
08:59That one was like a gut-wrencher to write for sure
09:02That's I think the only time I've ever cried in the studio because I think that's really dramatic and silly
09:06um, but I you gotta be feeling it sometimes i'm sure people like, you know, yeah, I don't know it's just like
09:12so it was just oscar gore's and myself that one and um
09:16he
09:17You know, he was like facing the computer his back to me
09:20so he didn't I don't think he even like knew or saw anything like that, which is
09:24So you just had your own private just had my own little sob in the back. Yeah by myself
09:28um, but I just remember like writing it was a new way of writing for me where I I will like
09:34completely do away with any um attempt at
09:39Melody or rhythm and i'll just write in my phone as if i'm writing like a diary entry
09:44And then make it fit afterwards
09:46which I found for this album was a process that I used quite a bit because it meant that
09:51Without the limitations of like, oh, I need a three-syllable word here. You can really just
09:56Completely completely say exactly what you're feeling and and you end up, you know with these kind of surprising words
10:02maybe maybe a line that doesn't rhyme and maybe that's nice and you know interesting and um,
10:07and
10:08Feels more genuine or whatever
10:09So I was just like writing this like diary entry essentially and then kind of fit it to the song afterwards
10:17After you told me that you liked it
10:20So now that we've kind of talked to you through your discography and your songs. What's your favorite song to perform on tour?
10:26Rush it's gotta be I I just feel like that one is like, yeah
10:31there's just something about it that it's so so so fun to play and it feels
10:37As good live as as I thought it was going to
10:39I want to talk about how your songwriting has grown because maybe not everybody's been around since happy little peel like some of us
10:45Oh, wow
10:46but like so with albums like blue neighborhood to bloom to now this album like how has your journey changed because I mean
10:52You were so much younger then and now like you've obviously changed so much as an artist
10:56the thing that I love so much is that the core of it is still there, which is like trying to
11:02capture a feeling
11:03not just like tell someone a story but
11:07Really kind of like capture the feeling that that when they play it they they can feel it, you know, they feel the story
11:12Um, that's my goal always and and so that still hasn't changed and I think the only thing that's really changed is like
11:19my confidence in my ability to
11:21navigate
11:23Um as a songwriter and and get to that place
11:26um with maybe more ease and with um
11:31more like curiosity and and I I love
11:35It's just fun. I love to play. I feel like a songwriter first and foremost, you know, like that's like really
11:40I think at the core of who I am and it's my favorite part of my entire life
11:45I think so it's being a storyteller, you know in essence and I feel like I think about like blue neighborhood
11:49Do you remember that you rented out? Uh, the hollywood cemetery? Yeah, the premiere of that music video. Yeah, that was crazy
11:55Yeah, I was of course there. No way. I have the autograph poster
11:59but um like that you were so young you were kind of telling the story of kind of like
12:03This secret love at that time to now be so confident
12:07Like do you did you always see yourself getting to the point you are today?
12:10I remember filming the happy little pill music video and I remember feeling so stiff in my body like
12:17So nervous that I was you know, it's like a tight shot
12:19I'm like scrunching my pants up because i'm like so nervous and just standing totally still and feeling so awkward kind of
12:26um
12:26I think if that
12:29Troy was to see
12:31Or like got me started on one of your girls or something like that. I reckon he'd like have an aneurysm
12:36so
12:37um
12:38yeah, it's it's been it's been a
12:41Big big big journey that I don't think I could have predicted. I definitely think I would have hoped for it
12:46you know, I think like
12:48A lot of this album was that for me was about you know, it was almost like I owed it to myself
12:53I felt that way, you know, I owed it to like
12:5610 year old troy who was like obsessed with janet
12:59like
13:01You deserve to go to bangkok and like film with 20 dancers on a roof
13:06choreo like you know, uh like that it was it was sort of like
13:10Kind of like a lifelong project. It felt like this album for me
13:14and then you feel like you've gained different fans with each
13:16Section of this because I feel like you're always kind of reintroducing yourself to a new audience
13:20Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I mean, um
13:23the
13:24being able to take this on tour and I just I just finished europe and um,
13:29you know like
13:30we sold out wembley arena and stuff like that and I just feel like um
13:35yeah, it's it's definitely at a scale and a level that I
13:40I don't know. It's crazy in another way. You've gained a lot of fans. You have some of the craziest collaborators
13:45I feel like you always have friends in the industry that are willing to jump on the track, which is really cool
13:49So I want to run through just a couple of these names
13:50You tell me like what you think of when you think about that collaboration?
13:53Okay, so when you work with pete pantheras and huginn of stray kids, how was that?
14:01Yeah, that one was so fun that was like right in in the middle of um
14:05Like the rush roll out and everything and it came together just like so naturally
14:10um, I met him just like immediately obviously became obsessed with him and um,
14:15and then with pink it was like she loved the song and
14:19Reached out and i'm obviously like a huge fan of her and just kind of like it was all happening simultaneously
14:23So it was like wait, let's do all three of us together
14:26And um, yeah, I love it
14:28And I feel like you two seem like friends already on a grand day
14:30Like tell me about working with her and how that's one to me one of your best songs
14:36Is
14:39I mean, what can I even say? She's just like
14:42I
14:43adore her so so so much and um
14:47I mean, I think it's like it's not even a point of contention
14:50I feel like she's like kind of the greatest that we have vocally and so um, i'm just like
14:55totally honored to um
14:58To have worked with her and now I was embarrassed about this one
15:00I love this song when it came out 2021 you but I didn't know tate at the time
15:10So what made you lock in with her then, you know kind of even before she blew up
15:14I love her voice. I think she's got such a cool voice
15:17I'd like to think i'm really dialed in and and I love like
15:20you know finding new artists that i'm excited by and I was I was excited by her and um,
15:25And loved the song and so
15:27Yeah
15:28And then casey musgraves because that video was amazing. Oh, thank you
15:36I will listen to
15:37golden hour that album
15:39I keep talking about crying but I had a good cry to that album like
15:42I love that. You're like, oh, I don't normally cry and now this is now the second cry story
15:47As a songwriter
15:49to have her on one of my songs that was I was like totally floored by that and um
15:54Mark ronson is also on that song and I loved him for so many years and had a huge crush on him forever
16:00Yeah, now we're like friends and it's awesome. I think he knows about the crush. That's just like so
16:05Not breaking news. He's also like got a kid and stuff. So it's like, yeah, well, let's talk about it
16:09It's brad summer. I'll be in the road with charlie xx the sweat tour
16:17I have been such a fan of charlie for such a long time and and she's like someone that I just love so much and
16:23We've known each other for a really long time. And so
16:25um, I think
16:26seeing her
16:28Win has just been like one of the greatest. Um
16:32Like pleasures of the last year for me and especially seeing her win at something that I think is so
16:37It's charlie at the most charlie
16:40And I that's what people have like woken up to finally
16:43She's always had that, you know power in her and always had that kind of like vision
16:48And uh
16:49Just waiting for kind of culture to catch up to her. It's been so rewarding to to watch
16:53I love that you talk about like the power that she has i'm like we can almost credit her with launching a democratic candidate
17:00obviously
17:01yeah, I mean
17:02it is it is wild but you know speaking about the power of pop like I I feel like the fact that
17:08pop music is is having a moment in
17:11a presidential election is like
17:14Uh, it's wild the power of pop music bringing people together and making people feel like they're a part of something and um
17:20It's very very it's incredible. And then of course you guys are friends
17:24So tell me about the friendship part of it when you're planning a tour
17:27Like are you like fighting about who gets to do what songs who goes first here?
17:30How long your set is how long my set is? How is the planning?
17:33No, so definitely no fights. I think
17:36We work really well together because we have worked together so many times and um
17:40I think we think about things very similarly. So it's actually like kind of a breeze
17:44yeah, that was kind of part of the reason why I think we wanted to tour together in the first place was because
17:48like the best part of the day when you're on tour is
17:50the show
17:52um the rest of the day
17:54You're moving around all the time. You're like living out of a suitcase
17:56It's you're away from your family and friends a lot of the time and whatever and so
18:00the idea of both of us
18:02we were both kind of iffy on the idea of just like
18:05Us tour feels like a massive like undertaking
18:08Or if we do it together, it just seems so much more
18:12fun and doable and like to be kind of going through this major experience this like life-changing experience with
18:19You know, one of my really good mates is like very special
18:21Well, you had a very successful era with something to give each other. What do you want to do next?
18:26What's next for Troy? What's on the docket this momentum in this moment that um
18:31It feels so good. It's like I I still have so much more to say and and so much more to to do. I feel so
18:38just like grateful, you know that I got to make this album that i've always wanted to make these music videos that i've always
18:43wanted to make and
18:44and now these
18:45tours that i've always wanted to put on and the fact that they are being received in the way that they are i'm just like
18:48Okay, cool. Let's keep this
18:51Good vibes going. Well, congrats. Troy. Absolutely adore you. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Nice to see you. Thanks so much