Troye Sivan

Troye Sivan Mellet (/trɔɪ sɪˈvɑːn/ TROY sih-VAHN; born 5 June 1995) is a South African–born Australian singer-songwriter, actor, and YouTuber. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013 and released his third extended play, TRXYE (2014), which peaked at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200. Its lead single, "Happy Little Pill", reached number 10 on Australian music charts. In 2015, he released his fourth extended play Wild followed by his debut studio album Blue Neighbourhood, whose lead single "Youth" became Sivan's first single to enter the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 23. His second studio album Bloom (2018) reached number three in Australia and number four on the Billboard 200 chart. Its lead single "My My My!" became Sivan's second number-one single on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. On 1 April 2020, Sivan released his first single from his upcoming third album, "Take Yourself Home".

As an actor, Sivan portrayed the younger version of Wolverine in the 2009 X-Men film X-Men Origins: Wolverine and starred as the title character in the Spud film trilogy. As a YouTube personality, Sivan used to upload video blogs regularly and, as of 2016, has over 4 million subscribers and over 241 million total views. His video, "The 'Boyfriend' Tag", with fellow vlogger Tyler Oakley earned them a Teen Choice Award in the "Choice Web Collaboration" category. In October 2014, Time named Sivan as one of the "25 Most Influential Teens of 2014". In 2018, he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song for "Revelation", from the film Boy Erased, in which he also had a supporting acting role.

Sivan was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the son of Laurelle, a homemaker and former model, and Shaun Mellet, an entrepreneur and real estate agent. His family moved to Australia when he was two years old due to rising crime in South Africa after the end of apartheid. Sivan grew up in Perth, Western Australia, with his parents and three siblings. Sivan is Jewish—his father was born to a Jewish family of Lithuanian Jewish descent and his mother converted to Judaism—and he was raised in an observant Orthodox home, but has identified as an atheist. Sivan attended Carmel School, a private Modern Orthodox school, until 2009, when he started distance education.

Music

Sivan's musical career started when he sang at the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Channel Seven Perth Telethon. His 2006 performance included a duet with Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian. Sivan made it to the finals of StarSearch 2007. In 2009 he released "For Them" to raise awareness and funds to help homeless children. His debut EP, Dare to Dream, was released in June 2007. In February 2010, Sivan opened "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube Edition)", the collaborative music charity video produced by Lisa Lavie to help raise money for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

On 5 June 2013, Sivan was signed to EMI Australia, a Universal Music Australia label, but kept it a secret until a year later. On 15 August 2014 he released a five-song EP entitled TRXYE, led by its first single "Happy Little Pill", which was released on 25 July 2014. TRXYE debuted at No. 1 on iTunes in over 55 countries. The EP debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 the following week, scoring Sivan his first Top 10 album. "Happy Little Pill" peaked at number 10 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments exceeding 35,000 copies. Sivan released his second major-label EP, Wild, on 4 September 2015. The EP was supported by a music video trilogy entitled Blue Neighbourhood, comprising the three songs "Wild", "Fools" and "Talk Me Down" and released from September 2015 to December 2015. Additionally, the EP served as an introduction to his debut studio album Blue Neighbourhood, which was released on 4 December 2015. The single "Youth" reached number 23 in the Billboard Hot 100. Sivan supported Blue Neighbourhood and Wild with his first tour, 2015's Troye Sivan Live. He further supported Blue Neighbourhood with 2016's Blue Neighbourhood Tour and Suburbia Tour. On 26 May 2017, Troye collaborated with Martin Garrix to produce the song "There for You".

On 10 January 2018, Sivan released the single "My My My!", along with an accompanying music video. He confirmed that his second album was inspired by his boyfriend, an American model named Jacob Bixenman. The song is a notable contrast from his earlier work, with Pitchfork commenting on his "assured" vocals and NPR Music describing it as "an infectious celebration of sexual desire". NPR Music also notes the significance of the song and music video displaying confidence in Sivan's sexuality, writing "[i]t's not every day you see a young, skinny, queer kid get to be completely himself in a music video, and Sivan makes us want to dance along with him." Sivan's first live performance of the song was on 20 January as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live in an episode hosted by Jessica Chastain. Sivan later confirmed that his new album would feature a collaboration with long-time friend Ariana Grande, titled "Dance to This". "Bloom" was released as the third single on 2 May 2018, following "The Good Side". That month, he announced that his second studio album is titled Bloom, while accompanying Taylor Swift as a guest performer at her concert in Pasadena during her Reputation Stadium Tour. The album was released on 31 August 2018. The album's final pre-release track, "Animal", was launched on 9 August 2018. In 2018, Sivan received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song for "Revelation", which he recorded and co-wrote for the film Boy Erased. He was also shortlisted for an Academy Award for the song. In October 2018, Sivan collaborated with British singer-songwriter Charli XCX on the single "1999"; the two also performed the single together live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. A sequel collaboration, titled "2099", was debuted on 6 June 2019 at the two artists' LA Pride event "Go West Fest" and released as a promotional single from Charli XCX's album Charli on 10 September 2019. In January 2019, Sivan released the single "I'm So Tired..." with American singer-songwriter Lauv. On 6 December 2019, Sivan and Allie X released a song called "Love Me Wrong".

On 16 February 2020, it was announced that South Korean band BTS's upcoming album Map of the Soul: 7 included a song, "Louder Than Bombs", that was co-written by Sivan. It is the first collaboration between the two artists.

On 1 April 2020, Sivan released "Take Yourself Home", his first single from his upcoming third album. Sivan worked with freelance artists in need of work during the COVID-19 pandemic to create the visual art for his single. The artists, who Sivan met on Instagram, also designed t-shirts for the single, and all net proceeds were donated to the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and Spotify's COVID-19 Music Relief Project.

Music videos

Sivan's music videos frequently feature LGBTQ relationships between the characters. Blue Neighbourhood's trilogy followed the narrative of two gay teenagers in a secret relationship while "Youth" featured Sivan with another male love interest. His music video for "Heaven ft. Betty Who" features footage of historical LGBTQ movements and couples, as well as sensual shots with him and an anonymous man with the running tagline "Without losing a piece of me, how do I get to Heaven?" and "If I'm losing a piece of me, maybe I don't want Heaven". The singer says these portrayals are important to him, especially when he considers his younger life when he remembers "such vivid memories of the few times I saw any type of LGBTQ relationship on TV or in music videos".

Acting

In 2007, Sivan starred as Oliver Twist in a production of Oliver! at the Regal Theatre. In 2008, Sivan was cast in a West Australian short film, Betrand the Terrible. In February 2008, Sivan was cast as young James Howlett in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Sivan got the part after videos of his telethon performance were posted on YouTube, catching the attention of a Hollywood agent who contacted Sivan and asked him to send in an audition tape. Though Kodi Smit-McPhee was already cast for this role, he was unable to be a part of the film, due to his other film, The Road. In July 2009, he auditioned successfully for the lead role in Spud, a film adaptation of the 2005 novel by South African author John van de Ruit. Filming took place in South Africa from early March to mid-April 2010. The film was released in South Africa on 3 December 2010 and was later nominated for six SAFTAs, including a Best Lead Actor in a Feature Film nomination for Sivan.

Sivan appeared in the West Australian season of Samuel Beckett's absurdist play Waiting for Godot which opened on 28 May 2010. Sivan shared the role of "Boy" with Craig Hyde-Smith, alternating nights. In June 2012, Sivan returned to South Africa to film Spud 2: The Madness Continues, which was released in South Africa on 21 June 2013. Sivan also starred in the third film in the series, Spud 3: Learning to Fly, released on 28 November 2014.

Sivan appeared in the 2018 film Boy Erased, opposite Lucas Hedges, Xavier Dolan, and Nicole Kidman.

YouTube

In September 2012, Sivan began creating video blogs on the video sharing site YouTube, after having only sung on the site since 2007. At the time of posting his first vlog, Sivan had accumulated 27,000 subscribers in his five years since joining YouTube on 1 October 2007. As of April 2016, Sivan had over 4 million subscribers and over 243 million total views across his YouTube videos. His YouTube channel is the eighth most subscribed channel in Australia.

A YouTube video Sivan made with fellow YouTuber Tyler Oakley titled "The 'Boyfriend' Tag" earned them a Teen Choice Award in the "Choice Web Collaboration" category.

Sivan's favourite artists include Amy Winehouse, Taylor Swift and Lorde. MTV Artists also cites Michael Jackson and Frank Ocean as additional influences.

Sivan's music has been described as "layered electropop with constant tinges of EDM". His baritone voice has received widespread praise. His work has been compared to Lorde's and Taylor Swift's.

Sivan came out publicly as gay via a YouTube video on 7 August 2013, three years after coming out to his family. He dated American model Jacob Bixenman starting in February 2016. As of 2019, he lives in the Hollywood Hills neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

Sivan has a mild form of Marfan syndrome.

• Blue Neighbourhood (2015)
• Bloom (2018)

• Troye Sivan Live (2015)
• Blue Neighbourhood Tour (2016)
• Suburbia Tour (2016)
• The Bloom Tour (2018–2019)