On Friday, Aug 31, 2018 singer/songwriter Troye Sivan gifted fans with his second studio album, “Bloom.”
“My natural go-to is sad songs,” the singer told Apple Music in an interview, which is what his 2015 debut album, “Blue Neighbourhood” consists of. “Bloom,” however, manifests a completely different side of the Australian raised pop star.
The ten track album begins with “Seventeen” where Sivan touches on his inexperience navigating the world as a teenager, singing lines like “I went out looking for love when I was seventeen” and “Maybe a little too young, but it was real to me.”
The ability to relate to his fans is something Sivan has always been good at and these lyrics prove that. Most young adults experience these types of feelings when looking back on their teen years. Next on the track list is “My My My!” which was released way back in January as the first single off the album. The song has had real mainstream success, reaching number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. The track is a shining burst of energy and sets the stage for the rest of the album.
Sivan then vocally strips down on a good portion of the album with songs like “The Good Side,” “What a Heavenly Way to Die,” “Plum” and “Postcard,” which features fellow Australian singer/songwriter, Gordi.
All of which are a beautiful change of pace from the more electronically doctored Sivan fans are used to.
A real star on the album though is “Dance to This”, which features the vocals of pop princess Ariana Grande and was also released as the fourth single this past June. The song is smooth like a tall glass of lemonade on a hot day, with sultry lyrics like “You still look like dynamite and I wanna end up on you” and “Do that thing that we never do sober.” Going along with that is the third single off the record with the same name ”Bloom.” The song is full of extended metaphors and imagery of gardens and flowers, which have been thought of as sex symbols since about the eighteenth century, singing “Take a trip into my garden/I’ve got so much to show ya/The fountains and the waters/Are begging just to know ya.” Both songs refer to more mature content that we never really heard on “Blue Neighbourhood,” further illustrating to fans just how much the 23- year-old has grown; not only as a person, but as an artist.
The album ends with “Lucky Strike” and “Animal” which are in keeping with exposing the “taboo” topics of sexuality much like the rest of the album, saying “I wanna tip toe through your bliss boy” and “I am an animal with you.” Although both songs are sexually centered, Sivan is able to do it in a tasteful and contained way, which I am sure many people can appreciate.
The past three years have clearly allowed Sivan to “Bloom,” and the album shows a confident Sivan navigating through life, love, lust and self acceptance with control and poise. The young artist seems to be positioning himself to be a force to be reckoned within the pop music industry, and if he keeps releasing albums as cool and cohesive as this one, he could be well on his way to becoming pop music’s new “it boy.”
Hunter Trzeciak is a first-year student majoring in cellular & molecular biology. ✉ HT906411@wcupa.edu.