If you haven’t heard of Troye Sivan by now, you are seriously missing out. Troye started out as a Youtube sensation slowly growing his fan base with his own personal take on everything you could ever think of. I started watching his videos, and gained A LOT of respect for him because he was not only informing his millions of viewers on real world experiences, but also he was inspiring and yet he gave it a very comedic spin which made me want to keep watching. Of course, he has mindless videos such as waxing his legs which, lets be honest, never gets old when you see someone doing that.
He slowly transitioned into the music industry by posting covers of himself singing songs and taking requests, and the public loved it. After releasing a couple of EP’s and slowly teasing his musical journey, it finally took a major turn on December 4th, the release of his debut album Blue Neighbourhood.
Check after the jump to read the full review.
Troye only caught my attention with his music debut, I’m not the biggest fan of Youtube blogs, nothing against them, that’s just my personal take, So when I heard this name Troye Sivan getting major buzz around the blog world, I had to take a listen. With the release of 2 fantastic EP’s TRXYE and Wild, we arrive at a solid debut album, Blue Neighbourhood.
Troye’s first couple of tracks consist of songs we heard previously on his previous tease to the album, Wild. The EP gave us the tracks, ‘Wild’, ‘Fools’, ‘Ease’, and ‘Talk Me Down’. The tracks were not only amazing, but attached with it were music videos that made you feel even more attached to the song. The Blue Neighbourhood series on his youtube channel follows a young boy basically trying to come to terms with his sexuality and dealing with problems that comes along with that. The 3 part series on his Vevo, consist of the three tracks ‘Wild’, ‘Fools’, and ends with ‘Talk Me Down’. If you haven’t checked out the series, it will make you fall in love with Troye even more.
After the initial EP songs are through, we get to dive right into the new material which is what we were all excited about. ‘Cool’ gives us a refreshing take on a boy who is just trying to fit in, while ‘Heaven’ is a fantastic song that Troye explained was about how, as a gay artist, he wouldn’t fit in to what is considered the ‘standards’ for Heaven. ‘Heaven’ for me is definitely a standout track, it can relate to any kind of insecurity that a person may have within themselves, and gives them a feeling of belonging.
My favorite track off the album is ‘Youth’, the fun and catchy song is about finding someone who makes you feel like you did when you were a kid. Not a care in the world, enjoying life day by day, and just having fun. It is a fun song, and makes you want to just drop everything and jam out to the heavy bass line followed by a very child like sounding chorus. Following ‘Youth’, is the emotional spin on a ballad, ‘For Him’ and ‘Lost Boy’.’Lost Boy’ almost has a Coldplay feeling to it, giving us an epic drum line in the background. Troye sings about triumph, overcoming his ‘lost’ feeling, and he is “ready to be found”.
To close out the album we have the song that I think almost everyone can relate to, ‘Suburbia’. Troye, as he stated, only cares about making the people that he cares about proud of him. With his constantly growing fanbase, he is still doing what he does best for him and those near and dear to him.
“Blue Neighbourhood” is a fantastic and refreshing take on a pop album. Troye has almost grown up on Youtube, which gives his fan a direct connection into his life which in turn gives an even deeper connection to his music. Troye holds nothing back on his tracks, throwing out his insecurities and making everyone see that they are not alone. While the majority of his fanbase are younger girls, I really hope that doesn’t deter anyone from attending a concert, or buying his album, because musically, it is fantastic. Troye has released one of my favorite albums of the year, Thank You.
Long Live Music 