The Wild Truth Of Troye Sivan

Here’s someone you’ll be hearing a lot about in the next few months, although you’d be surprised to find that the name Troye Sivan not unfamiliar to at least 3.5 million people in the world, and just on YouTube alone. With a massive fanbase and social media following, the Australian singer-songwriter is onto something; in many ways he is a model of – and for – the internet generation. At 20, he’s already garnered a long list of impressive accomplishments, among them a well-received debut EP TRXYE – its leading single “Happy Little Pill” catapulting him off the web and onto the airwaves – a feature on Zedd’s latest album True Colors, several acting roles under his belt including playing a young Hugh Jackman in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, not to mention the title of one of the 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014 in a list by TIME magazine. He’s just released his latest EP Wild to rave reviews – along with a personal stamp of approval from Taylor Swift herself – and has gone so far to tease that he’s got a lot more music coming very, very soon. We got the chance to chat with Sivan over the phone as he prepared to embark on a U.S. concert tour. One thing’s for sure: Troye Sivan’s wild days are just beginning. Congratulations on the release of your new EP Wild. I just gave it a listen and really loved it. Thank you so much – thank you! Can you please tell us about Wild and the three accompanying music videos collectively known as “Blue Neighbourhood” that you said are very close to you heart? What were you hoping to achieve? Of course! So Wild is six songs I’ve written over the last year or so about the experiences in my life. They’re all autobiographical, and they’re all truthful, real stories that have happened. As far as music videos, I kind of accidentally wrote a story line throughout three songs that afterwards I realized was a story that needed to be told. And like you said, it’s one that’s very close to my heart – the three music videos for three different songs with one story line that threads throughout them. The first one is out; it’s for a song called “Wild”. The second one is for a song called “Fools”, and the third one I haven’t announced yet. But I think the goal for these videos is to reach as many people as possible and to start a conversation about something that needs to be spoken about. Well reaching people shouldn’t be a problem — Wild is already doing fantastically, and the album art is actually designed by a Taiwanese artist, Zheng Hsiao Ron (鄭曉嶸). Yes it is! Can you tell us a bit about how this collaboration came about? Of course, yeah! So I knew that I didn’t want necessarily my face to be on the artwork – I didn’t want a photo of me. And I found this artist on Tumblr, Ron, and she just paints people so beautifully. And I was so in love with all of her work and found out she’s from Taiwan, so we set up some Skype calls, and she was just so, so, so sweet. We started working on drafts, going back and forth, about how she could illustrate the album cover. We got back the final draft, and I was just so, so, so blown away by, you know, how she had painted me, basically. It’s such beautiful artwork that I could just like look at it forever. And then it was just about the finding the right way to frame her artwork. We got a typography artist from Australia to write up the word “Wild”, and that was the final piece of the puzzle. But I’m definitely very proud of the artwork, and I think she did an amazing job. Yeah, I think so too. It really captures the mood of the EP as a whole. I can’t wait to come over and meet her and actually give her a hug and say thank you. Yeah? Will you come over? Of course I’m going to come over! I don’t know when, but very, very soon hopefully. We certainly hope so! And speaking of collaborations, you are featured on Zedd’s latest album, providing the vocals for the song “Papercut”. What was it like working with him? It was amazing! I mean, I haven’t actually met him, but he’d heard one of my songs called “Happy Little Pill”, and I guess he really, really liked it. And so he followed me on Twitter, and we got in touch about me going into the studio and doing one of his songs in the studio. We went in and tried one of the other tracks, and it was good, but it just didn’t feel right yet. And then I went in and did the vocal for “Papercut”, and we were all just like, ‘Yeah, this is it. This is the one’. And so, you know, it’s still insane... I partied to his music for the last couple of years with all my friends and stuff! To be featured on one of his albums was insane. But also kind of awesome, right? Getting to work with someone who you looked up to. Who else do you look to for musical inspiration and consider musical influences? Over the last couple of years, I’ve really loved Frank Ocean, Lorde, Kanye West and HAIM, and then as well as people like Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald. It kind of varies quite a lot, but you know, inspiration’s everywhere. Music at the moment is so inspiring because, I think because of the internet people can kind of do a lot more of what they want. There’s a lot less rules so you can just upload something rather than it going through a million people at a record label and through a million people at radio and blah blah blah. There’s a lot more out there to be consumed. Yeah, and you’ve said repeatedly that you live your life on the internet. How has this – your relationship and knowledge of the internet – affected your music, content and how you distribute it? Right, so yeah, I’ve been making YouTube videos since 2012, and it’s definitely played a key part in how I release my music. I’m very, very fortunate to have a community of people online that I speak to on a daily basis. And you know, I wasn’t sure when I started making TRXYE – I wasn’t sure if that connection that I had built with these people was going to translate into them caring about – and listening to – the music. And I’m so thankful and lucky that it did, and the EP went to go off and do some really incredible things that I’m very thankful for. And now it’s about doing that again, and doing it better, and making sure that I stay true to [my fans] and make them happy basically. You were recently listed by TIME as one of the 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014. What was it like when you found out about that? That… is still probably I think the craziest kind of thing that’s ever happened to me. I… I still can’t believe that’s a real thing. Because there are just so many people that I’m like, surely, there’s gotta be a mistake somewhere along the line. It’s very, very flattering and humbling. But you’re also very passionate about social justice issues, so it makes total sense that you were listed! Tell us a bit about some of these causes that you are passionate about. I think the thing that’s probably the most personal to me, and the closest thing to me, is LGBTQ issues. I am going to fight for those until the day I die, and hopefully it’ll all be, you know, everything will be sweet before I die though, so maybe I won’t have to. But those are definitely the ones that are closest to my heart. What are your favorite places on the internet? Tumblr. And then it would probably be Snapchat. Your favorite YouTube video that you’ve made? I’d say my coming out video, just ‘cause I still get messages everyday about that video, and it’s probably the most important thing I’ve ever done. The first CD you ever bought? I was given Elephunk by the Black Eyed Peas on CD for my birthday. I can’t remember what birthday it was but that was the first CD I ever owned. What are you listening to now? I’m listening to a lot of Gordi – she’s this Australian artist who’s really incredible. The Weeknd’s album just dropped, so I’m listening to a lot of that. Lana [Del Rey]’s album’s coming soon, and I’m listening to a lot of that. Youtube video by another Youtuber that you really liked? I would have to say... the Edward Fortyhands Challenge by Tyler Oakley and Mamrie Hart. You should watch it, it’s funny. Your three most frequently used emoji? The blue love heart, the sparkle emoji and the sunglasses emoji. And the last thing you searched for on Google? The last thing I searched for on Google was… Hm. Let me actually check. It was… I was in America, and I was looking for the closest Cheesecake Factory because I really wanted a burger.