Troye Sivan is back and ready to reclaim his position as a foremost purveyor of summer bops that are laden with playful, queer-inclusive innuendo.
On Thursday, the Australian pop singer unveiled “Rush,” the debut single off his upcoming third album, “Something to Give Each Other.”
Due out Oct. 13, “Something to Give Each Other” is billed in press notes as a musical “celebration of sex, dance, sweat, community, queerness, love and friendship.”
That point is emphasized in the music video for “Rush,” which sees a sweaty Sivan in full-on party mode, doing keg stands and sharing a shirtless embrace with fellow revelers on a crowded dance floor before trekking home at daylight.
Watch the music video for “Rush” below.
Fans were quick to point out that “Rush” shares its name with a well-known brand of alkyl nitrites, a recreational drug also known as “poppers” that is popular within the LGBTQ+ community.
Speaking to Vogue in an interview published Thursday, Sivan didn’t dismiss that theory, but clarified that the song is meant to encapsulate “the feeling of endlessly being addicted to your friends and wanting to just have a really good time.”
He was also adamant that “Rush” not be released during LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June, noting: “Sure, I’m gay and I’m singing about sex, but it’s not like I’m trying to make a Pride anthem. I’m singing about my life.”
Stuart Winecoff/Universal Music
“Something to Give Each Other” will be Sivan’s first full-length album since 2018’s “Bloom.” Though he released a seven-song EP, “In a Dream,” in 2020, he’s been largely focused on acting as of late, starring in the 2022 Paramount+ dramedy “Three Months” and appearing alongside Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd in HBO’s “The Idol.”
Sivan said the new music is also reflective of his recent split from boyfriend Jacob Bixenman after a roughly four-year relationship ― but not in the way listeners might expect.
“I started to get crushes, and realized that I wasn’t emotionally dead,” he told British GQ. “I had come from such a serious relationship and didn’t place much value on other forms of intimacy. Then, over time, I started to realize that I just love people, and I love community, and sex.”