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 on 13 October, 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 emphasised in the music video for Rush, which sees a sweaty Troye 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, Troye 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.”
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.
Troye 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 realised 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 realise that I just love people, and I love community, and sex.”