Troye Sivan has admittedly spent a lot of his time onstage, in the studio, and at intense parties, but he’s always felt most at home getting ready for those events with the girls.
While sitting down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in New York, the pop star opened up about the inspiration behind his forthcoming fourth studio album She’s the Best and why the project showcases a feeling he says has followed him throughout his life.
“I’m so comfortable and kind of like my happiest, honestly, when I’m existing in the orbit of like a woman,” Sivan told Lowe.
“Like the kind of safety and protection that I felt from women that I haven’t felt from men,” he elaborates. “During the songwriting process when we writing She’s the Best, I was like, oh, this has been, like, a constant in my life. From day one, those are the people that have really had my back.”
That realization became part of the album’s DNA, with Sivan pointing to several of the women who have occupied that orbit throughout his career. He mentioned his “duet with Ariana [Grande]” (which could reference their 2018 collaboration “Dance to This,” or their remix on Eternal Sunshine‘s “Imperfect for You”), his work with Lily-Rose Depp on The Idol, his SWEAT tour with Charli xcx and his collaborations with Nicole Kidman as examples of the world in which he feels most at home.
“I am just so, so, so comfortable in that world,” he said.
That feeling also takes Sivan back to a familiar teenage ritual: getting ready for house parties with his female friends.
“I would get ready in like five minutes at home early and then go and just like, watch the girls get ready,” he recalled. “We would just like talk and hang out and whatever, and it was always so much more fun than the parties.”
The parties themselves, though, were a different story. Sivan said he would arrive only to encounter boys being “homophobic,” underscoring the contrast between the spaces where he felt comfortable and those where he didn’t.
That sense of belonging now threads through She’s the Best, which arrives on Oct. 9. The album follows Sivan’s recently released single “Party,” which samples Madonna‘s 2000 hit “Music.” The project also features an eclectic roster of collaborators and appearances, including Charli xcx, Ian McKellen and Kidman.
Watch the full interview below.
