Troye Sivan – “Animal”

Troye Sivan – “Animal”

For the past year, the Australian pop singer Troye Sivan has been catching more and more hype, and it feels like his forthcoming album Bloom could be a very big deal. That’s partly because Sivan has the right connections and because the world seems ready for an openly gay young pop star. But it’s also because Sivan is very, very good at making pop music. He showed it on early singles like “My My My!” and the Ariana Grande duet “Dance To This,” and he also shows it on the new jam “Animal.”

Sivan recorded “Animal” with indie-adjacent super-producer Ariel Rechtshaid, and, probably mercifully, it is not a Pearl Jam cover. Instead, it’s what Sivan once called “a five-minute ’80s stadium love song.” It’s shorter than five minutes, but other than that, the description is right on.

As with previous Rechtshaid collaborators like Sky Ferreira and HAIM, Sivan turns out to be really good at capturing the dramatic scope of ’80s pop without falling into pure pastiche. So “Animal” rides some tremendous synth swells while still sounding intimate and scaled-down, and Sivan delivers its majestic chorus with arena-sized panache. Check it out below.

Bloom is out 8/31 on EMI Australia/Capitol.

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