If you can’t put a face to the name Troye Sivan, don’t worry - before watching his endearing performance on Monday night’s Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, neither could I. You have, however, most likely heard his 2015 breakout single “Youth.” Hint: it basically sounds like if Lorde was a dude and had more interesting production. Like most people, I’d heard the song in passing, but wrote it off for the reasons just mentioned. For whatever reason, Sivan chose not to perform that well-known single on Fallon, and instead opted for “Wild,” an older single that he just re-released with a new verse from Alessia Cara (she did not perform). That decision paid off.
Sivan’s performance felt effortless and fun, hardly something you would expect from a young artist who’s only made a handful of television appearances at this point. Seriously, if this had been on SNL and your mom was watching, she would’ve been like “I like this!” And despite my previous evaluation labeling him a forgettable (yet not dis-likable) up-and-comer, I did not turn away from my television screen once during the song. Which gets to the real point: the song “Wild.” It’s good! I am vehemently against the entire concept of “guilty pleasures” (what makes you feel good shouldn’t make you feel guilty) and yet I was still wary of accepting my genuine desire to listen to “Wild” on repeat yesterday and today. Thoughts of “is this good or am I just emotionally vulnerable right now?” and “why am I randomly into this basic ass song that is probably playing in a Gap right now?” ran through my head, yet I could not stop. I even texted a friend about it.
Surprised by my sudden admiration for Sivan, I decided to re-approach his material from this new perspective. Unsurprisingly, revisiting “Youth” and skimming through the rest of his latest LP Blue Neighbourhood has only reaffirmed the general tenets of my initial opinion on Sivan. But, if this heartfelt late night appearance is part of a larger push toward greatness, and not a one-off moment of freshness, it’s possible Troye Sivan could someday release a single that moves him into the realm of pop music worth critiquing seriously (i.e. not Lorde). For now, I will continue to jam “Wild” by myself in the car, and, if I’m drunk enough, slip it into the playlist at a party this weekend.
