I think that I was looking through a music site several months ago when I discovered Troye Sivan, and my only regret now is that I didn't discover him sooner. For years, Sivan has been a bit of a YouTube celebrity with his lighthearted and humorous vlogs and even played young Wolverine in the opening scene of the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He has also been making music for several years with releases such as the June Haverly EP and the TRXYE EP. Blue Neighbourhood is Troye's debut full-length effort, however, and what an incredible debut that it is! Sivan presents us with a very sophisticated sound that, in some ways, goes way beyond his twenty years. Fans of artists such as Coldplay, The Fray, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, and Adele will definitely find something to enjoy here. The album opens with one of the more playful, energetic tracks on the album, "WILD." "WILD" opens with children chanting the title of the song followed by Sivan's smooth, velvety voice with the first verse: "Trying hard not to fall on the way home..." The song is the first music video released from the album, the first in a series of three music videos known as the Blue Neighbourhood trilogy. The song is a mid-tempo soulful pop song about the excitement of forbidden love. In the bridge of the song, Sivan recites the album title: "Leave this blue neighbourhood."
The album's second track is "BITE," which is definitely my favorite song from the album. The song has a dark, electronic, almost industrial vibe to it with Sivan's reverberating voice requesting that his pursuer "kiss me on the mouth, and set me free," followed by the condition, "...but please don't bite." The song's ridiculously catchy melody is fueled by the song's unique electrically surged beat, punctuated by what sounds like a gun being loaded. This was the first song to hook me and, as I said, remains my favorite. Sivan has said that the song is about his first adventure to a gay club, feeling vulnerable to a hungry crowd who may simply want to use him. The song is about putting trust in someone and can really be interpreted that simplistically (making it more relatable), since there really are no direct references to a gay club. The album's third track, "FOOLS," opens with a soft piano melody, with Troye quickly chiming in about feeling trapped in a place that doesn't seem to change (in keeping with the album's title). The song, which quickly becomes more upbeat and heavily electronic, is very much about unrequited love, as Troye has confirmed himself. He has also said on his YouTube channel that he wrote the song during a time when he was feeling sorry for himself because he felt that because he is so busy and travels so much, he is unloveable. The song is the second music video released from the album and the second installment in the Blue Neighbourhood trilogy.
"EASE," which features vocals from the New Zealand siblings duo Broods, is a mid-tempo track which begins with a heavy beat that sounds like clapping. The verses feature Troye half-singing and half-speaking about the issues that always being away from home presents. "...my mommy, she can't put down the phone and asking how I'm doing all alone," he sings. The song is about finding comfort in loneliness and reminiscing on good memories that, as the title of the song says, put you at ease. "THE QUIET" is a mid-tempo electropop song that lyrically makes me think of Depeche Mode's downtempo 1990 synthpop hit "Enjoy the Silence," as it is basically its antithesis. Whereas Martin Gore's song talks of thriving in silence because silence prevents hurtful things from being said, Sivan pleads with the target of his song to say anything at all because "anything hurts less than the quiet." "DKLA" (which stands for "Don't Keep Love Around" - I'm honestly not sure why he abbreviated it like that) is a highlight on the album, definitely one of my favorites. This song is one song on the album that really reminds me of another one of my favorite musicians, Lana Del Rey, as it features a soft, summery sound similar to hers. Troye has stated that this is the darkest song on the album, and I would have to agree, both musically and thematically. It is about reaching an impasse in a relationship and not knowing what to do about it because you care about the person too much to call it off. "What do I do now?" Troye wonders. The song features a rap verse from Tkay Maidza, and normally, whenever there is a rap verse on a pop song, my thought is "Yikes! Can someone please make a solo version?" This verse is amazing, though, and may even be my favorite part of the song.
"TALK ME DOWN" is another one of my favorite songs on the album, featuring a memorable, beautiful melody that soars downward. The song works almost as a follow-up to "DKLA" (which is why I love its placement), as it deals with the aftermath of the breakup that Troye foresees and fears in "DKLA." Troye sings of missing his ex-lover but not wanting sex from him, simply wanting to literally sleep with him and hold hands with him, innocent physical gestures that show a person that you love him more than sex ever could. The song is heartbreaking from that perspective and highly relatable for me. "TALK ME DOWN" marks the third and final installment of the Blue Neighbourhood trilogy, featuring a dark, tragic, and heartbreaking conclusion to the story (I won't spoil it). "COOL" is actually one of my least favorite songs on the album (although I don't dislike it, as the whole album is really great). The synths in it give it an '80s synthpop sound, and lyrically, the song is somewhat like Madonna's "Material Girl" in that even though it talks of typical celebrity behaviors such as having sex, smoking, drinking, traveling to expensive places, etc., that are considered "cool," the meaning is really meant to be ironic because Troye is a celebrity yet probably doesn't live his life like that at all. There really is no way to ever truly be "cool" because it's a socially constructed concept, and what's "in" changes on a regular basis.
"HEAVEN" features vocals from Betty Who, who, like all of the featured musicians on the album, I had never heard of prior to hearing this album. Troye has stated that the song, which is a slow, downtempo pop-rock song, is about the unfortunate reality that is the clash that being LGBT+ tends to have with Christianity. It deals with the hardship of coming out of the closet due to having been taught by one person and/or another that your sexuality is wrong and sinful. "Without losing a piece of me, how do I get to heaven?" Troye asks. The song is so painful and sad in that regard because so many LGBT+ people, especially youth, struggle with this guilt, wondering how they can solve the difficult dilemma of being themselves but also being loved and accepted by loved ones. I hope that the song will be a single because I can picture it having a really touching, emotionally wrenching music video to be released alongside it. "YOUTH" is one of the catchiest, most upbeat songs on the album and is the fourth music video to be released from the album, the first music video to be released as a one-shot video not affiliated with the Blue Neighbourhood trilogy. The song and the music video are both about the pains and joys of growing up and how sometimes having fun means making mistakes from which lessons are learned. I was out at a Denny's restaurant once recently and got happily excited because I heard this song playing there, making it the first (and so far only) time that I have heard Troye in public.
"LOST BOY" is another upbeat synthpop song addressed to a lover. The song seems to be a breakup song, with lines like "I'll leave you one last kiss on your pillow before I fly away" (with flying away an obvious parallel to Peter Pan, as the title of the song suggests). Although I definitely support Troye as a human being and as a songwriter, I can't say that I really relate to or even support the meaning of this song. "Yeah, we knew from the beginning that this wasn't never-ending. Shouldn't stay too long 'cause we're both too young to give into forever," Troye reasons with his ex-lover (or possibly lover, soon to be ex-lover; it isn't completely clear whether or not the breakup has happened yet). The message that I get from this song is that even though he is in love with the other person, he isn't ready to settle down because he's young and wants to go on more adventures (making it a good follow-up track to "YOUTH"). It reminds me a bit of Marina and the Diamonds' song "I'm a Ruin," when she declares that "I've had my share of beautiful men, but I'm still young, and I want to love again." This is, of course, where the Peter Pan analogy comes from, as Peter Pan is a literary character who does not want to ever embrace aspects and responsibilities of adulthood and therefore stays forever young. I think that youth doesn't need to mean sexual and romantic adventure, though; it can very well mean commitment and being happy with one person and one person only, but everyone is different, I suppose, and like I said, I support Troye, and this could simply be how he felt at one point in time about one person in particular.
The next track on the album, however, is really the opposite of "LOST BOY" on a thematic level. Interestingly, whereas all of the album's song titles are in all caps, this song title is in all lowercase letters, as the song is titled "for him." The song is catchy and is probably the most mainstream and poppiest record on the album, but it's also one of my favorites. I love the catchy, upbeat sound and the sweet meaning of the song, which is that there are a number of ways to show a person that you love them without even telling them that you do, which is via physical (although not necessarily sexual) gestures and looking out for them. The song features a rap verse by Allday, yet another artist that I hadn't heard of prior to being exposed to this album. Although I'm not necessarily overly impressed by the rapping, I do love its nod to one of my favorite bands, Panic! at the Disco. The following track is "SUBURBIA" and is another one of my favorites, starting with a beautiful instrumental intro possibly played on a keyboard. The song is another one that is in keeping with the title of the album, evident in lines like "...there's so much history in these streets." It's also obvious that the song is about the same place that he describes in "FOOLS" (which he has identified as his hometown, Perth): "They all say that nothing ever changes." Like "FOOLS," Sivan describes this place (this blue neighbourhood) as a place where things stay the same and don't develop, something that I think is typical of small suburban areas.
"TOO GOOD" starts with a simple piano part, and although the song does bring in some electronic elements and eventually a soulful, bluesy electric guitar, it really stays on a quiet, relaxed note for the most part. The piano-driven track is similar to "DKLA" in that it expresses fear that a relationship is reaching its end. "BLUE" is a slow downtempo song that, like "TOO GOOD," is piano-driven. It also thematically deals with a relationship failing. Different from songs like "DKLA" and "TOO GOOD," however, Troye remains positive, saying that he wants to be the green light to his lover's red light, even if it means being sad (and blue) like his lover is. It's a meaningful song in that love really should involve empathy to a certain extent, and we really should make a solid effort to understand our lover's feelings. "...anything it takes to make you stay," they desperately plead. I say "they" because the song features vocals from Alex Hope, with whom Troye has previously worked on his TRXYE EP, since she co-wrote his song "Fun" from that EP. She kind of dominates the song, featuring more in it than he even does, and their voices together are heavenly lulling, sounding so beautiful together. The soft, sedated melody of the chorus reminds me a lot of the song "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter, something that immediately came to mind the first time that I heard it, although I am sure that it is a total coincidence.
There is a remix of "WILD" called the XXYYXX remix featured on the deluxe version, which is interesting and completely different from the original version. The deluxe version closes with that remix, but the Target exclusive version of the album features two additional tracks - "SWIMMING POOLS" and a live acoustic version of the TRXYE EP single "Happy Little Pill" (one of my favorite songs from Troye's catalog, especially since it's one to which I really relate). In the summery "SWIMMING POOLS," Troye cleverly compares difficulties in life to waves in an ocean. We have to swim through life, and sometimes, we have the obstacles to get through that are waves. Troye longs to be swimming in a swimming pool, which contains calm water and no waves to have to get through. The live acoustic version of "Happy Little Pill" is a must-have for me (making the Target exclusive edition an absolute necessity) because, as I said, it is one of my favorite songs of his. All in all, Blue Neighbourhood is an incredible album that I am not likely to ever forget. Troye's beautifully soulful and velvety voice combined with the beautiful melodies and soft electronic beats make Blue Neighbourhood one of my favorite albums to play at night as I am ready to fall asleep. I think that Troye has a bright, incredibly promising future ahead of him and ahead of us, as well, and he is going to accomplish great feats; he, with this album, in fact, already has.
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