Troye Sivan

Troye Sivan Mellet (born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actor. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013 and released his third EP, TRXYE (2014), which peaked at number five on the US Billboard 200. Its lead single, "Happy Little Pill", reached the top 10 on Australian music charts. In 2015, he released his fourth extended play, Wild, followed by his debut studio album, Blue Neighbourhood. The album's lead single, "Youth", became Sivan's first single to enter the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 23.
His second studio album, Bloom (2018), reached the top five in Australia and the US. Its lead single, "My My My!", became Sivan's second number-one single on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. In 2020, his EP In a Dream was released. In 2023, he released his third album, Something to Give Each Other, on 13 October. The album's three singles, "Rush", "Got Me Started", and "One of Your Girls", all reached the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart and the ARIA Singles Chart, while both "Rush" and "One of Your Girls" charted on the Billboard Hot 100.
As an actor, Sivan portrayed the younger Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and starred as the titular character in the Spud film trilogy (2010–2014). In 2017, he became the youngest recipient of the GLAAD Stephen F. Kolzak Award. In 2018, he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song for "Revelation", from the film Boy Erased, in which he also had a supporting acting role. He has since starred in the film Three Months (2022) and the HBO series The Idol (2023).
Early life
Sivan was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the son of Laurelle Mellet, a homemaker and former South African fashion model, and Shaun Mellet, an entrepreneur and real estate agent. At the age of two, Sivan moved to Perth, Western Australia, with his parents and three siblings due to rising crime in South Africa. He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, though he does not consider himself to be religious—his father was born to a Jewish family of Lithuanian-Jewish descent and his mother converted to Judaism. He attended Carmel School, a private Modern Orthodox school, until 2009, when he started distance education.
Career
Music
Sivan's musical career started when he sang at the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Channel Seven Perth Telethon. His 2006 performance included a duet with Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian. Sivan made it to the finals of StarSearch 2007. His debut EP Dare to Dream was released in June 2007. In February 2010, Sivan opened "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube Edition)", the collaborative music charity video produced by Lisa Lavie to help raise money for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
On 5 June 2013, Sivan was signed to EMI Australia, a Universal Music Australia label, but kept it a secret until a year later. On 15 August 2014 he released a five-song EP entitled TRXYE, led by its first single "Happy Little Pill", which was released on 25 July 2014. TRXYE debuted at No. 1 on iTunes in over 55 countries. The EP debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 the following week, scoring Sivan his first Top 10 album. "Happy Little Pill" peaked at number 10 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments exceeding 35,000 copies.
Sivan released his second major-label EP, Wild, on 4 September 2015. The EP was supported by a music video trilogy entitled Blue Neighbourhood, comprising the three songs "Wild", "Fools" and "Talk Me Down" and released from September 2015 to December 2015. Additionally, the EP served as an introduction to his debut studio album Blue Neighbourhood, which was released on 4 December 2015. The single "Youth" reached number 23 in the Billboard Hot 100. Sivan supported Blue Neighbourhood and Wild with his first tour, 2015's Troye Sivan Live. He further supported Blue Neighbourhood with 2016's Blue Neighbourhood Tour and Suburbia Tour. On 26 May 2017, Troye collaborated with Martin Garrix to produce the song "There for You".
On 10 January 2018, Sivan released the single "My My My!", along with an accompanying music video. He confirmed that his second album was inspired by his then-boyfriend, American model Jacob Bixenman. The song was described as a departure from his earlier work, with Pitchfork calling his vocals "assured" and NPR Music describing it as "an infectious celebration of sexual desire". NPR also noted the significance of the song and music video displaying confidence in Sivan's sexuality, writing "[i]t's not every day you see a young, skinny, queer kid get to be completely himself in a music video, and Sivan makes us want to dance along with him." Sivan's first live performance of the song was on 20 January as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live in an episode hosted by Jessica Chastain. Sivan later confirmed that his new album would feature a collaboration with long-time friend Ariana Grande, titled "Dance to This". On 16 March, his song "Strawberries & Cigarettes" from the Love, Simon soundtrack was released. It received a nomination for the 2018 Satellite Awards for Best Original Song. "Bloom" was released as the third single on 2 May 2018, following "The Good Side". That month, he announced that his second studio album is titled Bloom, while accompanying Taylor Swift as a guest performer at a concert in Pasadena, California, during her Reputation Stadium Tour. The album was released on 31 August 2018. The album's final pre-release track, "Animal", was launched on 9 August 2018. That same year, Sivan received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song for "Revelation", which he recorded and co-wrote for the film Boy Erased. He was also shortlisted for an Academy Award for the song. In October 2018, Sivan collaborated with British singer-songwriter Charli XCX on the single "1999"; the two also performed the single together live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. A sequel collaboration, titled "2099", was debuted on 6 June 2019 at the two artists' LA Pride event "Go West Fest" and released as a promotional single from Charli XCX's album Charli on 10 September 2019. In January 2019, Sivan released the single "I'm So Tired..." with American singer-songwriter Lauv.
On 1 April 2020, Sivan released "Take Yourself Home", his first single from his fifth EP In a Dream. Sivan worked with freelance artists in need of work during the COVID-19 pandemic to create the visual art for his single. The artists, who Sivan met on Instagram, also designed t-shirts for the single, and all net proceeds were donated to the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and Spotify's COVID-19 Music Relief Project. On 15 July, Sivan released the single "Easy" and announced the release of the concept EP In a Dream. The EP was released on 21 August 2020. In June 2021, he performed songs from the EP for Grubhub's virtual concert series Sound Bites, in support of the NGLCC's efforts in assisting LGBT-owned restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 16 April 2021, his collaboration "You" with Regard and Tate McRae was released. The song topped Billboards Dance/Electronic Songs chart for eight weeks. Sivan's single "Angel Baby" was released on 10 September. After becoming viral in Southeast Asia, it reached the top 5 in several countries.
In February 2022, two original songs Sivan had written for the film Three Months were released. In December 2022, he released a collaboration with PNAU titled "You Know What I Need".
Sivan announced his third studio album, Something to Give Each Other, on 13 July 2023, alongside the release of its lead single, "Rush". On 20 September, the second single, "Got Me Started", was released with an accompanying music video. The album was released on 13 October, along with the third single, "One of Your Girls".
Music videos
Sivan's music videos frequently feature gay relationships between the characters. Blue Neighbourhoods trilogy followed the narrative of two gay teenagers in a secret relationship while "Youth" featured Sivan with another male love interest. His music video for "Heaven" features footage of historical LGBT movements and couples, as well as sensual shots with him and an anonymous man with the running taglines "Without losing a piece of me, how do I get to Heaven?" and "If I'm losing a piece of me, maybe I don't want Heaven". The singer says these portrayals are important to him, especially when he considers his younger life when he remembers "such vivid memories of the few times I saw any type of LGBTQ relationship on TV or in music videos".
On 16 July 2020, Sivan released a self-directed music video for his second song, "Easy", from his EP In a Dream. A remix of "Easy", featuring country singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves and producer Mark Ronson, was released alongside a second music video in December 2020.
Acting
In 2007, Sivan starred as Oliver Twist in a production of Oliver! at the Regal Theatre. In 2008, Sivan was cast in a Western Australian short film, Betrand the Terrible. In February 2008, Sivan was cast as young James Howlett in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Sivan got the part after videos of his telethon performance were posted on YouTube, catching the attention of a Hollywood agent who contacted Sivan and asked him to send in an audition tape. Though Kodi Smit-McPhee was already cast for this role, he was unable to be a part of the film, due to his other film, The Road. In July 2009, he auditioned successfully for the lead role in Spud, a film adaptation of the 2005 novel by South African author John van de Ruit. Filming took place in South Africa from early March to mid-April 2010. The film was released in South Africa on 3 December 2010 and was later nominated for six SAFTAs, including a Best Lead Actor in a Feature Film nomination for Sivan.
Sivan appeared in the Western Australian season of Samuel Beckett's absurdist play Waiting for Godot which opened on 28 May 2010. Sivan shared the role of "Boy" with Craig Hyde-Smith, alternating nights. In June 2012, Sivan returned to South Africa to film Spud 2: The Madness Continues, which was released in South Africa on 21 June 2013. Sivan also starred in the third film in the series, Spud 3: Learning to Fly, released on 28 November 2014.
Sivan had a supporting role in the 2018 film Boy Erased. In 2022, he starred as Caleb, a 17-year-old exposed to HIV following a one-night fling on the eve of his high school graduation in the feature film Three Months, which explores the ongoing stigma that HIV-positive persons experience.
On 22 November 2021, Sivan was cast as a series regular in the HBO drama series The Idol. The series was cancelled in August 2023 after a single season.
Other ventures
YouTube
In September 2012, Sivan began creating vlogs on the video sharing site YouTube, after having only sung on the site since 2007. At the time of posting his first vlog, Sivan had accumulated 27,000 subscribers in his five years since joining YouTube on 1 October 2007. A YouTube video Sivan made with fellow YouTuber Tyler Oakley, titled "The 'Boyfriend' Tag", earned them a Teen Choice Award in the "Choice Web Collaboration" category. As of June 2022, Sivan had over 8million subscribers and over 1.9billion total views across his YouTube videos.
Endorsements
In 2018, Sivan was the face of Valentino's Spring/Summer 2018 collection. In 2019, he was an ambassador for MAC's Viva Glam campaign. He also appeared in Calvin Klein's #MyCalvins and #CK50 compaigns that year. Since 2020, he has been a Cartier ambassador. In February 2021, Sivan's capsule t-shirt collection that he designed with Uniqlo was released. On 24 September 2021, he was featured as a model in the third volume of Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show. In early 2022, he was involved in Beyoncé's Ivy Park's campaign for her capsule collection with Adidas. He has been an ambassador for YSL Beauty since 2022.
Brands
In July 2023, it was reported that in addition to his new album, Sivan would be releasing "an independent luxury lifestyle collection of fragrances and art-driven objects" called Tsu Lange Yor. The name is Yiddish for 'to long years', a tribute to his grandmother and great-grandmother, who spoke the language.
Artistry
Sivan's favourite artists include Janet Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Taylor Swift and Lorde. He is also inspired by Michael Jackson and Frank Ocean. He told Wonderland in 2018, "When I think about the songs that I grew up listening to that made me feel ... gay, it was mostly straight women: Cher, Madonna, Miley, Robyn, Lady Gaga. Those are my gay icons, which is a bit strange. I would have loved to have had more queer music growing up. That would have been nice." Sivan also cites Ariana Grande and Christina Aguilera as his inspirations, as his music video for "My My My!" was directly influenced by the one for "Dirrty" (2002).
Sivan's music has been described as "layered electropop with constant tinges of EDM". His baritone voice has received widespread praise, and his work has been compared to that of Lorde and Taylor Swift. In December 2020, Sivan was listed at number 34 in Rolling Stone Australias "50 Greatest Australian Artists of All Time" issue.
Personal life
Sivan came out publicly as gay via a YouTube video on 7 August 2013, three years after coming out to his family. He stated that he wanted the video to be out because he did not want his sexuality to be a secret from EMI Australia because he was in negotiations with them at the time for a record deal and had not yet discussed his sexuality with them. The morning after he posted his coming out video, he received a congratulatory email from EMI.
Sivan has a mild form of Marfan syndrome. He has suffered from body image issues.
Filmography
Film
Television
Theatre
Discography
Blue Neighbourhood (2015)
Bloom (2018)
Something to Give Each Other (2023)
Tours
Troye Sivan Live (2015)
Blue Neighbourhood Tour (2016)
Suburbia Tour (2016)
The Bloom Tour (2018–2019)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
1995 births
Living people
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award winners
Australian child singers
Australian gay musicians
Australian gay actors
Australian Jews
Australian male child actors
Australian people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Australian people of South African descent
Australian pop singers
Australian singer-songwriters
Australian YouTubers
Dance-pop musicians
Former Orthodox Jews
Gay singers
Jewish Australian male actors
Jewish Australian musicians
Jewish singers
Gay Jews
Australian LGBT singers
LGBT YouTubers
Male actors from Perth, Western Australia
Australian male bloggers
Musicians from Perth, Western Australia
People with Marfan syndrome
South African emigrants to Australia
Synth-pop singers
Australian video bloggers
Jewish bloggers
21st-century Australian male actors
21st-century Australian male singers
21st-century Australian LGBT people
EMI Music Australia artists
Capitol Records artists