"Rush" by Troye Sivan, Friday, September 29, 2023

It’s been five years since Troye Sivan released his sophomore record, Bloom. Next month, the singer will release his long-anticipated third full-length studio album, Something to Give Each Other. In the heat of northern hemisphere summer, on July 13, the lead single, “Rush,” was released with a racy accompanying music video. Along with “Rush” and the album announcement on July 13, Sivan also released the artwork for the upcoming album. Between the video for “Rush” and the cover art which features Troye Sivan’s head between the thighs of an apparently nude muscular man, it seems that the singer is continuing his horny era which began with his sophomore album.

TRUST THE SIMULATION. The time between Bloom and Something to Give Each Other was unintentional. In 2020, Sivan broke up with his long-term boyfriend, model Jacob Bixenman, which influenced several of the songs on the singer’s late-summer 2020 EP release, In a Dream. But Sivan doesn’t spend the whole EP pining about his loss. The song “Rager teenager!” is a song about teenage rebellion recalled fondly by a now grown-up Troye. Then there is the song “STUD,” the most on-the-nose Sivan song in which the singer describes exactly the guy that he wants or who he wants to be. In a livestream special for the EP in 2021, Sivan performs the song as a music video in a gym as buff, shirtless men exercise. “STUD” was never a single and the post-EP singles, “Strawberries and Cigarette,”“Angel Baby,” and others were nowhere near as horny as “STUD” or some of the songs on Bloom. Sivan tells Dua Lipa on her BBC podcast At Your Service that he wanted to begin his third album with an “unapologetic, hot sweaty song to kick off the new album.”

ADDICTED TO YOUR TOUCH. “Rush” picks up where In a Dream left off. The original version of “Easy” imagines Sivan stuck at home with his heartbreak during the COVID lockdowns in Australia. Sivan tells Dua Lipa on the At Your Service podcast that when restrictions were lifted, he returned to the clubs, partying more than he ever had before. And while Sivan had been releasing other singles and acting as a main cast member on the HBO drama The Idol, the album Something to Give Each Other was being delayed. Finally, in July listeners got a first sniff of the record with Rush. The lead single with its tropical summer vibes, hedonistic lyrics, and sexy music video wrapped carefully hidden references to masturbation, anal sex, and a particular brand of a drug used mostly by gay men to create a sense of euphoria and loosen the anal muscles. That brand of poppers is called Rush. The video was polarizing in the queer community as some views pointed out that there was a lack of body diversity in the video. Sivan, who struggles with body dysmorphia, addressed the controversy when talking with Billboard: “To be honest, it just wasn’t a thought we had — we obviously weren’t saying, ‘We want to have one specific type of person in the video.’ We just made the video, and there wasn’t a ton of thought put behind that.” He went on to tell his fans, “I think that everyone’s body is as beautiful as it is, including my own, and it just sucks to see people talking about other people’s bodies.” Sivan, who is skinny and sometimes identifies as a “twink,” clearly has a type he is attracted to. And while the Internet may try to make you ashamed of your type, it's certainly a feat of 2023 to have a huge pop anthem about poppers in the club.