Troye Sivan is the bravest pop star we know

At 21, the singer and Youtube sensation is more comfortable with himself than most of our adult friends! Soak up his wisdom, here.

i’m just some dumb kid, trying to kid myself that I got my stuff together,” Troye Sivan sings in his song ‘Lost boy’. Sorry, Troye, we’re going to respectfully disagree. Since hitting the music scene in 2014, the Joburg-born, Australiabased singer has been streamed almost a billion times, toured the world and earned the fandom of Taylor Swift and Adele. The best part? He uses his popularity for good via his Youtube channel, where he highlights the struggles of the LGBTQA community. How does someone so young get so fearless? We’ll let him explain the rules he lives by.

Look out for cues

I knew I was ready to come out when it became crippling to the point that anytime I was alone with either of my parents, outing myself was all I could think about. One day in 2010 my dad and I were talking about religion; I asked him what he would change about Judaism. Seeing I had something to share, he said he didn’t like the way our religion treats gay people. Then he asked, “What about you?” That was my moment. I said, “That’s my issue, too,” and then after a very, very long pause, I said, “because I’m gay.” I’ll never forget the look on his face – it was something short of shock. We both felt the weight of that moment, how pivotal it was for me. And then he immediately went into protection mode: “Things aren’t going to be easy. Just be yourself and be proud of who you are.”

Surround yourself with the right people

After I came out to my dad, I went from feeling like being gay was something I had to deal with on my own to feeling like I had someone to help and protect me. My mom was also completely supportive. I started focusing my time on people who knew everything about me and still loved me. It’s like that famous quote, “Those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.”

Forget the haters

There was a website dedicated to answering the question ‘ Is Troye Sivan gay?’ It compiled evidence – photos, quotes and GIFS of me – and they came to the conclusion that, yes, I was. When I was closeted, the fact that this page existed was the most terrifying thing in the world. But once I came out, I could laugh about it. I was able to take the power back. Once I owned it, the support-to-hate ratio leaned so insanely toward the positive that I didn’t care about the negative anymore.

Pay it forward

Recently, I helped a fan come out as bisexual to her mom during one of my shows. She’d been waving this note at me, so halfway through my act I took it. It said, “My name is Kelly and I’m bisexual. My mom’s in the crowd. Please read this aloud.” I did, and the crowd went nuts screaming and cheering. I feel a crazy sense of pride for creating that environment at my shows. Boys wear makeup and hold pride flags. Everyone needs a haven to be whoever they want.