Could this swaggering Australian be the next Generation Z superstar?
Troye Sivan Hammersmith Apollo, W6 ★★★★★
Such was the incessantly voluminous response for Troye Sivan at Hammersmith Apollo, the swaggeringly confident Australian pop star seemed taken aback. “London, what’s going on?” Sivan asked after four songs, gasping at the noise like an overwhelmed ingénue. “Guys, I s--t you not, I feel like I’m in The Lizzie
Mcguire Movie.” The cheeky reference to the early 2000s cute-as-apple-pie Disney character drew a big indulgent laugh. Sivan knows his audience, and maintains a masterful line between camp and sincere, edgy and wholesome, arty and commercial. On this evidence, he is shaping up to be a Generation Z superstar.
Sivan’s Wikipedia entry describes him as “a singer, songwriter, actor and internet personality”. The latter is key to his deep connection with his fans. He came to attention on Youtube as a kind of Aussie Justin Bieber in 2007, singing wide-eyed pop at 11 years old. He has done TV talent shows, musical theatre, and starred in films, including playing young Wolverine in 2009’s
X-men Origins. His theme tune, Revelation, for Nicole Kidman’s gay-repression drama Boy Erased, was nominated for a Golden Globe last year.
In 2013, Sivan came out as gay on Youtube. Onstage in London, he spoke candidly and amusingly about that moment of self-revelation, conjuring the sense of anxiety and isolation followed by freedom and release. “I used to think I’m not gay, I just really want to have sex with men!” This led into an exuberant performance of Heaven, his 2015 “coming out song”, which inspired another eruption of dancing and singing among 5,000 fans.
But, although his sexuality is open and undisguised, it is not a chief factor in his appeal. There have been plenty of gay idols before, but even such superstars as Elton John, Freddie Mercury and Boy George were publicly ambiguous about their homosexuality at the height of their pop fame. More openly gay performers such as Jimmy Somerville and Andy Bell tended (not necessarily by choice) to have careers focused on a gay fan base.
Sivan, however, is firmly in the mainstream. His movements are camp and flamboyant, his songs unambiguous about gender (“My boy like a queen… he knows how to love me better,” he sings on Lucky Strike) but his music is right down the centre of where pop is now – balancing electronic grooves with flyaway melodies and smart, honest lyrics sung with emotional directness – and his fan base is diverse. He is coming off two hit collaborations, 1999 with Charli XCX and Dance to This featuring Ariana Grande, but the Hammersmith audience knew the words to all of his songs, belting them out for the bangers, holding phones aloft and singing in rapture to ballads.
“Do you feel like getting a little depressed? I can help with that,” Sivan announced mid-set, stretching out on a sofa to sing The Good Side, an acoustic break-up ballad that hints at Elliott Smith by way of Tobias Jesso. It is a quality song, and Sivan has lots of them. Backed by a versatile four-piece combo featuring drums, guitar and two keyboards (aided by lots of the usual backing-track elements that have become inescapable in modern concerts), this was a dynamic, heartfelt, exciting pop show delivered with energy and enthusiasm to the loudest, warmest, most engaged audience any artist could hope for. The encore was deafening.
“Thank you for indulging me,” Sivan beamed. “London, this has been one of the most special nights of my life.”
I suspect there will be more to come. At 23, Sivan is already a bit of a showbiz veteran, but it feels like he is just getting started.