Australian singer-songwriter and actor, Troye Sivan returns with his third album, Something to Give Each Other. With a mix of sexy, edgy synth-pop melodies and house-style beats, Sivan crafted an album that will surely enrapture his fans and new listeners. The first single, “Rush,” was first announced when the world couldn’t stop talking about The Idol, in which Sivan played Xander.
Speaking on the first single, Sivan said, “‘Rush’ is the feeling of kissing a sweaty stranger on a dancefloor, a two-hour date that turned into a weekend, a crush, a winter, a summer. Party after party, after party after after party. All of my experiences from a chapter where I feel confident, free, and liberated. Independent, yet somehow the most connected to the music and community around me.”
The music video as well as the track went viral on TikTok, as did another single from Sivan’s album. “One Of Your Girls” is about his experiences hooking up with men who had not previously been with other men, and showed interest in Sivan. The single is one of his favorite songs that he’s worked on and the music video, which features actor, Ross Lynch, has been making waves on social media. “Give me a call if you ever get lonely / I’ll be like one of your girls or your homies / Say what you want, and I’ll keep it a secret / You get the key to my heart, and I need it / Give me a call if you ever get desperate / I’ll be like one of your girls.”
Another one of Sivan’s favorites off of the album is “Still Got It,” an ode to an ex and not knowing how to move on from the previous relationship. He’d teased the song on TikTok and explained, “It’s about a moment where I bumped into my ex-boyfriend and realized he still had all the things that made me fall in love with him in the first place. One of my favorite lyrics on the album is ‘Said hello like an old colleague.’ It was just that weird thing where you’re like, wow, I lived with this person, I shared so much of my life with this person, and here we are greeting each other like old colleagues. It was a moment of reflection.”
The theme of moving on from a breakup and the different emotions attached to it appears a couple of times throughout the album. In “Can’t Go Back,” Sivan grapples with wanting to be with the person he loves again, but also being angry with them for ending the relationship. “I wish you weren’t dead to me / So much to miss in you / More than just my enemy / You were my lover too / And I hope you forgive yourself / Because I swear I do / And it breaks my heart to say / I can’t wait to live without you.”
While speaking with Apple Music, he added, “I was pretty angry, and I’ve never really written from an angry place. I was hurt and felt betrayed. It’s a real journey throughout the song […] But sonically there’s a softness because I still have so much care for that person, that relationship. I knew I wanted this on the album, but I was dreading writing it. When I eventually did, I was like, ‘Let’s just record this today and then I don’t want to look at it.’”
Mixed in with these breakup tracks are the ones about finding new love, feelings of infatuation, and giving in to the sexual attraction that you feel when you meet someone you connect with.
“In My Room” is a collaboration with Guitarricadelafuente, a Spanish singer-songwriter. Sivan dedicated it to “the first boy who ever made my heart sink, and to the one who made it sink for the first time in a long time, not so long ago” in an Instagram post. “Honey” is a similar song in terms of lyrics, but has the classic sound of Sivan’s debut album, Blue Neighborhood.
“I don’t pray a lot, God knows / But I’m callin’ in favors like I believe / Don’t go bringin’ me that close / ‘Cause I feel so good around you / I’m going in tonight like I love you, yeah.”
With “Got Me Started,” Sivan dives into the more physical nature of having a crush and wanting someone. It was the second single on the album and samples “Shooting Stars” by Bag Raiders. He said, “When we were writing this song, I was emphatic about using ‘Shooting Stars’ — I just kept humming it in the studio. I’m over the moon about the opportunity to sample that track because this song is iconic to me. Ian Kirkpatrick’s production technique of recording the vocal at a slower speed and then speeding it up is what you hear in the chorus. I instantly loved the way it sounded.”
“What’s The Time Where You Are?” is another song about having feelings for someone and being away from them. It’s the softer side of having a crush, and Sivan was actually inspired by a text he received from someone who asked him what the time was where he was. Finding the gesture and the willingness to keep the conversation going despite bringing up mundane topics, he realized how much he missed and enjoyed this feeling.
He said to Apple Music, “I felt pretty emotionally dead for a while after my last relationship, and my feelings didn’t all come back in one go. There were these little sparks I started to feel, and I was so excited when I did. […] It sparked this idea of two people separated by a great distance, both out there living their lives, having a great time, but looking for each other in music or nights out or little texts like that.”
The album ends with “How to Stay With You,” an optimistic and open-ended close to this chapter of Sivan’s life. It’s about the eagerness to feel love and that connection with someone despite not knowing what the future holds, and being okay with that. “I’m a little bit fucked on this / I’m a little bit out of time to spend with you / Baby, turn around, give me one more kiss / I’m a little bit lost on how to stay with you, yeah.”
Sivan added to Apple Music, “I still haven’t found the thing I’m looking for. It doesn’t negate these prior experiences and how beautiful they are, but I’m still looking. I thought it was a very real way to end it. I’m on this journey, I’m really happy and I’m enjoying every second of it, I’m so grateful for all the connections, and I’m curious to see what happens next. But I don’t know what that is yet.”