universal pictures / hedi slimane
Mention the words “Troye Sivan” to any girl, boy, or person who prefers their terminology less binary, and very likely their eyes will light up with delight. The 23-year-old South Africa-born, Australia-raised musician and occasional actor is capping off his best career run yet (sublime first album Bloom, a supporting turn in Boy Erased) with a joy packed world tour. When he whirlwinded into London last week, Sivan took a moment to discuss five key moments of influence in his life with Vogue, as he sipped tea at his hotel, the morning light glinting off his perfect porcelain skin, like the shimmering pop pixie he is.
The Book
“Maybe this sounds weird because I definitely don’t want to emulate this life path, but Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis. It was one of the first music autobiographies I read. I was just fascinated by the music industry when I was growing up and the way that things went down, and he’s a great writer and a generally interesting person. Quietly, just to myself, I was feverishly ambitious; I really, really, really wanted to make music and to be in entertainment as a career even though I knew it was kind of farfetched. So I read quite a few music memoirs.”
The Song
“Amy Winehouse was a huge, huge, huge, moment for me. It wasn’t, ‘Let me write this song that’s going to appeal to the masses’, it was, ‘Let me write as a form of therapy, in a diary style.’ Even though it’s so specific and personal, that connected with me more than any music and artist had before. I remember listening to Love Is A Losing Game at my house in Perth, and I just loved the structure of the song. Instead of verse-chorus-verse-chorus it was kind of written in these stanzas that just have one line at the end that ties it all back together. I ended up using that writing style for The Good Side, a song on my album, as I thought it was so heart-breaking, honest and relatable. It was everything that I loved in music – it was tragic and personal, and I just think it’s one of the best songs of all time. I really do.”
The Film
“I’m going to say The Grand Budapest Hotel. I’ve realised that I like films by directors with a clear perspective, bending that line between realism and surrealism. I love Tarantino movies, or any time I can feel the director’s presence as a creative; that they’re not just making a script come to life, they’re building whole worlds, like Baz Luhrmann and, of course, Wes Anderson. I’ve watched Grand Budapest 50 times probably. To me it’s so comforting. [Laughs] It makes me feel really relaxed. It’s dramatic, but light and comedic and in the same way as discovering Amy, I am drawn to the clear, personal perspective. I could watch it every day.”
The Trip
“Oddly enough, the first thing that came to my mind was Singapore. I don’t think a lot of people expect it but I have travelled a lot in Europe and the States, and a lot around Australia and back and forth to South Africa – but when I was in Singapore it was the first time I really felt like I was travelling. You go to America and you think, coming from Australia, ‘I understand this place, I understand the way it kinda works.’ Similar thing with Europe. But in Asia I felt such overwhelming excitement to be in this place that I knew so little about. I was there with my friend and manager, Emma, who is also from Australia, and we rented bikes every day and we were riding round the city, just trying to find amazing food and culture. I just felt really, really free.”
The Advice
“I was raised by my parents – really raised by them – and so almost everything I know of being human came from that. And so, and I know it sounds beyond cheesy, but I really believe that the best advice in life almost always comes down to this: be nice. I remember hearing Bella or Gigi Hadid saying there’s always going to be someone who is more talented than you, who is better looking than you, so your only choice – your only chance – is to be nicer than them and make people want to work with you more. That really stuck with me. I find it’s the people who are trying to prove something… well, let’s just say you hear very quickly when someone is not nice.”
