Here’s a treat to kick your month off right: Troye Sivan has returned with a new single, “Take Yourself Home” — the title of which couldn’t be more poignant in the age of social distancing.
The new track arrived on Wednesday (April 1) alongside a lyric video comprised of aerial footage of city buildings. “I’m tired of the city / Scream if you’re with me / If I’m gonna die, let’s die somewhere pretty,” Sivan sings on the opening lines, with nothing but an acoustic guitar and ethereal backing vocals to accompany him. But in true Troye fashion, the track eventually builds into a glitchy, synthy arrangement tailor-made for dancing out your anxiety. Sivan’s gentle voice manages to cut through the noise, as he sings of being “sad in the summer” and craving some clairty: “How it got this dark is just beyond to me / If anyone can hear me, switch the lights.”
It all culminates in an extended, metallic-sounding outro that’s chaotic in all the best ways. Listen to the track — which Sivan co-wrote with Leland, Tayla Parx and Oscar Görres — below.
Following the song’s release, Sivan shared on Instagram, “This was a really scary moment for me – being this honest with myself about my happiness and my life and the way all the pieces fit together, or don’t. Just like a moment of dude..what r u doing. This isn’t working anymore. Go home. Go be with ur family. Dance. Write music. Be with ur friends who have known u since u were 2. Reevaluate. Naturally we wrote a sad dance track with a housey outro, and it’s out everywhere in the world now. Hope you like it and it brings you some of the joy and relief it brought me during these crazy times.”
Sivan’s new single comes almost two weeks after he first hinted at new music on social media. In a frenzied, stream-of-consciousness message, he not only announced his intent to release new tunes, but also asked for freelance artists to reach out and work on upcoming projects. That was followed by plenty of lyric reveals on Twitter, as well as the track’s striking cover art, in which Sivan debuted red hair and a bridge piercing.
“Take Yourself Home” marks Sivan’s first solo release since his 2018 sophomore album, Bloom, though he did pop up on collaborations with Lauv, Charli XCX, and Allie X last year. It’s unclear if this is a stand-alone single or the first taste of TS3, but it’s a welcome treat no matter what.
