Troye Sivan — Bloom (2018) | Album Review

Troye Sivan’s sophomore album is tight, chic, honest, and vulnerable, making it one of the best pop albums of the year.

How Troye Sivan explores life as a young gay man has been extensively discussed, and is usually placed at the center of any consideration of his music. Indeed, what he’s doing is important: there’s hardly any artists in mainstream music, if any, who puts their sexuality under the limelight like Troye does (please excuse my referring to him by his first name, Sivan is actually not his last name and I feel weird calling someone by their middle name). Yes, he’s not exactly a mainstream act, but compared to the large majority of queer artists, he’s definitely one of the most popular, and more importantly, he makes music that is more catered to that audience, in contrast with such acts as Perfume Genius, PWR BTTM, St. Vincent, Against Me!, SOPHIE, Car Seat Headrest, or Arca. Take Sam Smith for example. He’s openly gay, but his music never makes any suggestion of that except for the track “HIM”, and rarely does the accompanying visual deals with that as well. The result of such a lack of representation is that the LGBT community gets gay-baited by Katy Perry (seriously, she built a career out of gay-baiting), faces misunderstanding not only from outsiders but also from themselves about their own experience. It’s beyond me how some people turn to Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato for queer music, and underrepresentation of queer people needs to be discussed, but I’m digressing.

Troye Sivan normalizing same-sex attraction is significant and commendable, but that is not what I want to discuss in this review. We are here to talk about the making of a good pop album. One of the most important aspects of a pop album, or as a matter of fact, an album of any genre, is its length. What’s the right length for an album varies depending on what genre it is (or more like, a matter of how much substance you have to cover), but a pop album should stay between 9–12 tracks and under 50 minutes long. The longer the album, the longer it needs to keep up the pace, and the easier it is to have fillers. If I have the option to pay a reasonable price to have my own edited physical version of an album, I would do that. Case in point: Drake has released some of the best singles this decades, but he’s inconsistent with his quality. Still, he always jam-packs his album with tracks. The result is mediocre, passable albums: Views was disoriented, and Scorpion is way too long I don’t even care enough to listen to it in its entirety. Even if the quality is relatively consistent, it is easy for the audience to get tired: Lana Del Rey’s Lust For Life is a lovely album, but when the 13th track “Tomorrow Never Came” comes on, one can’t help but wonder when will the end come (20 more minutes to go!). Bloom has a nice little track list of 10 songs, clocking in at 37 minutes. Troye Sivan is far way from the best songwriters, but he knows enough to only offer his best efforts. Those 10 songs differ enough from each other to appeal to some range of preferences, but they still share a musical and lyrical core that makes the record cohesive, honest, and relatable. And that’s the charm.

The lead single off the album is “My My My!” is one of the “perfect pop” songs, placing the restrained verses in contrast with the pulsing, euphoric hook, akin to last year’s “Cut to the Feeling”, a structure usually employed to symbolize the joy and freedom that comes with love. Its follow-up “The Good Side” sounds decidedly different: intimate vocals and rough production, as if it’s a demo of a little secret that’s supposed to be stowed away.

Those who prefer something riskier, more explicit even will probably enjoy “Seventeen” and “Bloom”. On the two songs, Troye sings about experiences that are transgressive for the mainstream: “Seventeen” is about using a fake ID to sneak on Grindr and hooking up with older men, while the title track employs one big metaphor of flowers and gardens for bottoming and sex. While the former track may sound a bit conservative, it’s filled with playful and flirty double entendres:

“I got these beliefs that I think you wanna break
[…]
You say that I’m asleep but I wanna be awake
Got something here to lose that I know you wanna take”

Given the controversial topic, Troye Sivan approaches it cautiously, giving the song a darker tone than the rest of the album and making the lyrics not too revelatory. When it’s more general and less sensitive on “Bloom”, the music is much brighter and more upbeat. There’s some nervousness in the bridge, but it’s quickly replaced by relaxation and elation when the chorus sets in. However, in the second half of the chorus, Troye interupts the on-going garden metaphor with a clichéd image of a “love song”, which pretty much ruins the song for me. Still, Troye’s penchant for precise imageries keeps the album interesting as it nears its end on “Plum” and “Lucky Strike”.

Unlike the explosive hooks on “My My My!” or “Bloom”, “Dance To This” takes on a rather anti-climatic but sensual route as Troye Sivan and Ariana Grande tempts their partner to stay at home instead of going out to party. The premise is more mature than the previous track: after all the hook ups, there’s the one that satisfies you and the two of you knows each other well enough to simply enjoy each other’s company. The scene suddenly gets warm and private: just a couple dancing together under the kitchen lights and get intimate.

Even though it’s a pop record, the mellower cuts on Bloom are surprisingly impressive and do contribute some substance to the album rather than exist just for the sake of having some ballads. The idea of using a postcard as a metaphor for one’s self and their love for a partner seems rather weird in theory, but on “Postcard”, Troye sings with such earnestness that one doesn’t care whether the image makes any sense (and it actually does!). There’s also the massive closer “Animal”, sprawled out with so much space for its producers to fill up with gorgeous details. Troye is relaxed and pleasant, taking him to profess him love, which makes the titular image seem out of place given its usual association with the wild and wilderness. Still, there is an assurance and comfort in his voice that makes we feel like whatever norms we hold are wrong.

However, Bloom is far from a perfect record, with the most glaring issue being the order of the tracks. “The Good Side” and “Postcard” have a very different sound and theme than “Bloom” and “Dance To This” but the songs are placed together, impeding a seamless transition. Nevertheless, Bloom is an engaging listen both musically and lyrically, a crisp, consistent, and cohesive album.

Rating: A-

Essential tracks: “My My My!”, “The Good Side”, “Postcard”, “Animal”

For detailed grading scale, see here.