Troye Sivan is back with Party, the second track from his forthcoming album She’s The Best, which is out 9th October. If the first two tracks are anything to go by, Sivan is heading into another album that won’t be defined in a particular corner of the pop world. As the name might suggest, Party is designed for the dancefloor. Drawing on Sivan’s memories of Melbourne’s bush doofs and the freedom of disappearing into a night of music, the track captures that strange moment in time when both the beginning and end of a party still seem a world away. In a euphoric blur, nothing outside really seems to matter.
There’s more to this song though, than simply losing yourself to the beat. Sivan has spoken about the importance of nightlife and party spaces in queer culture, places where queer people can come together, feel seen and importantly, not feel like a minority. That sense of freedom runs through Party giving its hedonism a deeper meaning.
The accompanying video, directed by Gordon von Steiner, takes that ideas and extravagantly runs with it. It drops Sivan in a medieval world of armour, romance and battle, shot in a castle in Berkeley, England, before turning the whole thing into a chaotic celebration.
There’s also a brilliant link to Sivan’s own history in the video, with Sir Ian McKellen delivering the opening narration. The two first crossed paths when Sivan was 14 years old, appearing in a production of Waiting of Godot in Perth. McKellen’s presence as an openly gay and successful actor made an impression on Sivan at a crucial, formative point in his life. It connects Party to a longer history of queer visibility and the people who helped make that possible.
The track follows the album’s title song, She’s the Best, and together the two releases offer a glimpse of the different sides of She’s the Best. Sivan has described the record as exploring desire, identity, joy, loneliness and queer belonging, while musically moving across a broad range of pop styles.
The album follows 2023’s Something to Give Each Other, which delivered “Rush”, “One of Your Girls” and “Got Me Started”, before Sivan took the record on the road with Charli xcx for the SWEAT tour.
With “Party”, Sivan is once again making music for that moment when the outside world disappears. Lose yourself in it: you might even find something on the other side.
