Troye Sivan - Bloom poll

Fuck It I Poll You - Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!
Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated poll

I had another huge Pop album all lined but to go but then realized that it was also from 2019 and wanted to change things up. I'm throwing a curve ball here as this is not actually a popular release but was talked about a bit on ILM. I ended up choosing this because A I want to poll at least one odd choice and B we needed a man in one of these polls, even if he is gay.

Sorry for the mistakes above, I was just going too fast and should slow down sometimes when posting here. When I said "even if he is gay" that was not meant as an insult just to be clear, just what he is. I think it was funny that all these poll will be from women but the one that I choose from a man happened to be gay.

I happened to be playing this album a lot lately and selflessly polled it. I hope it gets a few votes but not expecting much.

The first I heard of him was “Rush,” and I really like the album it’s from. Haven’t thought to check out his older work…

I play his albums a lot when released but forget about them. This one's good, inseparable for me from the POV of Timothee Chalamet's Elio in Call Me By Your Name.

I think i've heard his music twice.

The first time was during this album cycle, i picked up a copy of Gay City with his picture on the cover. i never heard of him before but i started reading the article anyway. it said he had chosen 'Bloom', a song about bottoming, to be the single. Within 15 mins of reading this, i walked into a Bed Bath and Beyond discount store on 89th & bway to get free coffee from the Keruig machine in the basement and the song playing over their PA was going, "I'll bloom baby just for you" and i thought, 'oh this must be that bottoming song'.

the other time was when Timothy Chalamet impersonated him on SNL.

It is odd that I’d be rooting for a. a twink, b. a wafrican, c. a musician whose albums I don’t have any interest in, d. anybody named “Troye”, but here we are. Yay Troye! Not the first attempt made at a legit twink pop star but def the most successful. Didn’t vote because the music isn’t really the point, is it?

Isn't it? He doesn't have much else.

i don't rate this album at all but the follow up 'in a dream' EP is one of the underrated pop projects of the 2020s imo. the title track was not a single for some reason but is as good as any of his singles. the key change at the end of the chorus is so good. this EP gets somewhere in the vicinity of the mythical good second years & years album that exists only in my head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cHHnj3xWnw

Bloom poll, or as i call it, Bloomp oll

i'm pretty ambivalent about the last album tho "got me started" has really held up for me, i love that song

this album was decent but in a dream was better yeah

"dance to this" was the highlight

WTF, these are YouTube views:

My My My! 65 million
Bloom 28 million
Dance To This (feat. Ariana Grande) 220 million
Lucky Strike 13 million

Above are only songs from this album that also have a music video. I had no idea he was this popular?

he’s enormously popular

it's between "bloom" and "lucky strike" for me off the top of my head, but it's been a while since i heard all the tracks

How come songs named "Seventeen" are always so good? Looking at you Sharon Van Etten. This one is like Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy" tho not that good.

Still baffled at his YouTube states:

YouTube information
Channel

TroyeSivan18

Years active
2007–present

Subscribers
8.19 million

Total views
2.11 billion

Last updated: 6 October 2024

His music is not streamed that much, mostly coming from YouTube.

Do you know his history? I guess I don’t understand what’s so baffling.

Sivan was making YouTube video diaries and homemade music productions when he was barely a teenager— he had an enormously large following among teenage girls and gay teenage boys in the heights of the Tumblr era, and has been amassing followers since then. He’s even more popular in Autralia than he is elsewhere. I think I first encountered him on a gay Tumblr blog circa 2010 or 2011.

He was also one of the first major “teen” stars to come out as gay before he even got his first record deal.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Do you know his history? I guess I don’t understand what’s so baffling.

I do not. I came upon him via "Rush" like others in this thread, read the ILM thread on him and decided to poll this album. Record is good but not great so the numbers don't really make sense to me. Thanks for explaining.

i also came upon him via Rush iykwim har har

^ I mean, that’s kinda what I meant

I like this album, tho agree with Jordan that the EP after this one and STGEO are better.

aside from the youtuber stuff he also has leaned far more heavily into the visual presentation of his music recently, more directly connecting w/ the history of gay imagery and centering himself as an object of sexual desire. this started w/ the longform video he did for the 'in a dream' EP but he really turned the dial up several notches w/ the "rush" and "one of your girls" videos. i was actually pretty surprised by how many of my gay friends were, ahem, turned on to his music for the first time w/ this new album cycle -- but, you know, jock straps and all that. still though there is this strong like little brother vibe going on where gay men somewhat embrace him now but also keep him at arm's length. i didn't go to the 'sweat' tour but from what i heard the enthusiasm gap for charli vs troye at that concert, despite them being nominally equally billed, was quite vast. i did see troye solo (at wembley) and it was a fun show but it still felt like he has yet to really own the gayness of it all. there's still a whiff of the clothes wearing the person, so to speak, as opposed to the other way around. he often makes good enough music that i'm rooting for him tho

anyway all that having been said "rush" has 424m streams on spotify vs 43m on youtube so youtube is actually a rather small slice of the pie for him at this juncture

"Bloom," "Rush," "My My My," and "Got Me Started" I hear most often in the wild.

same

also, just a note re: Wafrican— Orville Peck (aka Daniel Pitout, former drummer for the best punk band of the early teens, Nu Sensae) is also Jewish and from South Africa.

Seventeen > Lucky Strike > Dance To This = The Good Side

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

interesting, i would have expected MMM and Dance to This to place higher. (though obviously not many voters in this poll).

i think Seventeen is a rather boring track with an interesting story. I voted "Bloom" because i can't resist pop songs about anal.

Seventeen works if you imagine it as Ellio's theme im Call Me By Your Name.

i think i would vote for “Plum” if given the chance again.