With early beginnings as a YouTube personality, Australian singer and songwriter Troye Sivan officially graduated from making videos to composing and recording his own music in 2014. Sivan released his sophomore album “Bloom” Aug. 31, 2018 after months of teasing the album on social media.

While he released the occasional singing video, Sivan’s content was focused on lifestyle videos and collaborations with other YouTube stars like Tyler Oakley, Marcus Butler and Zoe Sugg. In August 2013, Sivan posted a coming out video sharing his homosexuality with his followers. Since then, Sivan has become a prominent role model in the LGBTQ+ community and uses his music to express his sexuality by using the “he” pronoun in songs like “Seventeen” and the word “boy” in “Lucky Strike.”  

After two years of silence, “My My My,” the first single from “Bloom” released in January 2018, got me hooked on Sivan again. It brought back “Blue Neighbourhood” vibes, but Sivan was on a whole new level with higher energy and a faster beat. The upbeat love song became my soundtrack for the new year and was soon joined by “The Good Side” which gave me a sound I’d never heard from Troye. These songs gave a perfect preview of everything that “Bloom” would be: a mix of upbeat and toned down, of anthem and lullaby, of lighthearted and heartbroken. Whether the song is happy or sad, Sivan’s lyrics always convey a deep emotion, be it love, hardship or freedom.

Sivan’s “Dance To This” with Ariana Grande could be dismissed as a shallow party song, but its lyrics convey a much deeper meaning. Sivan and Grande’s lyrics “We’ve already seen all of the parties/We can just dance to this,” made me fall in love with the song because they convey the idea that even celebrities want to replace today’s party obsession with a carefree lifestyle. Sivan and Grande’s stunning vocals blend to make entrancing harmonies that will have your foot tapping and the melody running through your head for days.

Slowing it down, “What A Heavenly Way To Die” is perhaps one of the most romantic ballads that Troye has ever released, and it is a personal favorite of mine. The lyrics “What a heavenly way to die/What a time to be alive/Because forever is in your eyes/But forever ain’t half the time” caught my attention because I love the way that Sivan fearlessly references life and death. Sticking with the romance vibe, the title track “Bloom” talks of love in a fun and passionate way with the simple lyrics “I bloom just for you.”

Being a fan of slower melodies, “Seventeen” quickly became my favorite song because I love the depth that it offered. I fell in love with Sivan’s ideas of young love. The lyrics “I went out looking for love when I was seventeen/Maybe a little too young, but it was real to me” pulled me in because I felt that Sivan was making a commentary on the low expectations placed on teens; that young people are capable of the love that is thought to be too complex for us. This song never leaves my Recently Played list on Spotify, along with the entire rest of the album.

Being a die-hard Troye Sivan fan for so many years, I feared that the new album would fail to meet my high expectations. I couldn’t have been more wrong. “Bloom” has been blaring from my car speakers as I drive around St. Louis with the windows down since the day it came out and I encourage everyone to do the same.

The Parkway West Pathfinder gives “Bloom” a 9/10.