Troye Sivan: ‘I’m Just Trying to Live the Exact Life I’ve Always Wanted to Live’
Troye Sivan at the 2016 Billboard Awards. (Photo: Todd Williamson/Getty Images for dcp)
It’s been nearly three years since YouTube sensation Troye Sivan publicly revealed to his fans that he’s gay with his heartfelt video post, but the Australia-based singer (who was born in South Africa) is still setting out to change lives.
Sivan, 21, recently teamed up with SweeTarts candy for the Follow Your Tart campaign and released a video this week featuring his hit song “Youth” to celebrate everyone’s individual passions — quirks and all.
“It’s a campaign about inspiring people to follow their own passions,” Sivan told Yahoo Celebrity. “I’m really, really, really proud of the campaign.”
The Follow Your Tart campaign was perfectly timed to launch during LGBT Pride month, and its message especially hits home for Sivan, who had to overcome the pressures of the music industry to be a “certain way.”
“I’m just trying to live the exact life I’ve always wanted to live since I was a little kid while being gay — and being openly gay,” Sivan said. “I think for a long time I thought that wasn’t possible. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do everything I wanted to do.”
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But in the past seven years, Sivan has scored a film role as a young Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, released a three-part music video series called Blue Neighbourhood, and amassed more than 4.2 million subscribers on YouTube. Sivan says his accomplishments were made possible because he is surrounded by constant encouragement and support.
“My mom was a model when she was younger and was working in London and Paris, so I grew up with the mindset of if you want to do something, you actually can. It’s actually possible,” Sivan said. “My mom was a big catalyst to my thinking like that.”
In addition to his mother, Taylor Swift has also proved to be a major influence in Sivan’s life.
“I spend most of the time gushing about how much I appreciate her helping me out,” he said. “She’s been such a huge supporter of my music and really kind of changed my life in that way.”
Troye got kisses from Ruby Rose and Taylor Swift at the GLAAD Awards in L.A. (Photo: Instagram)
Sivan has achieved a massive following on social media and, thanks to Swift, has an A-list group of friends to match. But Sivan admits there are still times when he gets starstruck. Although he was one of the highly anticipated performers at the Billboard Music Awards in May, Sivan found himself at a loss for words in the presence of his fellow artists.
“I walked passed Rihanna on my way to sound check and lost my mind a little bit,” Sivan laughed. “And I got to meet Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. Every now and then I’ll literally be like, ‘I’m living in a movie!’ and that was definitely one of those days. I have those moments where I definitely need to pinch myself.”
Sivan’s humbleness is charming, considering his widespread influence. In March, Sivan took the time to read aloud a letter that was given to him by a girl named Kelly at his show in D.C. The note was Kelly’s announcement to her mother that she is bisexual. The audience immediately erupted with applause, and the star was praised across media outlets for being a voice for gay millennials. However, Sivan insisted he’s not trying to be an LGBT superhero; he’s just doing what feels right.
“I’m not trying to be the voice of anything, I don’t think,” Sivan said. “I can only speak for myself, and I don’t ever necessarily want to put words in anyone’s mouth. I’m definitely going to make mistakes and say the wrong thing sometimes. I feel like everyone knows that I’m obviously just a human.”
After wrapping up the Follow Your Tart campaign with stops at VidCon and Comic-Con, Sivan will turn his attention the release of his “Wild” music video featuring Alessia Cara and the second leg of his U.S. tour in the fall.
“I tried my very hardest to really just step up the show and make it super, super, super next-level for everyone,” Sivan said. “I just want to create the coolest, safest space for people to come and be whoever they want to be and wear whatever they want to wear and sing and dance and have a good time while hopefully seeing a really mind-blowing show.”
With the Orlando tragedy at Pulse still weighing heavy on the minds of his fans, Sivan adds that there’s a special song that concertgoers should definitely listen out for.
“My song ‘Heaven’ is kind of the only song I ever wrote about being gay,” Sivan revealed. “People think I write all the time about being gay, but I don’t. I just write about love. But ‘Heaven’ is actually the only song I’ve specifically written about coming out. So now when I perform it live, it kind of changes my life every single night.”
