Troye Sivan Widens the Frame on His Fourth Album, She’s the Best

Troye Sivan’s fourth album, She’s the Best, arrives as the follow-up to Something to Give Each Other and declines the obvious move. Rather than restate the sound that carried the previous record, Sivan widens his frame. The title track delivers most of its lyrics as spoken word, saving the singing for a subdued chorus, and the accompanying video places him in a New York dive bar opposite Nicole Kidman, with drag performers including Sasha Colby sharing the frame.

The record’s reference points reach back to 1990s dance and pop. “Canada Dry” rides a slinky house beat; “Embarrassingly” turns toward dream pop built on layered acoustic guitars; “Le Boy” shifts mid-song from chugging distortion to plucked strings and a lush arrangement. Those changes of texture do much of the work, keeping the album from settling into a single register.

Lyrically, Sivan stays closer to home, trading in desire and the narrow space between horniness and heartbreak. He has described parts of the album as the interior of his mind, though on the provocations of “Canada Dry” or the chant of “Music makes the people come together” on “Party,” that interior stays largely out of view. “FF” is the exception, setting sensuality against broader fear and uncertainty.

The stylistic risk is real, and it is not the risk most artists take at this point in a career. How much of that interior is revealed rather than performed remains the album’s open question.