On July 14, Out Australian singer/songwriter Troye Sivan released his sex positive visual for his new single Rush, and, of course, gay Twitter had some thoughts.
But before we get to a few of the online thoughts, here's my opinion on the matter. I absolutely enjoyed seeing a queer millennial artist unapologetically expressing his sexuality freely in visual form, which in my opinion we haven't seen enough of.
When I first heard the song, I looked at it as a cute Summer bop in the vein of fellow Australian contemporary Kylie Minogue's Padam Padam, a sleek, sexy house anthem that celebrates a sense of euphoria and sexual freedom. I feel the visual captures the feeling of being free and letting go of one's inhibitions.
I feel that sometimes people get too caught up in identity politics, and worry too much about what conservative audiences think when presenting their art to the world.
The reality is, gays are sexual beings, we party and we make out/have sex with multiple partners. I'm not saying all, but the vast majority do, and as a people we should celebrate sex positivity.
However, gay Twitter is upset with Troye because the video for Rush lacks showcasing diverse bodies on screen.
"Troye Sivan’s music video for Rush is fun, one user wrote. It’s Stuart Winecoff’s cinematography on poppers and I love that because I love Stuart’s work and his eye is king in this but I’m extremely disappointed in the lack of body diversity. Fat people party too. Fat people enjoy sex too."
He continued, saying, “It’s not that someone like Troye Sivan *has to* include diverse bodies in all his videos, it’s the fact that he chose to promote ‘Rush’ as this gay sex liberation anthem yet left out a massive chunk of the population he’s singing about? Why is critiquing that “boring discourse”?
The tweets were cute or whatever, but now let's get into some things regarding this conversation. Even singer Charli XCX weighed in on the comments surrounding Troye's music video.
“I feel like we live in a world where audiences feel like expression or art isn’t worth their time unless it appeases every single unspoken requirement,” she said. “IT IS SO BORING. if something breaks common aesthetics it’s ‘weird’ or ‘try hard.’ if something conforms it’s ‘offensive’ and ‘not diverse enough.’ What a boring discourse.”
“actually Sam Smith has made a load of great music videos/performances that play with the topics of eroticism and sex and sexiness with very diverse casting and they have been heavily criticized for doing so,” Charli said. “so basically what I’m saying is – no one can ever successfully make art for everyone in this current world, nor should they try to.”
UPDATE: Troye has spoken out about the backlash he's received about Rush in an interview he did with Billboard on July 18.
“I definitely hear the critique,” the 28-year-old told the magazine. “To be honest, it just wasn’t a thought we had – we obviously weren’t saying, ‘We want to have one specific type of person in the video.’ We just made the video and there wasn’t a ton of thought put behind that.”
The Australian singer also criticised the body-shaming he received himself as a result of the video.
“There was this article yesterday, and they were talking about [the lack of body diversity], and in the same sentence, this person said ‘Eat something, you stupid twinks,’” Sivan says. “That really bummed me out to read that — because I’ve had my own insecurities with my body image. I think that everyone’s body is as beautiful as it is, including my own, and it just sucks to see people talking about other people’s bodies.”
Troye also stated that due to the overwhelming positive feedback from Rush he was able to secure a bigger budget for the second single's music video.
Charli is absolutely right. If he checked every diverse box he'd be accused of trying to fulfull some type of quota, and you'd say he was trying too hard to pander to every market.
We are all aware that many different body types like to party and are also sexual beings. I have personally attended plenty of queer bear parties in New York City.
The reality is, whether or not it was intentional, not every body type gets to party in the same spaces, and that's okay too. Rejection is a part of life. The bigger conversation should be towards corporations that push a certain narrative of beauty on society for their own financial gain.
I'll even add more artists to the conversation regarding body positivity. In addition to her mentioning Sam Smith, Lizzo and Janelle Monae have also been showcasing different body types through their art over the years.
People will always find a reason to bitch, and quite frankly, I'm sick of this era we're in where everyone expects a participation trophy though the work of others.
No shade but as an artist my job isn’t to fulfill some sort of diversity quota just because certain groups feel left out. That’s not to say I’m against diversity, because if you’ve followed me long enough you know I’m all for equality and inclusion when it’s warranted.
However, this attitude where people feel that "YOU are responsible for MY feelings and YOU should accommodate MY sensitivities" needs to stop.
At the end of the day we're all grown adults, and it's not mine or the world's job to tiptoe around your feelings and insecurities because you don't feel seen. You want to see change, as Gandhi said, you have to do the work, and be the change you want to see in the world.
Leave Troye and artists like him be, and let them express themselves how they see fit. If Troye does something that becomes harmful to the community, then a dragation is warranted.
However we need to seriuosly learn how to pick our battles, and focus our energy on the politicians who are trying to take away our rights as queer human beings.
Sivan’s new album Something To Give Each Other releases on October 13.
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