Troye Sivan perfects his art while experimenting on In A Dream EP
Troye Sivan couldn’t have kicked off the roll out of his In A Dream EP at a more appropriate time. Just as the world had to go into lockdown he released the fitting anthem ‘Take Yourself Home’. He waited a few months to launch the heartbreaking synth pop banger ‘Easy’ as follow up, only to drop ‘Rager Teenager!’ a couple of weeks later. Now the whole six track EP is out and it shows Troye Sivan at its finest. He perfected his art while sounding more experimental than before.
With ‘Take Yourself Home’, Troye Sivan combined the sound of acoustic guitars with a chanting beat breakdown that almost has a tribal vibe going on. The outro is quite unexpectedly heavily electronic, but after a few spins it works with the build up of the song. The lyrics about needing to go home to family and friends for a while to reset are vulnerable and honest and universally relatable. On second single ‘Easy’, he went with an even more personal story of seemingly cheating on his partner in a weak moment, while hoping that they can still reconcile. The banging chorus does not take away from the sadness of the visual lyrics and it is one of the highlights in his already impressive discography.
It seems the relationship described in ‘Easy’ did crash in the end, as the guitar based not even one minute long song ‘could cry just thinkin about you’ describes the worst moments after a break up in which everything reminds you of that person and nothing seems to make sense without them. On title track ‘In A Dream’ Sivan sings about trying to accept the fact that the relationship didn’t work out. The lyrics about trying to stay strong and not letting the other person back in while they are haunting your dreams are strong and so is the production by OzGo (Oscar Görres). The instantly catchy chorus is bright and poppy, while the sound of the verses is more adventurous. The two elements perfectly complement each other here, making for an immaculate synth pop tune.
The moody ‘Rager Teenager!’ is more understated than most material on this EP, but at the same time offers another anthemic pop chorus in which Sivan reconnects with a flame from his past and states all the reckless his things he wants to do, like he is a teenager again. ‘STUD’ is probably the most adventurous tune of them all in more than one way. With distorted vocals he sings about a one-night-stand with a guy who is more muscular than him. It touches upon his own insecurities, beauty standards in the gay community and the flirty yet uncertain interactions of this kind of meet-up. The song jumps from distorted piano rhythms to fast paced beats and back, playing with the nervousness of lyrics. On paper it shouldn’t work, but it does in a triumphant and unapologetic way.
Troye Sivan delivered a perfectly concise EP that highlights his strengths as a pop star while continuing to deepen the personal stories he tells in his lyrics. It might not be the most poppy work that will gain him massive radio hits, but it it his most uncompromised, hard hitting collection of tracks that defines him as an artist.