Inside a former Presbyterian church in London’s West End, Troye Sivan is hosting a party. The event celebrates the arrival of his song ‘Party’, and the Australian singer makes sure the evening reflects the track’s unapologetically hedonistic spirit. The venue once briefly operated as The Limelight, a legendary nightclub during the 1980s that welcomed stars including George Michael, Grace Jones and Iggy Pop. Now, Sivan has gathered a select group of friends and fans to experience his own medieval celebration of excess.
Around an hour later, he will step up to the pulpit to unveil the music video, directed by longtime collaborator Gordon von Steiner. The visuals transport viewers into a 15th century orgy, following Sivan as he parties, seduces and explores the kingdom. As the video shifts abruptly from a provocative scene featuring Sivan and a naked man to a polished dance routine, someone standing beside NME enthusiastically exclaims, “God, being gay is so great!”
Before the celebrations begin, Sivan meets with NME in one of the church’s alcoves and talks passionately about what going out means to him. “The experiences that I’ve had partying throughout the years have been quite formative. There’s an element of wanting to honour that,” he says. “I think that partying is something that people take quite frivolously, and I don’t really.”
For generations, people have turned to parties as a way to escape, connect and share their emotions with others. Whether celebrating a personal victory or finding comfort during difficult times, the dancefloor offers a space where feelings can be experienced differently. Flashing lights can make joyful moments feel even more intense, while the steady rhythm of techno can provide a welcome distraction from life's struggles. While working on his latest album ‘She’s the Best’, which arrived last week after being written in 2025, Sivan began thinking about the different stages of life that people experience on the dancefloor.
The previous time Sivan worked on a full length record, the result was 2023’s ‘Something To Give Each Other’. Driven by the energetic poppers anthem ‘Rush’, the album captured the sense of rediscovery many people experienced after the pandemic, when they began exploring intimacy and physical connection again following months without touch. Written after a breakup, the record reflected his growing appreciation for brief but meaningful encounters and the realisation that human connection can often be found just within reach.
“Those moments between lockdowns, I feel like I was experiencing the world for the first time, and people for the first time, and dancing for the first time again,” he says. “With this one, it’s just been a little bit more of an up-and-down time for me. I’ve been back in my feelings, maybe in a way that I wasn’t necessarily on the last one.”
Although Sivan keeps the details of his recent emotions private, his latest record communicates plenty on its own. ‘She’s the Best’ brings together contrasting moods and experiences. Some tracks celebrate physical pleasure and carefree indulgence, including the Madonna sampling song ‘Party’, which explores the simple joy of dancing and celebrating wherever the mood strikes. (“Party in the park, party in the bush / Party under the bridge, party at the restaurant”).
“I wanted to make a moment where the person who is partying hears ‘Music’ by Madonna on the dancefloor and ascends,” he says. Sivan had to wait until he performed alongside her at the VMAs last month to meet the Queen of Pop in person. However, he was pleasantly surprised by how easily the process of securing permission to use the sample went, describing it as “a really seamless process”. The 31 year old admits he was “totally shocked by” how straightforward everything turned out to be.
“Partying is something that people take quite frivolously, and I don’t really”
Another track, ‘Canada Dry’, which Sivan describes as “ooey gooey slinky” pop, explores intense physical attraction through the desire to taste another person’s sweat and leave nothing behind. Alongside these playful moments, the album features deeply personal songs that expose feelings that have yet to heal. On ‘Embarrassingly’, he sings “You still come to meet me in my mind / You’ve been out my life for twice the time”. He describes the track as a “masturbation anthem” about continuing to miss someone long after others might expect those feelings to disappear.
The record closes with ‘Lost Time’, featuring a spoken word passage from Lily-Rose Depp, Sivan’s co-star in The Idol. The song captures the tension between staying busy and making room for the things that matter most. “Being busy is overrated, just want to stay home and be creative / Me and baby staying in making up for lost time”, he sings.
Contradiction is central to ‘She’s the Best’, both in its songwriting and musical direction. Compared with the polished sound of ‘Something To Give Each Other’, the new album feels more abrasive, with rougher textures and less conventional production. Its sound changes constantly, moving between driving electronic rhythms and softer, almost heavenly pop vocals. These sudden shifts reflect Sivan’s own emotional state as he tries to balance the excitement of what lies ahead with the importance of appreciating where he is right now.
The album also reveals a level of emotional openness that sets it apart from his already personal earlier work. “This one definitely captures all aspects of my life over the last three years with these very high highs and then very low lows,” he says. “I’m really curious how I’m gonna look back on this one day. I think I’m gonna be proud of myself for experimenting and [for being] very matter-of-fact and honest.”
Troye Sivan. Credit: Marcus Cooper
Sivan understands that revisiting personal work years later can bring mixed feelings. Reflecting on his debut album, 2015’s ‘Blue Neighbourhood’, he compares the experience to revisiting his earlier days as a YouTuber. “Do you have any old Photo Booth videos of you?” [Looking back on that record is] a very similar experience to watching those back. You’re like, ‘Oh, I sort of recognise this person, but I don’t really. It’s quite sweet, but it’s also a little bit embarrassing.’”
Despite knowing that his current work might eventually make him feel self conscious, Sivan does not spend much time worrying about how it will look in the future. “I don’t really [try to combat it]. I just go for it at the time, and then when I look back in hindsight, I feel like I have a lot more clarity on that time in my life.”
When he eventually revisits ‘She’s the Best’, Sivan hopes to recognise a period of personal recovery and growth. The record reflects his efforts to find ways to feel better, whether through therapy, exploring more spiritual interests or simply enjoying an unforgettable evening with his female friends. He admits that he has considered becoming a little more “woo woo”, adding, “I might start dabbling in religion again, but we’ll see”.
The album’s title track, ‘She’s the Best’, brings these experiences together. While the song celebrates the women who have supported Sivan throughout his life, it also recognises the person he has become through those relationships. “When I see a young, feminine boy, it just melts my heart because I think I see a lot of myself in them,” he says. “A lot of the therapy that I’ve done over the years is very much inner child stuff and wanting to support the child that I was. I fought off my femininity for a really long time, and I’m finally arriving in the place where I feel so in touch with both my masculine and feminine sides.”
“I’m finally arriving in a place where I feel so in touch with my masculine and feminine sides”
Sivan appears in drag during a section of the song’s music video, which features fellow Australian star Nicole Kidman. The pair first met while working on the 2018 film Boy Erased. The appearance follows his drag performance in the video for 2023’s ‘One Of Your Girls’. “I love getting in drag,” he says with a huge smile. “Talking about inner child stuff, that’s such a healing experience. Being able to just truly, truly, truly express like that feels so freeing and so fun.”
His growing interest in expressing himself physically also explains why choreography has become such a major part of his artistic identity. ‘Rush’ marked a new chapter in the way Sivan incorporated movement into his performances, with Sergio Reis handling the choreography. Reis also created the elaborate medieval party scenes featured in the ‘Party’ video. According to Sivan, ‘She’s the Best’ is designed to be experienced through both its visuals and its music. “Part of the whole healing thing is that I felt like I couldn’t dance – and I’m not saying I’m an amazing dancer by any means – but there’s something really special about when people have a kind of unique way of moving. Just being in your body [is so important].”
Sivan recognises that ‘She’s the Best’ represents a considerable creative risk. The album pushes further into experimentation, explores a wider range of sounds and offers a deeper look at his personal life. Yet this willingness to take chances is an important part of his current journey. Rather than worrying about whether he might eventually cringe at his decisions, much like he does when revisiting old videos of himself, he wants to feel confident that the choices he made reflected who he was at the time.
“My biggest fear is trying to make something that I think people want, releasing it and it not going well,” he says. “And then I’m like, ‘Fuck, well, I wasn’t even really listening to myself anyway.’ So, all I can really ever stand behind is making things that are true to me.” For tonight, at least, Sivan is happy to follow that philosophy. With the right Madonna sample, any location can become a party, whether it is a park, a bush or, as he demonstrates while leaving the alcoves and returning towards the pulpit, the sacred interior of a church.
Troye Sivan’s ‘She’s the Best’ is available now through Interscope Records.
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