There’s something that feels overwhelmingly genuine about someone starting a music career on the internet.
It's truly magical to see cover videos on YouTube morph into released albums and having tours.
Many people have started out this way. Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes and Charlie Puth are all radio-played examples. This list could stretch on forever, and it definitely includes 22-year-old Troye Sivan from Australia.
Sivan began his YouTube career in 2007.
He was twelve then, posting videos of him doing covers filmed on old cameras and webcams.
In 2010, he starred in the movie, “Spud,” and then shortly after, the views on his YouTube channel began to skyrocket. He went from 300,000 and 600,000 views to views as high as 8 million.
Sivan released his first EP, “The June Haverly EP” in 2012 on his own accord, and his second, “TRXYE,” after signing with EMI Australia.
His first studio album, “Blue Neighbourhood (Deluxe)” was released internationally in December 2015. While the hard work began, his presence on YouTube began to decline.
Sivan posted to his Youtube channel, TroyeSivan18, Jan. 9 to promote his new single, but before that he hadn’t posted since June, and before that it was November 2016.
This makes sense, because he began the “Blue Neighbourhood Tour” to support his debut album in early 2016 and continued to tour until September, performing 69 shows across North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
“Blue Neighbourhood (Deluxe)” consists of 16 songs and features artists like Broods and Betty Who. One song, “WILD,” was even remade featuring Alessia Cara.
In 2015, he was featured on Zedd’s album, “True Colors,” and in 2017 he recorded a song with Martin Garrix titled “There For You.” However, since the release of the 2015 album, he hasn’t put out much on his own.
2018 seems like it’s going to be Sivan’s year to release his next album. The name of the album and the track list are still under wraps.
However, since Jan. 10, Sivan has released two songs along with one music video. He was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live just 10 days after the release of the first single to perform both the songs.
As someone who has been following Sivan and his success for a while, I can honestly say this is some of his best work.
“Blue Neighbourhood (Deluxe)” was a pretty amazing album, but the two newest songs are in a different caliber and are polar opposites.
“My My My!” is an upbeat song, full of booming beats and layered vocals.
“The Good Side,” Sivan’s second single of 2018, is an emotional song that opens with a soft guitar and an even softer voice.
To put the opposite feeling of the two songs into perspective, “The Good Side” is like journaling on a Sunday morning in a small coffee shop and “My My My!” is the club you were in the night before.
“My My My!” is receiving positive comments from artists like Dua Lipa and Charli XCX on Twitter, along with feedback from many of Sivan’s fans who couldn’t be happier with his new music.
See embedded tweet from Charli XCX below.
The music video, released two weeks ago, has 13 million views on YouTube and 25 million plays on Spotify as of Jan. 30.
His album release date hasn’t been announced yet, but if the rest of the album is as good as the first two songs, we’re in for a treat this year.
This week I made a playlist featuring artists who got their start on YouTube. Troye Sivan, Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes and Charlie Puth are all featured. I also threw in Harry Styles, because I love him and he was listed as an artist related to Sivan.
