The Stunning Transformation Of Troye Sivan

On his 2015 single "Youth," Troye Sivan sings, "My youth, my youth is yours, a truth so loud you can't ignore." It's the perfect summary of the star's creative ethos. After all, his career began at a very young age, and his output has been defined by a willingness to share all parts of himself with his audience, until it's impossible to look away. From his early days on YouTube to his starring role on a buzzy HBO show, from his vulnerable "Coming Out" video to "Rush," a song that had the clubs of West Hollywood bumping all summer 2023 long, Sivan's youth is ours.

There's another major theme of his career, though, which helps explain why his audience has only grown over the years: community-building. "I feel like often we all think that we're the only one in the world who has ever felt a certain way, or had ever had that experience, but I think that it's not true," he told PopBuzz in 2015. Through his videos, his music, his fashion, and his acting, Sivan has endeavored to create spaces where communities can come together with his creativity soundtracking their lives. "Heartbreak, freedom. Community, sisterhood, friendship. All that," he wrote on Instagram in 2023.

It's been a long journey from child star to superstar, and Sivan's path to the top of the entertainment industry has seen him through a number of different incarnations over the years. Read on for a look back at the stunning transformation of Troye Sivan.

As a child in Australia, Troye Sivan displayed a very early musical talent, and it wasn't long before he started to get noticed. Sivan performed on a Perth telethon two years in a row, including singing with Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian. In 2006, he sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." When he returned the following year to sing Billy Gilman's "There's a Hero," his introduction drew cheers. "A favorite in the crowd," the announcer noted.

Around the same time, Sivan discovered YouTube. He was an early adopter; the site launched publicly in late 2005, and by 2007, Sivan was sharing videos of himself singing on the platform. He told Fuse that he was inspired to start uploading videos after seeing a singer named Lisa Lavie replying to fans in her comments section. After he posted a cover at her urging, she replied and told him she liked it. Sivan was hooked. "One day I was sick. I was home from school and I just got really bored, so I thought, I put up one video; I may as well put up another. And that video now has like, over a million views."

In 2013, at 18 years old, Troye Sivan posted a video to his YouTube channel called "Coming Out." In the emotional clip, Sivan told his followers that exactly three years earlier, he'd come out as gay to his family. "It feels kind of weird to have to announce it like this on the Internet," he said, "but I feel like a lot of you guys are like, real genuine friends of mine, and I share everything with the Internet." Sivan clarified that he was sharing this with his followers simply because he shares everything online, and he didn't want to feel like he had to hide his sexuality. "This is not something that I'm ashamed of, and it's not something that anyone should have to be ashamed of," he emphasized.

Throughout the video, Sivan expressed his nervousness that being openly gay would limit his opportunities and change the way fans responded to his content. Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case. He reflected on that pivotal video in an interview with People years later, ruminating that he'd been on the verge of signing a record deal and wanted to make sure he was the one in control of his own story. "I wanted to start going out and going to gay clubs and meeting boys, and I wanted to write songs about love that were true and genuine," he said. His "Coming Out" video allowed him to start doing exactly that.

On "Talk Me Down," a track from "Blue Neighbourhood," Troye Sivan sang, "I wanna sleep next to you, but that's all I wanna do right now." By the time he released his sophomore album "Bloom" in 2018, the 22-year-old Sivan was no longer a heartsick teenager. In "Bloom's" visuals, lyrics, and performances, Sivan stepped into a more confident, overtly sexual image ... and new, dyed-blond hair! In particular, Sivan wanted to make his music more obviously queer. "Part of my response is anger and part of it is action and trying to do the most that I possibly can to help people by using the position that I'm in to its maximum," he told Clash. "A real valid way to try and process [facing oppression] is to go out and enjoy yourself and be louder and celebrate who you are."

It seems to have worked, and Sivan's profile in the industry grew. "Bloom" included "Dance To This," a collaboration with Ariana Grande. Sivan also joined none other than Taylor Swift onstage at the Reputation World Tour, strutting their stuff to "My! My! My!" Years later, looking back in an interview on Radio Andy, Sivan recalled feeling disoriented. "I was like, why is Taylor Swift singing at me right now?" he remembered. Once they began to walk, however, the fear melted away. "In my head I was like a Victoria's Secret model," he said. Troye Sivan, full-fledged pop star, had arrived.

In the early part of his career, fans speculated that Troye Sivan was in a relationship with fellow YouTuber Connor Franta, but that relationship was never confirmed. He did, however, begin dating model Jacob Bixenman shortly before Valentine's Day in 2016. They frequently posted selfies together on Instagram, and in 2019, marking three years together, Sivan wrote, "luckiest boy alive. love you lots."

Unfortunately, the relationship was not meant to last. While most outlets didn't report on the breakup until the summer of 2020, Sivan told British GQ that they split in 2019. Sivan took it hard. "It was a rough ride with a lot of ups and downs for sure," he confessed to Apple Music 1 host Zane Lowe. "Untangling yourself from someone, it felt like this big ball of just knotted wool or something like that."

As he often does, Sivan poured his heartache into music. In 2020, he released an EP called "In A Dream," inspired by the breakup and the fact that he found himself waking in tears. "I think, as a songwriter, my goal is to always be guided by honesty," he reflected to British GQ. However, unlike the "Wild" EP — which was later incorporated into "Blue Neighbourhood" — the songs on "In A Dream" are their own standalone work. Ultimately, Sivan began to heal. "I started to get crushes," he said, "and realized that I wasn't emotionally dead."

When Troye Sivan made his Met Gala debut in 2018, he rocked the red carpet in an androgynous, red Valentino look, complete with a shock of light blond hair. "I felt amazing this night," he told Vanity Fair. "Planning a Met Gala look is one of the funnest things I've ever done." The look was a hit that landed him on "best dressed" lists, including the one put together by British GQ. 

Three years later, a 26-year-old Sivan returned to fashion's biggest night in a form-hugging, neckline-plunging black dress. He accessorized with high-heeled boots and a leather strap around his bicep, topping everything off with a Cartier necklace. Sivan previewed his look on Instagram, sharing a short video clip of himself stomping a patio as though it were a runway. The dress, according to PopSugar, was designed by Joseph Altuzarra for a collection called "Altu." This time, he landed on Esquire's "best dressed" list.

Sivan's 2021 Met Gala outfit caused waves online when he posted a photo of himself to Instagram standing at a urinal in the dress. In the caption, he revealed that a couple of famous friends made the photo happen. "[Rihanna] told [Tom Daley] to take this pic of me weeing," Sivan wrote. How's that for some name-dropping? Over on Twitter, where he cross-posted the snap, one supportive fan replied, "It's because Rihanna understands art when she sees it." Can't argue with that.

Troye Sivan played Xander on "The Idol," an HBO show co-created by The Weeknd about a pop star named Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp). Sivan's character was Jocelyn's friend and creative director, and it seems that he didn't have to stretch his acting muscles. "On the press tour ... Lily's just like, looking unbelievable at all times, of course, and so I'm like the gay best friend that's like, taking a million pictures of her all the time," he told Billboard. "I think it's like a very natural role for me to slip into." Working on the show, he said, was "one of the greatest experiences of my life."

Unfortunately for Sivan's sake, the show was not particularly successful. Variety reported in August 2023 that it had been canceled. Viewers seemed particularly uncomfortable with the show's graphic sexual content, but Sivan told British GQ that he tried not to pay too much attention to the backlash. "I'm okay with whatever people want to say about it," he insisted. "It's a TV show. People can hate it, people can love it. I really don't mind."

As for whether "The Idol" signaled a shift back into acting, Sivan isn't so sure. He told W Magazine that he hasn't decided how much he wants to commit to that side of his career. "Acting is something I am still so intimidated by," he reflected. Still, he's willing to give it another shot, if the right project comes along.

In October 2023, alongside the release of his third album "Something To Give Each Other," Troye Sivan dropped "One Of Your Girls." The song is about hooking up with straight men. "Give me a call if you ever get lonely, I'll be like one of your girls or your homes," Sivan sings. In an appearance on "The Zach Sang Show," Sivan pointed out that while the song may seem like he's idolizing guys who wouldn't be into him, he was drawing from real-life experiences with men who identified as straight. "When I followed through with it a few times, there was this sort of, like, empty feeling afterwards with these particular guys," Sivan reflected, "because there was sort of a limit to what it could be."

In the music video, Sivan appears in drag. He told People that his female alter ego served two purposes. "It's like, slay, there's this performance from a pop-star-girl version of me," he said. It's true; Sivan busts out some impressive, Britney Spears-esque arm choreography. In closeups, however, Sivan's drag persona shows much more emotional nuance than the lyrics might suggest. "Towards the end of the video, I think you really can see the vulnerability and the cracks that this isn't going to work," he said. Because of that, Sivan enjoyed his new look. "I've never done drag before," he said, "[but I've] always wanted to, and it was a really beautiful, fun experience."