Even down the phone line, Troye Sivan's excitement is palpable.
We speak only two days out from his first show on home soil in almost five years, fittingly in his hometown of Perth. “I’m so excited. I’ve actually got butterflies,” Sivan tells me. “Last night I went out for dinner with my friends who I grew up with and they’re all coming to the show. So, it definitely adds a layer of excitement and nerves.”
In a year already filled with milestones – having wrapped the electrifying Sweat tour with Charli XCX across the US, getting nominated for yet another Grammy, and now taking his Something To Give Each Other Tour across Australia and New Zealand – it's amazing Sivan has room for any other commitments. But today, the singer and actor has announced a multi-year partnership with Smirnoff, a coming together that feels like a seamless extension of the rave and party culture he's preached across the globe.
Sivan’s new role isn’t just about the title (though the tongue-in-cheek title of “Chief Vibes Officer” suits him perfectly), it’s about creating an energy that feels both spontaneous and curated, from intimate moments at home to the energy of a live crowd. I ask him how he goes about curating a vibe when hosting, to which he responds "First things first, I call it ‘turning the house into night mode’".
"Me and the dancers – we all know Brat so intimately now – we know every single word to every single song, every single drum beat – so there’s definitely a Charli-shaped hole in our lives."
"I will go around and zhuzh the lighting – no overhead lights! Only lamps and pendants and sconces allowed," he laughs. "And then I put on a nice playlist catered to the vibe. Maybe it’s something like a Soundcloud DJ set, or maybe it’s a nice playlist. I feel like the playlist should kind of build in energy and mood."
As the founder of a lifestyle brand, TSU LANGE YOR, known for its curated candle range and hand-cast oil burners, he very aptly finishes mood-building on an olfactory note: "Of course, I would light some candles to make it smell nice."
Anyone who has followed Sivan's journey closely will tell you he is known for his scent-pairing mastery; layering fragrances in home and on the skin is a task he balances expertly. I ask if this parlays to the gustatory: whether he has a go-to drink pairing. "I feel like a martini makes everyone feel very luxe and hot, and I would usually pair it with some delicious green olives," he says. "Hopefully from a little Italian deli."
I promptly probe him about whether he keeps his olives and martinis strictly separate, to which he replies with a laugh: "No, no I love a dirty martini! I like a really dirty martini."
When I ask him to reflect on his time on the Sweat tour with friend and creative collaborator Charli XCX, Sivan tells me his biggest take-away was the people.
"Personally, touring can be a really destabilising experience; you’re in a new city every day basically, you’re having these crazy experiences playing in front of all of these people and having these adrenaline crashes after the show," he says. "It can be a little bit fraught or intimidating, so getting to share it just took all the pressure away and made me so aware in the moment of how lucky I was to be experiencing that."
"I would’ve loved to have brought out Ariana [Grande].... That would have been a good one to add to the Sweat universe."
"I really think [the Sweat tour] is something that, for the rest of my life, I look back on and think ‘Wow, that was truly so special’ – not only for us who were on stage, but also to share it with the people that came to the shows," he continues. "It really felt like there was so much love in the room. It felt like we were throwing parties."
Some of the tour's most talked-about moments were its surprise guest appearances – from Addison Rae to Lorde, Kesha and Tate McRae. I enquire whether there were any dream guests Sivan didn’t get to bring out on this last tour. "I would’ve loved to have brought out Ariana [Grande]," he says without hesitation. "We have two songs together, and then her and Charli just had a song come out together as well. That would have been a good one to add to the Sweat universe."
Now returning to the stage solo, there’s a fresh thrill in the air. "We did a small show in Berlin after Sweat and it was my first time performing without Charli in quite a while and… I missed her," Sivan admits. "Me and the dancers – we all know Brat so intimately now – we know every single word to every single song, every single drum beat – so there’s definitely a Charli-shaped hole in our lives. But at the same time, I’m really excited [to perform solo] and it’s going to be really fun."
Sivan will be joined on this leg of his tour by musician Nick Ward and younger brother, Tyde, the latter whom he gushes about. "Tyde, my brother, has been working really hard and making some incredible music over the last few years and, I’m really excited for everyone to hear it. You know, I’m just a big fan of him. He’s so diligent and makes music really from the heart. I made a joke calling him my much younger and cooler brother, but it’s also not really a joke. I learn a lot from him."
You can find tickets and information about Troye Sivan's Something To Give Each Other Tour on the Ticketek website.
