Since his debut album release in December 2015, Australian singer Troye Sivan has gained more and more popularity. The 20- year-old is on his 2nd leg of his "Suburbia Tour," which has stretched across multiple countries. The album contains 15 tracks of pure perfection (in my humble opinion). The album, titled "Blue Neighbourhood" is techno, pop, and a little bit of indie all in one. It's soulful, happy, depressing, and generally gives you the feelings. It's a coming of age story with some LGBTQ+ and heartbreak thrown in the mix. To me, it sums up being in your 20s, that period where you're not a child, but you can't consider yourself an adult either. You can't explain it sometimes, but the songs just seem to "get it."
1. "I am tired of this place, I hope people change. I need time to replace what I gave away. And my hopes, they are high, I must keep them small. Though I try to resist I still want it all". (Fools)
It's the age of big dreams, but without means or knowledge to complete them. You want a new life, but aren't ready to give up everything you used to know.
2.
"'Cause we've no time for getting old, mortal bodies,
timeless souls. Cross your fingers, here we go" (Youth)
Who has time for sleep when there's a whole world out there?
3.
"So I take a sip, wait 'til it hits, that liquid guilt is on
my lips. I'm wasted on you". (Too Good)
We've all met that person, the one you get addicted to like a drug. Neither of you are right for each other but you couldn't bother to care.
4. "And I know what you're feeling, cause I feel it as well". (For him)
Being in your 20s is a strange time, and the only people that understand the experience are those in their 20s. It's an unsaid understanding, a secret language you can't be taught.
5.
"The truth runs wild, like kids on concrete. Trying to sedate
my mind in its cage and numb what I see". (Heaven)
Life can get overwhelming. You get exposed to the world and all of the dark bits a little too quickly, and sometimes it's hard to tune everything out.
6.
"I'm down to my skin and bone. And my mommy, she can't put
down the phone, and stop asking how I'm doing all alone, alone. But the truth
is the stars are falling, ma, and the wolves are out c-calling, ma. And my home
has never felt this far". (Ease)
We've all had that conversation, assuring our family and friends that we're fine when inside we're dying. You're homesick and stressed, but if you admit it then it's true.
7.
"I'd rather be black and blue than accept that you withdrew. Aaah,
just tell me, say anything. Anything hurts less than the quiet". (The Quiet)
Some relationships end in a bang, others go out in a whisper. It's the ones that leave you with silence and unanswered questions that hurt the most.
8.
"I wanna sleep next to you, but that's all I wanna do right
now. And I wanna come home to you, but home is just a room full of my safest
sounds. Cause you know that I can't trust myself with my 3AM shadow, I'd rather
fuel a fantasy than deal with this alone". (Talk Me Down)
Being in your 20s can be horribly lonely. Sometimes you just want someone to hold you and talk you off the ledge.
9.
"We try staying up late but we both are light weights. Yeah
we get off our face, too easy. And we take jokes way too far, cause sometimes
living's too hard. We're like two halves of one heart". (For him)
Your true love or a true friend, this is the time you figure out who you want to have in your life forever. You find the people whose crazy matches perfectly with yours.
10.
"Life it's hard, I know. All your lights are red, but I'm
green to go. Used to see you high, now you're only low. All your lights are red
but I'm green to go". (Blue)
You meet people that no matter how hard you try, you can't save. And eventually you realize you have to accept it.
11.
"You make my heart shake, bend and break. But I can't turn
away and it's driving me wild. You're driving me wild" (Wild)
You meet people that make your heart beat extra loud. And even though they may drive you crazy, you wouldn't trade them for the world.
12. "'Distance makes the heart grow fonder’, said by someone stronger than me" (DKLA)
Sometimes distance and time doesn't make a relationship stronger. You'll lose people you thought you'd never lose, but the ones you keep are forever.
13.
"
All my time is wasted feeling like my heart's mistaken, oh. So
if I'm losing a piece of me, maybe I don't want heaven"? (Heaven)
This song is about coming to terms with your identity. You have to move past old insecurities and embrace every part of you, even if they scare you.
14.
"So what are you waiting for, cause someone could love you
more. I'm just a lost boy, lost boy". (Lost Boy)
Take risks, because you never know what opportunities are out there.
15.
"Yeah, there's so much history in these streets, and mama's
good eats, and Wonder on repeat. There's so much history in my head, the people
I've left, the ones that I've kept". (Suburbia)
Time spent away from home makes you nostalgic and realize how much of you is in one place. You can't remain in the past, but you can't forget it either.
16." When I've got that cigarette smoke and Saint Laurent coat, but nothing is feeling right. I drink but I choke I love but I don't, yeah". (Cool)
You try to be something you're not, reinventing yourself into a person you want to be. But it can leave you empty, and not feeling much of anything.
17. " I'm pulling on your heart to push my luck. Cause who's got any time for growin' up"? (Bite)
You get played, and you play other people. Life and love can be one big game.
18. "
Take me back to the basics and the simple life. Tell me all
of the things that make you feel at ease". (Ease)
Before bills and break-ups and all nighters, there was a more simplistic time. Whether it was tag outside or sleepovers, you begin longing to go "back there."
19. "Swallow nostalgia, chase it with lime. Better than dwelling and chasing time. Missing occasions I can't rewind. Can't help but feel I've lost what's mine". (Suburbia)
You're proud of what you've accomplished, and this new period of life. But there are days you would give it all up just to go back to how things are. But since it's impossible, you have to move on.
20.
"What if we run away, what if we left today? What if we said
goodbye to safe and sound? What if we're hard to find, what if we lost our
minds? What if we let them fall behind, and they're never found"? (Youth)
You have a broke down car and two cents to your name, but the world is your oyster.
21. "Yeah, the truth is that I'm sorry, though I told you not to worry. I'm just some dumb kid trying to kid myself that I got my shit together". (Lost Boy)
Let's be real, no one has their shit together in their 20s. It's the period of time to NOT have it together. So instead of acting like we're all okay, let's embrace the crazy. Let's accept the fact that we don't know what's going on and just live our lives the way we want.