Dear Troye Sivan,

Your album just came out this past week, and I’d like to extend my sincerest gratitude for giving the world a piece of yourself honestly, and without restrictions. It’s brave, inspiring, and worthy of all the awards I’m sure it will win.

I’ll backtrack a little bit and tell you about my history with you. You don’t particularly know me, nor interacted with me besides avoiding my side of Lincoln Hall when you were in Chicago this past October, but I’ll let that pass. It was dark, foggy, and a few hundred other people were there.

The show in itself was beyond satisfactory and entertaining to experience. I remember standing on the balcony and watching the crowd of people move with the heavy hooks and electronic beat drops. It was like watching a tsunami wave of happiness crash through the sweaty air and into your awaiting arms.

Your very tiny and awaiting arms, but they were there to catch the joy nonetheless.

I still think about that wave of joy every now and then. It was something I hadn’t seen beforehand at any concert I’d been to. Sure, I knew camaraderie in the form of fandom from my One Direction concerts, but even then I couldn’t see it from the outside looking in. It was infectious, like watching a weaning bridge collapse, and standing on the outside of the wreckage and you can’t help but gasp at its form cracking under the weight of life. There’s so much life in your shows, and I have no other way to put it into words.

I’m sure you’re used to life, though. It’s been a crazy few years for you, I’ve heard. You’re already done with your first tour, and have released dates for your next one. Your album has done significantly well for a debut, and you’ve flawlessly transitioned from Youtube Sensation into Pop Stardom.

When you sell out Madison Square Garden, make sure to save me a seat. I'm sure you can't even fathom that as something that could happen, as this is all still very new to you, but you seem the type to remember the little people.

In 2013, you came out on Youtube. Many coming out videos have gone viral, and yours sits at a healthy five million views and counting. You have over two million subscribers, and millions of views on your Vevo channel. You’ve done quite well for yourself since the very, very beginning TroyeSivan18. (Not to mention being named one of Time's most influential teens in 2014.) I didn’t watch your videos then, but we both were in different places in our lives.

I won’t lie here and say that you "cured" me, because that’s not what this is about, and I hadn’t have even heard of you before this summer. This thank you letter isn’t about me, nor my problems, nor our inevitable meeting through video. I mean, you still don’t know I exist, which is fine. I know that you exist, and so do many others, and I hope that helps combat any loneliness you may feel.

My thank you in this letter is this: You’re changing a generation. Yes, there are other LGBTQIA celebrities, but all of them are not the same. Is that not the point of human beings in the world? That we are all diverse in what we give the world? Is that not how we help change it?

There’s something quite different about you, and when I think about it, I don’t know what it is. There are LGBTQIA singers, writers, performers. It’s nothing to do with the lack of representation anymore, although I could sing praises about that forever. It’s something to do with you and your fan base. It’s like the two of you are in a long term relationship, where the give and take is never unequal, and you know each other too well.

You've been making videos for years now, with your fan base steadily growing in numbers. They sell out your tour, buy your album, watch your music videos. They've grown into watching you grow as a person, which has more than likely set up the confidence for them to grow too--in their opinions, confidence, life. In positive and progressive ways that are setting up future generations, their kids, your kids, to live in a more loving and accepting world.

Your music videos are sparking equality conversations in high school settings, with young people becoming more vocal in their positive opinions. That's a big deal. Young people are coming out because you have helped build confidence in themselves to do it on their own, without ever forcing the idea of it on them.

You love them just as much as they love you, and you've stated it plenty of times. There's never a doubt that their love is ignored nor appreciated. I ask that you keep this momentum going, but of course, who am I to ask anything of you? You've done a fair share more for these kids than I have. But for all intents and purposes, your fan base can change the world just as much as you can. That's a lot of pressure, but I'm confident you can keep it going.

Thank you for showing a gratitude for the people who are our future. Thank you for being the one to guide this along more smoothly, with your videos, lyrics, and voice.

Generations are founded on musical artists like you. So, thank you for allowing a generation to move with you, rather than succumb to the destructive corners they could hide themselves in.

Your music is a bundle of joy, laughter, heartache, and the beauty in the “coming of age” moments we all go through.

Thank you.

I’m a fan.