Troye Sivan has spent years confusing people in the best possible way.
The singer, actor, fashion darling, and patron saint of yearning twinks casually revealed during a podcast conversation with model and actress Emily Ratajkowski that he is, in fact, not a bottom. Not even a power bottom. According to Troye himself, he’s actually a top, which apparently surprises people every single time.
Honestly? The reaction says way more about stereotypes than it does about him.
Somewhere along the way, people decided that being slim, fashionable, emotionally expressive, and able to wear a crop top without fear automatically assigned somebody a specific bedroom role. Troye Sivan walked directly into that conversation, laughed a little, and completely flipped the script.
And frankly, good for him.
The Jockstrap Heard Around Gay Twitter
Of course, this revelation becomes even funnier when paired with his iconic BUTT Magazine shoot, where Sivan posed in a cheeky little jockstrap and reminded everyone that he knows exactly what he’s doing.
The photos balanced playful confidence with that artsy downtown energy Sivan has mastered over the years. He never really goes for hypermasculine posturing. Instead, he leans into softness, flirtation, humor, and a kind of self-awareness that makes people even more obsessed with him.
That is the magic of Troye. He understands image, fantasy, and performance while still coming across weirdly approachable. One second he’s giving indie art boy. The next second he’s posing nearly naked in a jockstrap and accidentally causing discourse.
Again.
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The MET Gala Jeans Were Actually Kind of Emotional
Then came the MET Gala, where Sivan somehow managed to turn a pair of jeans into one of the more meaningful looks of the night.
While plenty of celebrities arrived buried under giant theatrical gowns and sculptural body pieces, Troye showed up in deceptively simple denim, a white button down, a dark coat, and jewelry that quietly referenced New York’s queer art scene of the 1970s and 1980s.
Speaking with Variety, the performer explained that when he thinks about the Met Gala, he thinks about New York itself. That led him toward artists and photographers like Robert Mapplethorpe, Peter Hujar, Fran Lebowitz, and David Wojnarowicz. He reflected on the AIDS crisis and the artists the community lost during that era, describing how impactful their work still feels today.
Rather than directly copying a particular image or artwork, or being too on-the-nose with his chosen MET outfit, Sivan said he wanted the look to evoke the spirit of those artists and the way they presented themselves to the world.
He also spoke about seeing the body as “a canvas to play on,” inspired especially by Mapplethorpe’s self portraiture. And honestly, that idea explains a lot about Troye Sivan as an artist. Whether it’s through fashion, music videos, choreography, makeup, or yes, occasionally a jockstrap, he approaches self-expression with curiosity instead of fear.
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More Than the Labels People Put on Him
The funniest part about the “Troye is a top” discourse is how deeply people cling to assumptions.
@buzzfeeduk Rarther cheeky 🍑 #TroyeSivan #Rush #bottom
There’s this tendency to flatten queer people into categories that are easy to understand visually. Troye has never really fit neatly into any of them. He can serve softness without being submissive. He can wear tiny shorts and still completely command a room. He can reference queer history at the Met Gala one week and break gay Twitter with thirst traps the next.
That balance is what keeps him interesting.
So yes, Troye Sivan is a top. He wears jockstraps. He wears artfully distressed jeans. He honors queer history. He flirts with fashion. He breaks stereotypes inside and outside the bedroom.
And somehow, he keeps making it all look effortless.