Give Troye Sivan a break.
We’re one day off from the one year anniversary of when Australian actor Troye Sivan dropped his title single “Bloom.” At the time, the song was celebrated for its lyrics. The song spotlighted Sivan’s blossoming interest in tacking his sexual side alongside his romantic side. But when the singer posted a Tweet saying “Bops ‘bout Bottoming,” the South African-born talent unknowingly opened a can of worms.
Since then, Sivan has had to deal with several publications and media people asking him about his sexual position. At first, this may have been fair play given the topic of the single. But Sivan quickly expressed his discomfort with the conversations. And despite Sivan repeatedly saying the info is private, he still has to deal with out of touch interviewers asking about the personal topic. Unfortunately, this happened again very recently.
https://twitter.com/mindsout/status/1166755968706842624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1166808143570989056&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pride.com%2Fcelebrities%2F2019%2F8%2F29%2Fdont-ask-troye-sivan-if-hes-top-or-bottom
In an interview with Express, an LGBTQ magazine based in New Zealand, the singer was asked a series of strange questions. First, the interviewer attempted to joke with Sivan about the Kiwi accent before suddenly shifting gears into the possibility of Sivan hooking up with Shawn Mendes. The conversation that turns to Sivan’s boyfriend Jacob Bixenman before shifting to tv shows and movies. But it was at the end of the interview, as the final note of a lighting round, that the interviewer asked Sivan “Top or Bottom?” The move came off as “gotcha journalism” at its worst.
Later, a Twitter user shared the interview with the internet and Sivan’s fans shared their disappointment with the conversation.
Literally only 3 were but it was still weird af and they didn't even ask him about his music 🙄
— mingie 🌸 (@angiestigma) August 29, 2019
https://twitter.com/LGBTLover_1923/status/1167033249824002049
Shoutout to all the Troye Sivan stans out there who are NOT HERE FOR THIS
— Laura Lee (@RUMMSKiiiS) August 29, 2019
Eventually, Sivan himself chimed in with how offended and disappointed he was with the interviewer.
Next time I’ll just do a Twitter q&a
— 👼🏼 (@troyesivan) August 28, 2019
Unfortunately, Out Magazine then chose to question Sivan on his response to the Express interviewer. But Sivan wasn’t going to let that pass.
Firstly, Bloom is an album about love. I said that in every single interview i did about the album. Suggesting that i made the entire album about bottoming is over sexualising me + my work, and is reductive
— 👼🏼 (@troyesivan) August 29, 2019
I highly doubt anyone would ask any of my straight peers explicit questions about who does what to who in their relationship, no matter the content of their music. I don’t think artists should have to expect to be asked about that when they show up to work in the morning
— 👼🏼 (@troyesivan) August 29, 2019
.@outmagazine i love you guys and all the work you do, just didn’t feel like this was a fair take on this. Okayyyyyyy I’m done n never talking about this again bc my parents read this stuff and i feel weird. love to all
— 👼🏼 (@troyesivan) August 29, 2019
In response to the Out Magazine article, this writer has to say that Out’s writer is missing the point. Yes, Sivan wrote a song about bottoming. But that doesn’t mean he is bottom. He may be verse, for instance. He may have had a significant moment in his life when he bottomed and felt like writing about it. After all, the lyrics do go, “I bloom just for you.”
But even more important, this is none of our business. There’s this separation of sense and personal space when it comes to celebrities. We idolize them so much that we forget they’re human. Imagine walking up to a stranger and asking if he’s a bottom. It wouldn’t go well. So why try it with a celebrity?
And yes, Sivan started the discussion with his song. But it was ultimately him expressing his feelings about love and infatuation. And clearly, the singer didn’t think writing the song’s lyrics would result in a year-long discussion over his bedroom antics. But even so, once he stated he was uncomfortable having that discussion, we should respect him, a human being, and move on. Because at the end of the day, what does knowing whether or not Troye Sivan bottoms or not matter to our lives? It doesn’t. So let’s drop it.
This is the opinion of one of the contributing writers of Instinct Magazine and may not reflect the opinion of other writers or the magazine.
The only answer I generally give to this is to look at my watch and ask if it’s an even day or an odd day. It’s remarkably rude and sexist at its base, of course implying that to bottom is to be inferior and less than.