ABOVE: Troye Sivan. (Photo from Instagram)
Troye Sivan is doing his best to keep us entertained during the COVID-19 pandemic – while also giving some much-needed support to artists struggling to find work – with the early release of his latest single, “Take Yourself Home.”
Originally slated to drop later in the year, Sivan decided on an early release after considering the song in a new context as he headed home to Australia for a period of isolation due to the global spread of the coronavirus.
“‘Take Yourself Home’ is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,” says the Golden Globe-nominated popstar. “The song is kind of a pep talk with yourself and the place you’re from. Grappling with your place in the world. I write these songs as a diary entry, then as life and places change and relationships change, songs can take on a new meaning entirely. Clearly that has happened for this song, with what is going on in the world right now.”
Sivan, recognizing that many freelance artists have experienced a loss of income in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, also publicly reached out for creatives to develop visual elements for the roll out of the track, with an Instagram post captioned, “FREELANCE ARTISTS (GRAPHIC DESIGNERS, ANIMATION ARTISTS) HMU I WANT TO WORK WITH YOU AND TAKE THE MONEY I WOULD BE SPENDING ON MUSIC VIDEOS AND GIVE IT TO YOU.”
After an overwhelming response, the visuals for the pre-save page, lyric video and other elements of “Take Yourself Home” were sourced from artists who responded to Sivan’s solicitation.
The musician has also launched three t-shirts, designed by @jacktaylorlovatt and @Lanning, and sourced via Instagram, with all proceeds to be donated to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and Spotify’s COVID-19 Music Relief project.
“Take Yourself Home” was written by Sivan with frequent collaborator Leland (Selena Gomez, BTS, Charli XCX), Oscar Görres (The Weeknd, MARINA, Tove Lo) and Tayla Parx (Khalid, Ariana Grande). Görres, who also helmed Sivan’s Gold-certified “My My My!” and “I’m so tired…,” his Platinum collaboration with Lauv, produced the track.
Press material describe the song as perfectly capturing “a mood of isolation and longing,” building “from a lilting opening refrain with Troye’s trademark melancholy into expansive, rave-like choruses with a surprise deep-electro moment to close.”
You can watch the lyric video below.
