Troye Sivan was the big winner at the ARIA Awards on Wednesday night. The annual ceremony is the Australian music industry’s biggest trophy event. Sivan was born in South Africa but was raised in Australia from early childhood.
Sivan, 29, collected three of the most high-profile ARIAS on the evening: Best Pop Release, Album of the Year, and Best Solo Artist.
Sivan’s award-winning album was his third long-player, Something To Give Each Other. The singer has spoken before about how the album was inspired by partying, hookups, and realizing that even brief encounters can provide a sense of connection.
A clip of his final acceptance speech of the night prompted laughter from the audience and praise online. Sivan has also now shared it on his Instagram.
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“This album has completely changed my life,” Sivan begins. “It was inspired by the moments between lockdowns in Melbourne. I was like, single and really depressed and lonely. And then those little glimpses of hope in between, I just like started to go out and like, hook up with random people.”
The audience laughs and Sivan apologizes for getting candid while his mom is in the audience.
“My mum has seen the craziest sh*t at my shows. This is like nothing for her,” he says, before offering up a quick story.
“So I was going through the breakup, really, really depressed. And I meet this one guy. I have this, like, one-night stand with him, right.”
He again apologizes to his mum for getting candid as she covers her face in the audience.
“And we have this, like, incredible, incredible connection,” Sivan continued. “And I’m like ‘Oh my God’. I thought the connection could only look like one thing, you know. I then started to realize just how many people there are in the world and how incredible connection of all kinds can feel, and how it can present in all of these different ways.
“So it’s super weird but I write this album basically about this random stranger that I never saw again. Until I was sitting in a wine bar in Melbourne, and I see him and he randomly, like came up and said, ‘Hey’.
“And I was like, ‘Oh hey’. I had to, like, think of his name for a second.
“And then the crazy thing is that I said to him, ‘Can I say something?’”
Sivan said he’d already released his album and it was performing well.
“‘Just so you know, it’s sort of about you, you started me on this thing’,” he told the one-time hook-up.
“And he looks really confused. But then he said to me … He’s like, ‘You know what the craziest thing is? I’m going through a breakup and the album is the album that’s getting me through the breakup’.”
“So music is really, really cool. And, yeah, go have a one-night stand with someone. You never know what could happen.”
Watch below.
“Barbie Girl”
Earlier in the evening, whilst accepting the award for Best Pop Release, Sivan shared another story about his early childhood and knowing he was gay.
“My mum, who is here tonight, sent me a video of me singing “Barbie Girl” by Aqua when I was like three,” he said.
“I feel like it made me aware of the fact that since I was a little kid, I knew that I was gay and I also knew that I loved pop music.”
Sivan toured Something To Give Each Other in Australia and Europe following its release in October 2023. This fall, he also joined Charlie XCX for a joint tour of North America headlined ‘Sweat’.
“I have had the craziest experience this year traveling the world performing an album that I really just wanted to bring people together through pop,” Sivan continued.
“Global pop was the whole idea… I’m so, so proud to be bringing it home.”
Related
“Let’s try this together,” the pop star suggested in a viral TikTok.
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