Reacting to: Rush

Gay guys are talking about it. I listened!

I like it!

To no one’s surprise, very online gay guys are talking about it on Twitter. In between work calls, I’m reading your tweets (and not saying anything). I think they’re funny! And some of you are really, really serious. I recommend waiting a few hours before posting serious thoughts about a hot topic. It’s saved my ass a few times.

My initial reaction was mild disappointment with the song’s length, 2-and-a-half minutes, the hallmark of a bridgeless track. That’s what we have here. The verses are somewhat mumbled, not unusual for Sivan’s work, and the Village People-style backing vocals and layered Sivans on the chorus are crystal clear, making it obvious that the song is meant to be hollered to only on that chorus. If you want to sing along to those verses, fine, but you better read the closed captions on the video first.

The video that came with it is almost four minutes long and just beautiful. With XY Magazine lighting, reminiscent of an era where the queers gathered at piers, Troye and dozens of professional dancers fly around in cute outfits, kiss each other, rub all up on one another, being hot and stuff. Innuendo be damned, the lyrics are direct. It’s kind of refreshing. It’s hedonistic. It doesn’t necessarily promise much. Just, god willing, a good time.

Am I obsessed with it? No. But it’s been fun watching people to go to bat for what is, in all probability, another minor hit from a pop star who’s perpetually rising, at least in the American market. While his Spotify bio leads with his streaming numbers (22 billion overall is massive), that figure pales in comparison to the regular residents of the Top 40 charts. In the US, he’s had one single break into the Top 40, “YOUTH,” a song I can’t stand. He makes a home in dance pop, a style that does exceedingly well with the gays, but hasn’t produced too many new massive hitmakers as it competes with hip-hop and other wildly popular genres for American attention.

My partner asked, “Is America ready for a twink popstar?” I don’t know. We mulled over the question after listening to Pop Pantheon’s episode on Kim Petras multiple times, where DJ Louis XIV and Jason Frank aptly ask to what degree transphobia has kept Kim Petras from megastardom. Her recent ascendance has a lot to do with Sam Smith, a Liberace-like figure, whose characteristically unscandalous song “Unholy” netted the pair a US Billboard #1 placement, double platinum status, and a Grammy. Kim’s bubblegum dance-pop of the late 2010s was the soundtrack to my end-of-college days, an opulent feast of colorful vibes fit for parties with my friends (before they, a largely straight crowd, inevitably turned the dial back towards “Mr. Brightside.”) Trailblazing as Smith may be for being themselves, what queerness one can uncover in their music is buried deep, much like Liberace’s entire deal. A proper queer can take one look at Liberace and know, but his audience, one that couldn’t or wouldn’t conceptualize a gay sensibility, didn’t care, letting him rise to ubiquity. The “Stay With Me” singer, I think, managed to unlock the straight audience with their early anthems that way. It’s what makes the barrage of homo- and transphobic hate they’re receiving on social media as of late that much more alarming to visualize. Transphobia and homophobia are different beasts, but like all forms of oppression, they’re intimately entangled, so it’ll be something to watch Troye’s career trajectory as he embraces sexuality even more, well, nakedly.

What do I make of the body diversity on the “Rush” music video? Before I can even think about that, let me ask the people who bring it up in utter sincerity if they’re doing it in good faith. Were you already annoyed by the single’s marketing campaign? Do you, like me, find most of Troye’s music cloying? Do you spend hours and hours on Scruff thirsting after hairy muscle daddies? If you want a bear-forward Troye music video, I get it, but also like…your own preferences are showing. And your weaponizing of fat dancers, who are out there working in a fatphobic climate, is not helping.

What’s been even funnier is watching the comparisons between “Rush” and “Padam Padam,” the nearly two-month-old lead single from Kylie Minogue’s upcoming 16th album, Tension. Troye and Kylie are in wildly different points in their careers. Troye, 28, is a pop star on the rise, (not quite) 3 studio albums in, who is really only recently in the throes of reinventing his pop persona, something that megastars often have to do regularly. Kylie, 55, is an international sensation through and through who has toured the world over a dozen times on myriad hit singles. Is “Padam Padam,” which dropped two weeks before Pride Month in what I think was a stroke of marketing genius, good? I like it. It’s inane. It’s not that sexy. Kylie recorded the lyrics with an icy clarity; she clearly wanted listeners to hang onto every word. It’s certainly not in her top 10, or even top 30. But, I think what “Padam Padam” and “Rush” are each doing are so different, and represent such separate stages of a pop career, that to compare them sonically would be a critical nightmare. But, I’ve seen a number of Padam-haters breathe a sigh of relief now that “Rush” is everywhere. Your long nightmare is over. FWIW, I see “Rush” having a much longer afterlife than “Padam Padam.” “Padam” felt like a cash grab. To an extent, that’s what’s has kept me enamored. It’s promises absolutely nothing revolutionary. It’s a head-empty anthem. Kylie performed it a million times over Pride month on huge stages and exclusive clubs. It’ll be on her roster for a while. But she doesn’t need another critical masterpiece. Fever has made her a permanent megastar; Impossible Princess, then calmly liked, is finally gaining proper recognition as the high-concept, quietly revolutionary album it is. “Padam” is freedom from something, “Rush” is freedom to.

For months, Troye’s been teasing this song; he knew it was a banger. He has a keen ear. Dropping sultry Tik Toks and suggestive video stills was a brilliant way to keep people talking. It seemed like the track was never going to come out, and when it did, it (largely) didn’t disappoint. My timeline is split between people who love it and people who don’t. But either way, people are talking. The critics adore it. Troye doesn’t care if you get it. You’re talking about it. That’s what matters.

What am I listening to?

I’m so glad you asked! Here’s where I’ll drop some album recommendations.

Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings

Beverly Glenn-Copeland - The Ones Ahead (forthcoming; been spinning those singles all damn day)