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Pop star Troye Sivan says LGBTIQ+ community can move past Folau saga

Author
Ben Leahy - NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sat, 29 Jun 2019, 11:24AM
Troye Sivan has released his sophomore album, Bloom. Photo / Heidi Slimane

Pop star Troye Sivan says LGBTIQ+ community can move past Folau saga

Author
Ben Leahy - NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sat, 29 Jun 2019, 11:24AM

Touring pop star Troye Sivan has faith the LGBTIQ+ community can move past and "hopefully forget" the Israel Folau saga.

Perth-born singer Sivan is set to perform in Auckland in September and earlier announced a portion of ticket sales would be donated to local LGBTIQ+ charity RainbowYOUTH.

Sivan has enjoyed a meteoric rise from making YouTube songs in his bedroom to becoming a global star.

His sophomore album Bloom features the US Top 100 and New Zealand platinum hit My My My!, which he performed with Taylor Swift at her Rose Bowl show last year.

Other singles from the album included Bloom and Dance To This, featuring Ariana Grande.

Sivan told Newstalk ZB's Jack Tame he had "loosely" followed the controversy over Folau's sacking by Rugby Australia for making social media posts condemning homosexuals and others to hell, and called it a "real shame".

Public figures may not always realise how much weight their words could have on "closeted, confused" young people, he said.

He remembered such moments from his own childhood "very well" where people he cared about or films or people at school said comments, like "oh, that's gay".

They can be small examples but they all added up.

"It really does make a difference, and so I would hope people consider that and choose their words more wisely," he said.

"At the same time, I have faith in our community and all of the good work people are doing and we will completely survive this and forget about it one day."

Sivan said he was reluctant to embrace a tag of being a spokesperson for the LGBTIQ+ community because it was too diverse for any one person to speak for it.

"My reaction is to keep telling my own personal story because I can really only speak for myself," he said.

"At any opportunity I can, I try to pass the microphone onto someone else, who maybe wouldn't typically be heard as loudly."

Sivan's first EP TRXYE, debuted in the Top 5 on the US Billboard Charts in 2014.

His debut album, Blue Neighbourhood, released the following year and went Top 10 in Australia, New Zealand and the US, and topped the iTunes chart in 66 countries.

It led to two sold out North American tours.

His 2018 follow up album, Bloom, debuted at number three on the New Zealand Album Chart, and number four on the US Billboard 200 and Top 10 in many countries, including the UK.

However, Sivan's talents are not confined only to music - he is also model, director and actor.

He debuted on the silver screen playing young Wolverine in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine and more recently appeared in Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased film and soundtrack.

Tickets for all his shows went on sale yesterday at 1pm.

The Bloom Tour 2019 – New Zealand

SPARK ARENA, AUCKLAND

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 13

For complete tour, ticket and VIP Experience information, visit: troyesivan.com & livenation.co.nz

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