Some albums ask for your full attention. She's the Best simply asks you to stay a while. Troye Sivan's fourth record landed on 9 October, and from the first track to the last it felt peaceful, meaningful and genuinely enjoyable, like time spent with someone who is glad to be exactly where he is.
It's a record about wanting: a partner, a connection, the next chapter. But the wanting never turns sour. Troye writes it with open arms, and the whole thing plays like a love song to life as it is right now, unfinished parts included. That's what makes it such an easy album to come back to. It never asks you to decode anything. It simply meets you where you are, whether that's a quiet morning or a busy afternoon, and leaves things a little brighter than it found them.
Troye Sivan - ‘She’s the Best’ cover artwork. Photography: Jan Luca Hellwich
To understand why it feels that way, start with what Troye set out to make. His own thesis for the project calls it "a project meant to be watched as much as listened to," made at his "truest and most creative self, all the way to my edges," and you can feel that commitment in every corner of the album. At its centre is a tug between two feelings. Life on tour is thrilling and empowering, but coming home, he wants someone to share it with. He could have picked one side. Instead, he told The FADER, "I decided that the most true version of the album is one that explores both."
That decision is what makes the record feel so generous. The yearning sits comfortably next to the joy, and a run of songs finds him picturing the person he hopes to meet before they've even arrived. It's romantic in the best way: optimism you can hear. It helps that Troye sounds so at ease being open. "I've always just been honest," he told The FADER, and that honesty is the album's greatest strength: a global pop star admitting he wants to be known by someone, and making it feel like something to celebrate rather than hide. That openness carries straight through to the way the album sounds.
This isn't a one-speed record, and that's the joy of it. "Party," built around a Madonna sample, brings the dance-floor energy and a playful grin. "Cowboy" turns gentle and stripped back. Elsewhere, digital textures sit beside warm, live-sounding instruments. Each track gets its own mood, yet the glow stays consistent, so the shifts feel like scenes from the same day rather than a change of channel. Troye's voice is the thread holding it together, relaxed and unforced from song to song.
What I love most is how little it feels like it's fighting for attention. Even the brightest moments leave space around them, so the quieter songs never feel like a pause between the big ones. They feel like part of the same conversation, and that ease owes a lot to how the album was made.
Still from Troye Sivan’s ‘FF’ music video. Photography: Terrence O’Connor
Much of the album was made at home in Los Angeles alongside his brother, Tyde Levi, with more sessions in New York with producer Jack Antonoff. Troye says that when he's in the room with Antonoff, "anything truly is possible," and the way they worked sounds like proof. He'd leave the studio for the night and return to find new parts waiting, including live woodwinds on "Troye Meets World," played by real musicians Antonoff had called in. Troye describes it as a "very alive, spontaneous process."
You can hear that in the finished songs. There's room to breathe, and a real sense of people enjoying the making. It's a reminder that some of the most memorable moments in music come from keeping the door open, because leaving room for an overnight idea, a new instrument or a spontaneous detail lets a song grow into something its writer didn't plan. But the heart of this record isn't only in the studio.
If there's a heart to the album, it's the people Troye is thanking. It opens with a thank-you: the title track is his tribute to the women in his life, and he told The FADER he feels "so much gratitude" for those friendships. His sister, Nicole Kidman and Sasha Colby all appear in the video. Troye has said those friendships are what he most wants to remember when he looks back on this era, and he kept the tribute humble so it would feel sincere rather than showy. That simplicity is exactly what makes it land.
The record closes looking forward, with Lily-Rose Depp's voice on the final track, "Lost Time." Starting with gratitude and ending with hope gives the whole album a lovely shape, and it's a big part of why it leaves you feeling so warm.
Troye Sivan and Nicole Kidman in the ‘She’s the Best’ music video. Photography: Phoenix Johnson
Out of everything on the record, one track keeps pulling me back: "Troye Meets World." It's playful, sunny and nearly impossible to listen to sitting still, and those live woodwinds add a warmth that feels like a window being opened. It captures the spirit of the whole record in a few minutes: someone thoroughly enjoying his life and inviting you in.
It's also the track I'd hand to someone who has never heard Troye before. It's immediate and bright, but there's enough detail in the production, from the woodwinds outwards, to keep rewarding repeat listens. With summer on its way, I'm calling it now. This is the song of the summer.
The best way to take in She's the Best might be Troye's own suggestion for the title track: walk down the street with your headphones in and look around. It suits the whole record. This is music that makes ordinary moments feel a little brighter, so try it out in the wild, on the way to work, on a long drive, or in the kitchen while dinner's on. It's an album that adapts to whatever kind of day you're having, which is a rare thing.
From first track to last, it was peaceful, meaningful and just plain enjoyable. It's generous, open-hearted and wonderfully alive, so press play and let it in.
