Grade: 3.0/5.0
Troye Sivan felt the rush this summer, and he’s keeping the party going with his latest release, “Got Me Started.” A laid-back house track, the music video is marked by dance breaks, pastel city aesthetics and a scene of Sivan flying to the top of a high-rise — the perfect visual embodiment of a song that can best be described as a cosmic club anthem.
Sivan, one of the few exalted Youtubers-turned-musicians, is no newcomer to the music scene. With a penchant for intricate, unadulterated representations of queerness in his discography, “Got Me Started” is the sophomore single ahead of Sivan’s album Something to Give Each Other, and a continuation of this. Five years after the release of his second studio album, the two tracks Sivan has released so far, though, have seen him embracing his maturity like never before. One thing is clear — Sivan is not the same baby-faced vlogger he once was.
After weeks of teasing “Got Me Started” on TikTok, Sivan’s listeners were met with the waves of his summer predecessor “Rush.” The two singles are two sides of the same coin — “Got Me Started” is a slightly more intimate, less maximalist ode to love, lust and what lies in between.
Kicking off with a sample of Bag Raiders’ “Shooting Stars” (yes, the song from the compilation videos of people tripping and falling) before segueing into an original synth house beat, “Got Me Started” distinguishes itself from the record’s lead single from the get-go. Sivan starts off the track rhapsodizing about his partner’s ostentatious splendor, crooning “He’s got the personality, not even gravity could ever hold him down/ He’s got the sexuality of a man who can take a room and drown it out.” His pride in his identity is immediately palpable, and it’s not something that can be tamped down — the music video features watercolor shots of gay and lesbian couples, placing queer love at the focal point of an idealized young romance. Sivan is no stranger to this unabashed display, with his Blue Neighbourhood music video trilogy detailing the struggles faced by two men in a same-sex relationship. Eight years later, his commitment to centering the glittering complexities of queer love within his music endures.
Closing out the slow and groovy synthesized beats of the verses is a pitched up chorus — one which sees Sivan becoming emboldened toward his lover, singing “Boy, can I be honest?/ Kinda miss usin’ my body/ Fuck it up just like this party did tonight.” Although the rhythm inches toward monotony, with the constant repetition of the chorus droning on toward the song’s end, Sivan’s signature velvety, sultry voice saves the track. “Got Me Started” enchants because of Sivan’s enthralling vocals — compelling listeners into impromptu dance breaks in their rooms, the thrum of a bouncy bassline coursing through their bodies.
“Got Me Started” is not a track without its faults. The sample that, at some points, seems callously crammed in, becomes plodding and banal. The pitched up vocals of the chorus are, on first listen, slightly jarring — a robotic, almost mechanized contrast from Sivan’s usual silky tone. Nonetheless, the single doesn’t wholly disappoint. It’s lavish, anti-minimalist pop — slight repetition is almost a prerequisite. Both in the lyrics and in the music video, Sivan accomplishes his mission, with “Got Me Started” bringing queer love to the limelight in lustrous fashion.
