Troye Sivan - Bloom (Album Review and Rating)

Troye broke onto the music scene with his 2015 debut Blue Neighbourhood and the huge single 'Youth'. He always had very clear talents even from a young age with his start in singing as a YouTuber. He has been a pioneer of the YouTube music scene and for that he is an admirable artist. It was a shame then, when his debut ended up being a mediocre pop album that lacked any real flare or flavour.

Back in January the lead single from Troye's then-upcoming sophomore was released, the electropop smash 'My My My', which became one of my favourite songs in the first few months of this year. It showed him in a new and more accomplishing light, with his vocals having significantly improved and got less restrained and more powerful and emotive. This was followed by the promotional single 'The Good Side', an equally emotional but much more subdued and quiet ballad that really highlighted the lyrics.

After a few more singles and many months we arrive at August when he released his second album Bloom. At first listen I knew it was better than Blue Neighbourhood but it still seemed like reasonably bland pop. I stand by my first impressions on a few of the songs, with 'Dance To This' being extremely dull. It's Ariana Grande feature doesn't save it and although the beat sounds very very good it just loops throughout the song without anything really coming in and changing it up.

Without a shadow of a doubt most of the songs here are some of pop's best for this year, especially with the catchy 'Bloom' and lyrically personal 'Lucky Strike' and 'Animal'; the only song here I don't like is 'Plum', it feels uncomfortable and out of place both lyrically and musically but doesn't add anything interesting to the table.

Sonically this album is quite unchanging and that perhaps keeps there from being many standout tracks, instead the tracklist is made up of mostly good but slightly forgettable songs. 'Seventeen' is the fun opener that definitely qualifies as a standout and something to come back to as the album continues to grow on me.

Overall I'd rate this a 7 out of 10, a great improvement over the debut but still lacking the start to finish attraction of a great pop album like Rae Morris' sophomore from earlier this year. Unlike with her album, Troye plays it safe musically with electropop and dance pop instrumentation that feels quite unvaried. For the future I'd love to see Troye experiment with his music and incorporate some fresher features in his music as apposed to Ariana Grande's run of the mill filler verse.

Best Songs:
Seventeen, My My My, The Good Side, Bloom, Lucky Strike, Animal

Worst Song/s:
Plum