Troye Sivan's Song About Being a Bottom Is Already Topping the Charts*

In an interview published in March, YouTuber and bona fide pop star Troye Sivan teased an upcoming song entitled “Bloom,” which Dazed described as a track “on which [Sivan] takes the role of what sounds like the receptive partner losing his virginity.” When asked about the song’s subject, Sivan winked and said:

“It’s 100 percent about flowers! That’s all it is. Call it whatever you wanna call it. I wanna play that song at every Pride. There’s almost a radicalism in just truth, you know? The most radical thing that I can do is share how happy I am.”

But now that “Bloom” has been released—along with a trippy lyric video in which Sivan is rendered in CGI as a shimmery, slippery humanoid with exaggerated extremities—there’s really no question about its meaning to anyone with two ears and even minimal knowledge about the sexual possibilities between people with penises.

Some lyrics for you to chew on:

‘Cause it’s true, baby

I’ve been saving this for you, baby

I need you to tell me right before it goes down

Promise me you’ll hold my hand if I get scared now

Might tell you to take a second, baby, slow it down

You should know I, you should know I

Yeah I bloom, I bloom just for you

I bloom just for you

Beyond the inspiring and praiseworthy fact that an openly gay pop star signed to a major label released a single about having anal sex with another man, “Bloom” is merely fine. While I have no problems with a mid-tempo, dance-friendly, near-banger that sounds like sort of like a pitch-shifted Carly Rae Jepsen B-side, it’s nowhere near as exciting as “My, My, My,” the first single from his upcoming (as-yet untitled) sophomore album. But knowing myself as well as I do, I’ll probably have it on repeat by Memorial Day.

This isn’t just a song about bottoming, but about claiming “bottom” as one’s identity. Embracing it, even. And it’s already a chart-topper*.

*In Chile and Finland. (It’s in the top 20 on the US iTunes chart, as of this blog time.)