Troye Sivan Responds to ‘Rush’ Body Diversity Response: ‘It Wasn’t Much Thought About It’ -TGN

Troye Sivan has responded to critics of his “Rush” music video. (YouTube)

Australian pop star Troye Sivan has responded to criticism over his latest music video after some fans accused him of only showing slim and muscular body types.

Five years after his second album Bloomand anticipation for new Sivan music reached its peak, as the release of his “poppers” anthem “Rush” approached.

Last week (July 13) the big day arrived and many fans immediately called the song the queer hit of the summer. Alongside the release of Kylie’s “Padam Padam”, Sivan’s “Rush” ushered in a summer of big, gay Australian anthems.

While the love for the new single was almost unanimous, things got a little more complicated when it came to the accompanying video.

For three minutes, the clip sees Sivan and his queer troupe kissing a bit, smacking some light a*e and occasionally twirling around a bit. There’s pole dancing, voguing and glittering body paint to boot. Essentially, it’s a visual ode to queer love and liberation.

On the other hand, however, it was quickly noticed that those starring in the music video all seemed to be of the same specific body type: slim or muscular. Larger body types, it seemed, were denied entry.

The lack of body diversity led to both light and dark discourse. There was a plethora of admittedly hilarious memes, with some expressing genuine concern and sadness at seeing such a dearth of different bodies.

A critic called the video a “return to body fascism and emaciation”, while another voted “frustration and disappointment” when seeing the images focus exclusively on thin bodies.

Others saw it as exposing the fat phobia aimed at fellow queer musician Sam Smith. While Sivan was largely praised for focusing on homosexual sex and nudity in his video, Smith faced intense backlash.

Even Sivan’s fellow pop megastars and collaborators got involved, with “Boys” singer Charli XCX defending him. In a tweet, she wrote: “We live in a world where the public feels that expression or art is not worth their time unless it meets every unspoken demand. It’s so boring.”

After days of talks, Sivan has now responded to those who felt let down by the video by saying he “definitely hears the criticism”.

In an interview with Billboardhe said: “To be honest, it just wasn’t a thought we had – we obviously didn’t say, ‘We want to have one specific type of person in the video’. We just did the video and there wasn’t a lot of thought into that.

However, in addition to the negative reaction to the video, Sivan said he struggled to see some critics turn the body shaming on its head, branding him as a “twink”.

“There was This article yesterday, and they were talking about (the lack of body diversity), and in the same sentence this person said ‘Eat something, you stupid twinks,'” Sivan noted, referring to the same critic who labeled the video body fascism.

“I was really bummed to read that because I’ve had my own insecurities with my body image. Everyone’s body is as beautiful as it is, including mine, and it just sucks to see people talking about other people’s bodies,” said 28-year-old Sivan.

In 2018, the singer shared a mirror selfie on Instagram and revealed to his fans that he “felt really weird and shy about my body for the first time in my life, and I hate that”.

While the social media debates about “Rush” continued for days, it’s unlikely the South African-born singer would have minded — it’s been viewed nearly four million times in less than a week.

For now, the discourse has seemingly eased and Sivan can once again focus on his upcoming third studio album, Something to give each otherwhich comes out on October 13.