Troye Sivan has really hit his stride in recent years, but for anyone old enough to remember, you'll know the singer has been around for a while. Long before he was sharing the stage with Charli xcx or teaming up with Nicole Kidman for his latest music video, Sivan was a teenager posting YouTube videos from his bedroom in Perth, and becoming one of the internet’s earliest homegrown stars.
It’s easy to forget just how different the internet was back then. There were fewer algorithms, fewer rules and perhaps most importantly, fewer people watching. For Sivan, who came of age online in the early 2010s, that era is now a source of genuine nostalgia — even if he has little interest in bringing back the fashion.
Now, Sivan is looking back at the decade for Uber Eats’ newest brand platform, Phew, which transports him back to 2013 to revisit the everyday inconveniences of life before on-demand delivery. In the campaign, Sivan finds himself behind a supermarket checkout as shoppers endure painfully long queues, capturing a time when getting dinner, groceries or last-minute essentials meant leaving the house and doing it yourself.
Below, RUSSH caught up with Sivan on set of the campaign to talk 2010s nostalgia, his favourite spots in Melbourne, and what's next on his She's The Best album rollout.
What’s one thing from the early 2010s that you miss, and one thing you’re happy to leave behind?
When I think about like 2012, 2013, I had just finished high school, and I went on leavers with my friends. We went down south in WA, and I remember – these are my best friends, completely platonic – but I remember sort of having these three-way kisses while “Don’t You Worry, Child” by Swedish House Mafia was playing, and just living in the moment. I do miss that. I guess not the kisses, but that vibe. And then something I don’t miss is the fashion. I mean, [it's just] atrocious.
You’ve spent a lot of time overseas. What’s the first Australian food you go for when you get home?
A really good coffee. There are good coffee shops in America now, but they are still few and far between. I think the fact that you can walk into a 7-Eleven here and get a really good coffee is wild.
Where’s your go-to coffee spot in Melbourne?
In Melbourne I love Market Lane Coffee. There’s a few of them, and they do a good job.
What’s about a favourite Uber Eats order?
Lately, it’s been this dish from this restaurant in LA, and I’ve been eating it like a lot. It’s this very thinly shaved beef on rice with caramelized onions. It’s really, really yummy, and like a spicy powder and ginger.
What are your three favourite places to eat in Melbourne?
There’s a really good chicken katsu curry place that I get. I can’t remember the name, and then I do love MissChu. And then, also, this is one of the nostalgic things that I’ll get as soon as I get to Australia — either Nando’s or Grill’d. A Simply Grill’d with cheese on panini. And the chicken nuggets.
If you’ve ordered takeaway and you’re settling in on the couch, what are you watching?
MasterChef Australia. I love that show. Lately I’ve also been watching a lot of old movies. I’ve sort of been blind picking them, but I watched 12 Angry Men for the first time the other day, the 1957 one, and it was so good.
We’ve been very excited about your next album at RUSSH. Can you give us any hints about what's still to come?
The video that’s about to come out is like one of the craziest things I’ve ever made in my life. So that’s all I’ll say on it. But it’s awesome.
You started posting online in the early 2010s. Do you think the internet was more fun back then?
Oh my god, it’s so much less fun [now]. So much less fun. There was an illusion back in 2010 or 2012 — at least in the parts of YouTube that I existed on — there was a real wholesomeness to it. When I think about the stupid stuff I did, I’m like, I can’t believe that anyone ever watched this. But it felt very just like safe and fun.
And I’m sure that that still exists, but I think it’s just so much bigger now. I also think the way that the algorithms work, your content gets served to random people a lot of the time, as opposed to building an audience. It used to be that you could kind of carve out your little zone on the internet, and it doesn’t really feel like that anymore. It feels more like the town square where everyone’s just there and watching and ready to yell and revolt at any moment.
You’ve recently revealed your Finsta. Does that feel like a closer version of the real you?
Honestly, the Finsta just came from not wanting that many people to see everything all the time. It’s back to that thing where I’m like, do people even want to see this kind of thing? Whereas on my Finsta, I feel like I can just be more free and post whatever I want. It’s a nice relief, and a way to kind of make the internet more fun for me again, which is good.
