A Lead Single That Arrives as a Fully Formed World
Troye Sivan’s new single “She’s the Best” is a lead track for his fourth studio album that doubles as a cinematic statement, blending a Charli XCX collaboration, a Nicole Kidman music video appearance and drag culture iconography into one cohesive vision of his next pop era.
This is not a soft re-entry into the charts; it is Sivan announcing that his next chapter will be both bigger and more personal. He has released “She’s the Best” as the first taste of an album of the same name, slated for release on 9 October. Instead of treating the single as a standalone radio play, he frames it as the entry point to “a painting that captures my life in all of its moods and colours,” as he describes the project. The choice signals creative ambition: this era is meant to be read as a narrative, not just a playlist.
The Charli XCX Collaboration: Pop Chemistry with Intent
The “She’s the Best” song pulls Charli XCX into Sivan’s orbit in a way that feels inevitable rather than opportunistic. Her finishing vocals sit like a sly wink on top of his spoken, sultry delivery, reinforcing that this is a Charli XCX collaboration born out of shared pop language, not a random feature. Their link is already battle-tested: the pair co-headlined the Sweat Tour in 2024, cementing their influence on contemporary pop’s left-field mainstream.
Behind the scenes, Sivan co-writes with Leland, George Daniel, Jack Antonoff and Styalz Fuego, a line-up that reads like a manifesto for layered, ambitious pop. By pulling in these writers and producers, he signals that his fourth album will not retreat into minimalist confessions. Instead, Sivan seems determined to make emotionally dense songs that still hit like big, accessible singles.
Nicole Kidman, Sasha Colby and the Power of a Pop Cameo
If the audio plants the seed, the Nicole Kidman music video makes “She’s the Best” bloom into a cultural moment. Directed by Gordon Von Steiner, the clip casts Kidman as the enigmatic woman Sivan sketches in the lyrics, entering a drag club with a cigarette and a stare that does half the storytelling on its own. Their intimate exchange on screen, ending in a montage of queens and Sivan in opulent drag, turns the video into a love letter to feminine power and queer performance.
Adding Sasha Colby, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, lifts the visual into statement territory: this is pop that explicitly centers drag artistry and queer lineage rather than treating them as background flair. Kidman’s appearance also reunites her with Sivan after their work together on a previous film, implying a continuity in his artistic relationships even as he reshapes his image. The result is more than a promo clip; it is a deliberate piece of storytelling that places drag, film stardom and pop music on equal footing.
A Feminine Muse for a New Troye Sivan Era
What makes this Troye Sivan new single feel like a genuine turning point is its thematic core. Sivan frames She’s the Best as an ode to the women who hold his life together, from close friends like Ariana Grande and Charli to a broader idea of the feminine that steadies him when work and romance do not. He describes the album as chaotic, layered, organic and alive, a portrait drawn from emotional highs and quieter moments of solitude, longing and the search for connection.
According to his own description, “the only constant in my life keeping me somewhat sane has not been the work, or the men, but the feminine.” That framing matters: it positions this era less as a rebrand and more as a recognition of who has always been in the room with him. Following a run of high-impact releases, collaborations and international tours, he appears ready to foreground this personal mythology as the spine of his fourth record.
Setting the Tone for October and Beyond
With She’s the Best, Sivan is clear about his intentions: this single is the gateway drug to a full album arriving on 9 October, not a disposable teaser. The track introduces what he calls a new creative universe, one that embraces contradiction—high-octane public success set against private loneliness and desire. By wrapping that tension in a glossy, star-studded package, he makes vulnerable themes feel expansive rather than inward-looking.
The strategy is smart. In an era of short attention spans, Sivan refuses to shrink his ambitions. He uses the She’s the Best song, the Charli XCX collaboration, the Nicole Kidman and Sasha Colby video appearances and a carefully assembled writing team to insist that pop can still be an event. If the single is any indication, Troye Sivan’s fourth album is poised to be less a return and more a decisive step into being one of pop’s sharpest storytellers.
