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Blue Neighbourhood is the debut studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Troye Sivan. It was released internationally on 4 December 2015 via EMI Music Australia and Capitol Records America. The album is preceded by Sivan's fourth extended play Wild, which also serves as a six song opening instalment to Blue Neighbourhood.
Release and Promotion
In October 2015, Sivan revealed Wild served as an opening introduction to the album. Pre-orders for the album opened on October 15th, 2015, with the album reaching No. 1 within hours on iTunes in ten countries, including the United States. "Talk Me Down" was included as a promotional single to those who preorder the album and was the only previously unreleased song made available before release. Those who had already purchased Wild received a discount to purchase Blue Neighbourhood. Sivan also launched merchandise bundles on his site, selling jumpers with the album logo, candles scented to match the mood of his songs, CDs, vinyl, posters, digital downloads, bags, and notebooks. "Youth" was released as the third single from the album. The song premiered exclusively on November 12 on Shazam Top 20 at 7PM AEST and was officially released worldwide after midnight in each country on November 13.
Music videos
The album is accompanied by three music videos following the storyline of two male childhood friends involved in a romantic relationship, and the struggles their same-sex relationship faces. The first two videos for "Wild" and "Fools" were already being labeled under the umbrella term Blue Neighbourhood by Sivan prior to announcing it was the name of the album. Both were released in September 2015.
On 14 October 2015, Troye Sivan released a video teaser announcing the studio album. In the teaser, snippets of "Happy Little Pill", "Wild", "Fools", and a then unreleased song from the album titled "Youth", which became the final single from the album, are heard in the background. The last video, for "Talk Me Down", was released on October 20, 2015. It portrays the death of Sivan's childhood love interest by him jumping off a cliff after his father's funeral, having suffered through years of homophobia. Sivan provided suicide prevention hotlines after its release.
Critical reception
Blue Neighbourhood was highly commended by contemporary critics. Everett True from The Guardian gave the album five stars, calling it "difficult to find fault with Blue Neighbourhood" and praising Sivan for "capturing the sound of now so well". James Reed from The Boston Globe found the album to be "darkly seductive" but "riddled with coming-of-age anxiety." Rolling Stone Australia gave the album four stars, describing the album to be "charming" and praising Sivan's vocals.
Bernard Zuel from The Sydney Morning Herald described Sivan as having a "coffee-and-cream voice artfully caught between childhood and adulthood." Jody Rosen from News Corp Australia praised the lyrical content of the songs, which do not obscure Sivan's sexuality, stating "Sivan does not shy away from pronouns. He's fearless and honest in a way most pop stars aren’t." Rosen compares Sivan's mellow voice with artists such as Lorde and Lana Del Rey.
Track listing
| Standard Edition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "WILD" | Troye Sivan, Alex Hope | Hope | 3:48 |
| 2. | "FOOLS" | Sivan, Hope, Pip Norman | SLUMS, Alex JL Hiew, Norman | 3:40 |
| 3. | "EASE" | Sivan, Caleb Nott, Georgia Nott | Caleb Nott | 3:34 |
| 4. | "TALK ME DOWN" | Sivan, Bram Inscore, Brett McLaughlin, Allie X, Emile Haynie | Haynie, Inscore | 3:57 |
| 5. | "COOL" | Sivan, Hope | Hope | 3:21 |
| 6. | "HEAVEN" | Sivan, Hope, Jack Antonoff, Claire Boucher | Antonoff | 4:21 |
| 7. | "YOUTH" | Sivan, Inscore, McLaughlin, Allie X | Inscore, SLUMS, Hiew | 3:05 |
| 8. | "LOST BOY" | Sivan, Inscore, McLaughlin, Allie X | Inscore | 3:43 |
| 9. | "for him." | Sivan, Inscore, McLaughlin, Allie X, Tom Gaynor | Inscore | 3:29 |
| 10. | "SUBURBIA" | Sivan, Inscore, McLaughlin, Allie X | Inscore | 3:53 |
| Deluxe edition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
| 2. | "BITE" | Sivan, Inscore, McLaughlin, Allie X | SLUMS, Hiew, Inscore | 3:06 |
| 5. | "THE QUIET" | Sivan, Dann Hume | SLUMS, Hiew, Hume | 3:46 |
| 6. | "DKLA" | Sivan, Hope, Hiew, Jean Capotorto, Tkay Maidza | SLUMS, Hiew | 4:16 |
| 14. | "TOO GOOD" | Sivan, Hope | SLUMS, Hiew, Hope | 3:44 |
| 15. | "BLUE" | Sivan, Hope | Hope | 3:31 |
| 16. | "WILD (XXYYXX Remix)" | Sivan, Hope | Hope, XXYYXX | 3:32 |
| Target Exclusive Edition (Bonus Tracks) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
| 17. | "SWIMMING POOLS" | Sivan, Inscore, McLaughlin, Allie X | Inscore | 3:36 |
| 18. | "Happy Little Pill (Live)" | Sivan, Brandon Rogers, Tat Tong | Stacey Jones | 4:02 |
Suburbia Edition
- Main article: Blue Neighbourhood (Suburbia Edition)
- Main article: Blue Neighbourhood (The Remixes)
