She's the Best, Joe

This album made me feel great in a few ways. ¶ First off, how it challenged me and my perception of what pop music is in the year 2026. I don't know how popular Troye Sivan is and I refuse to do any research on the subject, but I will estimate that he's popular and maybe popular enough for a stadium tour, but probably more so on the lower end of a high echelon. That's speaking quantitatively, but speaking qualitatively, I would imagine that there aren't many pop star peers who are trying the sounds that he's trying here. At least not right in this moment. ¶ Beyoncé's RC album comes to mind, with its focus on house music, so maybe you're thinking about that when you're hearing, e.g., "Canada Dry," but RENAISSANCE was almost a half-decade ago (hard to comprehend, I know), and the winds have shifted mightily in the pop arena. The forward-facing part of it, anyway. All those bloodsuckers are chasing country music now (even Beyoncé in her RENAISSANCE follow-up). Sivan isn't doing that here. ¶ He's doing his own thing, and I think "doing your own thing" is sincerely something that stands out, when you're a pop artist. A refusal to chase trends is tantamount to bravery. And it adds value to the art itself, because you know that there's a truth here, one not even Beyoncé could touch. Like, there's a difference between leading trends and being unconcerned with trends. That's the difference. ¶ And I don't even think "doing your own thing" necessarily means "doing something no one else has ever done." That's not true for anyone anymore, all the sounds have been done already. But you have artists combining those sounds in fresh ways, and you also have artists making those sounds for the first time in a while, in a slightly new context. I don't really hear anything that sounds like She's the Best today. ¶ The closest modern equivalent is probably the 1975, but I don't think it's an exact match, and it's possible that I'm thinking about that more because Sivan approaches "everything and the kitchen sink" in the same manner (but possibly not the same scale) as the 1975. But you don't need a modern equivalent. You say that Sivan is messing with similar sounds like, uhhhhh, the Stone Roses were messing with it? The genre tag "Baggy" is right there, listed among the rest, and if you click on it, you'll see that the highest-rated Baggy album of all time is The Stone Roses. I'm not saying the albums sounds alike, but I'm saying that Troye Sivan is messing with "jangly guitars, looping basslines, four-bar drum patterns, and a hypnotic, carefree feel" in the same way that the bands in the Madchester scene were messing with them. ¶ This isn't my overarching point, by the way, that Troye Sivan sounds like the Stone Roses. I don't even think that's true for most of the time. But the fact that I'm able to draw even the slightest connection at all says something about this modern-day pop artist. "Doing your own thing," as opposed to leading or following, gives me the ability to not feel like I'm "following trends" either, which is important to me, whether I like to admit it or not. ¶ Like if I said I like the new Taylor Swift bonus tracks, then that would be boring, but if I said I hate the new Taylor Swift bonus tracks, then that would be boring too. Shit that everyone has to have an opinion about and 90% of those opinions are based on preconceived notions, that's a fucking drag. I don't like it. There's no room for me. With something like Troye Sivan, he's popular in the outside world, but in my insular world, he was sort of an unknown, and I get to approach his music and feel like I am liking something because I like it, not because of the artist or who he is or what he's previously done or what he represents. I get to see just the music. ¶ It's helpful, of course, to think that it's good, that there's quality here, that it's catchy, but that's all expected from such a pop album. I think the point here is that it's easier for me to say that I like it because it feels like an honest assessment, untainted by outside forces. ¶ Possibly the only outside force that I might consider—but only because this is a safe space, and somewhat insular if we're being honest, and also this space has existed for so fucking long so there's history here—is the idea that our pal Rachel S. recommended it, her fourteenth album recommendation in this club, and I feel like the majority of her picks (not all, but a healthy majority) have been present-day pop, which is good, but perhaps have not always landed with me personally as they might with Rachel and others. Sam Smith? Perfume Genius? BTS? Adele? At best, I'm shrugging, and at worst, I'm callously dismissing those albums. ¶ And now here comes Troye Sivan, and I think we might have finally found an album we can share, me and Rachel. I think it's time to admit that in Record Club, after 400+ weeks, that it does actually affect my opinion about an album depending on who chooses it. When Rachel chose She's the Best, I wanted so hard to like it, and now here we are. I like it. A lot. ¶ And that feels good, to find something through a music club like this, and through someone who deigns to occasionally be part of it. I probably like She's the Best more because Rachel chose it and because this feels like a well-earned achievement in Record Club. We're finally sympatico. We can finally forget all about CANDIACE!!! ¶ If you put all that extra stuff aside, then it's really as easy as saying that this is a catchy album and that should be enough. But when you add all the extra stuff back in, then this experience becomes an important one. Yes, this is pop music. Yes, it's catchy. But yes, it's catchy in ways that other pop music from 2026 is not even trying. Yes, it's from a popular artist. Yes, this artist is not someone whom I was familiar with, or even wanted to be before this week. Yes, that adds to the experience too. ¶ And yes, Record Club afforded me the space to listen to it a bunch more times than I would have otherwise. Yes, I listened to it a lot. Yes, it sincerely got better every time. I'm wrong in that it sounds like nothing else, because there are so many things it sounds like. But I'm right when I say that the music is so consistently good that it feels new anyway. I've heard trip-hop beats like "I Do This for You" plenty of times, but somehow, it feels fresh and exciting here. I've heard staticky ballads like "FF," and arena-ready crescendos, but for whatever reason, "FF" feels like a high point here, for this particular artist on this particular album. ¶ What's the difference? I don't know. I've laid out a few theories in this review but it could ultimately just come down to it being good. Like, you hear those flutes during the "FF" climax? That's some good-ass shit. I don't often get excited for pop albums like this, but I am excited, here, with this pop album, in the year 2026, and that changes everything.

GRADE: 4 pukes out of 5