Troye Sivan has put Nicole Kidman at the center of his next release cycle. He said she stars in the video for “She’s the Best,” the first single from his fourth studio album, and the release lands just as he pushes a more reflective turn after 2023’s Something to Give Each Other.
That earlier album earned three Grammy nominations. Sivan has since come off a headlining tour that ran from Portugal to Sydney and included sold-out arenas alongside Charli XCX, which gives this rollout a different commercial frame: the new single arrives with a larger audience and a clearer pop-culture hook.
Boy Erased to She’s the Best
Sivan said he got Kidman’s number after working with her on the 2018 movie Boy Erased, then used that connection to bring her into the video. He and Gordon von Steiner chose her because, as Sivan put it, “It’s Nicole.” He said Kidman responded, “I would love to do it.”
He also described the voicemail moment with a grin in the conversation: after seeing a transcript that read, “Hi, darling Troye, it’s Nic,” he said he slammed his laptop shut. For a pop release built around image as much as song, that kind of casting gives the video immediate recognition before a frame is even cut.
Loneliness Behind the Bombast
Sivan said his last album was “this hypersexual, super-connected album that I wrote when I was feeling very much like a citizen of the world.” He contrasted that public energy with the private cost of the road, saying, “At some point along the way, a disconnect started to form where I was going home to the hotel by myself, and I actually was feeling deeply lonely a lot of the time.”
He framed the new record as a split between “high-octane” material and songs that feel “like the interior of my mind.” That is the useful read for listeners and the industry alike: the project is not just louder or softer, but built to show both the performance and the after-hours comedown that followed the touring cycle.
Femininity and Drag
Sivan said “The song is really honoring the feminine spirit in general,” and tied that to his own history with shame and self-presentation. He said he grew up fighting femininity, remembered being seven years old and judging how a straight friend held his wrist, and added, “I knew that I was gay. I’ve always known.”
He said drag changed that trajectory. “Oh, my God, this feels really special,” he recalled thinking during his first drag experience, and he said doing drag for the first time unlocked something in him. The single’s rollout now carries that personal history into a visual built around one of the most recognizable names in the cast.
She’s the Best was set for Oct. 9, and the release should answer the only question that now matters: how much of Sivan’s new album leans into the feminine, private, and emotionally exposed version of himself he is finally putting on the record.
