Troye Sivan’s “Rush”, Natural Cozy, and Vibes

Troye Sivan’s 2023 album Something To Give Each Other, features a song which exists in my mind as THE quintessential queer party song — one I find myself returning to whether I’m on the train, in the car, sitting in my room, or enjoying a pregame. Naturally, I am referring to “Rush,” whose title accurately describes the giddy joy I feel when queuing it on my Spotify playlist, and the even giddier joy I feel when the opening beat of the song catches me by surprise. I first learned of “Rush” and Troye Sivan during my junior year of college. I didn’t even need to hear the song to recognize its greatness. A rumor that the next door apartment’s first floor ceiling collapsed due to the unrestrained jumping and excitement after “Rush” was played, not once, but twice, during a party, cemented its legacy. 

At the time, I lived in a small two story college “apartment.” It housed six people, two per bedroom, with a grand total of one shared bathroom. It was, by far, the worst living experience of my college career, mostly due to the absurd filth that seemed to encrust the surfaces, floors, and corners of the apartment. That icky feeling of running your hand across or walking on a should-be smooth surface only to feel the lying dirt and assorted muck was a constant during those five months. 

Nevertheless, something about the apartment was comfortable, even comforting… Not the apartment at large but rather my room, its vibe. I can only equate the vibe of my room with the manufactured, now commercialized, “cozy autumn” aesthetic which abounds once September comes along, and every 20-30 year old I know indulges in and attempts to curate for the duration of the fall season. Bookmarked by the oncoming arrival of Christmas merchandise appearing on those same shelves. 

My favorite part of the apartment was its intrinsic cozy-autumn vibe. It was unmanufactured. A Halloween scented candle only added to the pre-existing feeling, it didn’t create it. Naturally, the autumn vibe of my room was created by store-bought items. Rather the setting of a rural-Ohio campus filled with lush nature and towering trees filled the autumn shaped void in my heart. The semester, as a whole, was trying. But my room became a sacred space into which I retreated, despite the muckiness of the overall environment. 

Troye Sivan’s “Rush” similarly creates an unforced, unmanufactured queer vibe which I find both comforting and exciting. The provocative album cover, which features Troye Sivan situated between a naked man’s legs, with his relaxed head and open smile, depicts blatantly gay sexual relations. The music video for “Rush” is unafraid to depict queer sexual relationships, featuring dancers and intimate behavior in warehouse clubs, in my opinion, paying homage to the sexual freedom for enjoyers of the nightlife scene found in cities like Berlin. The choreography captures both one-on-one sexual tension and experiences between the dancers as well as captivating group dance routines which make me crave dancing in the club. Most important for curating the aforementioned vibe, is the exchanges and depiction of queer sexual attraction and activity. Seeing this on full display is especially liberating, as society lacks representation of queer relations. In the United States, historically and today, any representation of sexual activity or even attraction is often met with backlash from social conservatives, especially if the depictions are of queer couples.

How do my cozy-autumn room and Troye Sivan’s “Rush” even relate? Truth be told, not very much. Except from the perspective that the “vibe” they create feels particularly natural to the space each one occupies. Troye Sivan, a gay music artist, can create an authentic feeling queer song and music video. Exhibiting queer culture and its vibe. Similarly, the cozy autumn vibe was particularly suited to my small, wooden floored apartment style housing located in the beautiful Ohio backwoods. 

Sometimes it’s hard to understand why we have affections for certain things. I find that articulating my feelings toward art, athletics, people, places, food, and providing concrete reasons to support those feelings, is a near insurmountable task. Sometimes, I just feel a certain way. It is all bound up in who I am, my experiences to this point, my perspective on the world and culture. There is not one reason why I have come to like or dislike anything. Our likes and dislikes change all the time, and continue to change as we age. 

I don’t simply like the Autumn-aesthetic or queer focused music. They have to be done well. Returning to the vibes of “Rush” and the autumn-aesthetic of my college room, both create a space to which I could and can, through the power of Spotify, still return to. Their vibes provide me moments of happiness. The “vibe” punctuates the end of bad days or moments, by reminding me of things, places, and people I enjoy. My college dorm and “Rush” aren’t the only things that boost my mental spirit. But as unrelated as they are, they serve the same function. I think it’s important to identify things that create this positive “vibe,” to step back, and appreciate them. Stay reminded of their ability to change, in a moment, the space of your mind, maybe without really understanding specifically.