Troye Sivan – “She’s the Best”

The lyrics to Troye Sivan’s “She’s the Best” are almost aggressively specific. Troye gives us enough information to pick her out of a police lineup, yet never actually tells us who she is. She’s simply “that girl.” You already know exactly who he means.

The song understands something extremely current about admiration: we don’t necessarily want our icons to be aspirational anymore. We want them specific. “She’s the Best” doesn’t worship some immaculate woman who has her shit together. His heroine is exhausted, horny, funny, overdressed, politically online, slightly chaotic and perpetually tired.

She’s the best. Okay, Troye. Why?

That’s where his definition gets interesting. Pop has given us endless songs about that girl, but usually her mythology requires some degree of perfection. Troye’s version looks like she got home at 5 a.m., slept until noon, reapplied yesterday’s eyeliner and already has somewhere else to be.

That also makes Troye’s description of the forthcoming album interesting. He calls it “chaotic, layered, organic, troubled and alive,” and says that through everything, “the only constant in my life keeping me somewhat sane has not been the work, or the men, but the feminine.” That description could practically be the woman in this song. Maybe that’s the point. The feminine world Troye is celebrating isn’t polished into perfection. It’s complicated, funny, alive and running late for a DJ set.

Troye doesn’t make a case for why she’s the best by listing her virtues. He gives us a character.

And yeah. She’s the best. Obviously.

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