Rush (Troye Sivan song)
"Rush" is a song by Australian singer Troye Sivan. It was released through EMI and Capitol on 13 July 2023, as the lead single from his third studio album Something to Give Each Other. The accompanying music video, shot in Berlin, was released the same day. The video shows athletic men and women dancing and drinking in the summer heat.
"Rush"
The song was nominated for the inaugural Best Pop Dance Recording and Best Music Video at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards,[2] the first nominations of Sivan's career. At the 2023 ARIA Music Awards, the song also earned Sivan the award for Best Solo Artist, while the song also won Song of the Year, Best Produced Release and Best Engineered Release and was nominated for Best Pop Release.[3][4] At the APRA Music Awards of 2024, the song was shortlisted for Song of the Year.[5]
Music video[edit]
The music video was released on 13 July 2023.[24] Directed by Gordon von Steiner, it was filmed in Berlin.[25] Larisha Paul of Rolling Stone observed that the characters only fixate on "wordless communication", as they only speak "through looks and movement", building around the motif of "unconditional and all-consuming love".[26] Two versions of the video were released. The main video is available in most countries, whilst a secondary version was released and geo-restricted to other countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.[27]
The video was generally received well-received for its unapologetic queerness, choreography, and references to LGBTQ+ culture. Michael Sun of The Guardian felt "the video is practically bacchanalian, composed mostly of waifish queers twirling. 'Rush' brims with ludicrous sexuality and bawdy bravado. It is, perhaps, the best defence of twink rights."[11] Ben Beaumont-Thomas of the same publication wrote that the video, "full of glory holes, hot bodies and lustful looks, underlines the kind of blood-pumping activity Sivan is getting at."[12] In an interview with Sivan on Apple Music, Travis Mills said the visual was "beautifully shot", and reminded him of Britney Spears' music video for "I'm a Slave 4 U".[28] It has also been compared to Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" music video.[29][30]
The video did however receive some criticism for a lack of body diversity amongst its dancers.[31] Tomás Mier, a journalist for Rolling Stone tweeted: "It seems like a case study on how white gays choose to view queer people as a whole. There's not a single fat person in the entire video. Just white twinks and chiseled bodies."[32] Sivan responded to the backlash and said, "to be honest, it just wasn't a thought we had — we obviously weren't saying, 'We want to have one specific type of person in the video.' We just made the video, and there wasn't a ton of thought put behind that."[31] After Sivan's reaction, Mier wrote "Sivan's response is definitely believable, and I respect him for being honest. It is concerning, however, that no one in his cohort of queer friends (or fellow creatives) thought this decision could lead to controversy and division." Mier also said he was willing to give Sivan some "grace."[33]
Vulture's Choire Sicha opined "the video has all the subtlety of a 1990s Calvin Klein campaign. It's a return to body fascism and emaciation — two gay tastes that actually never went out of style. Eat something, stupid twinks!"[9] Sivan slammed the body shaming aimed towards him, saying, "There was this article [...] and they were talking about [the lack of body diversity], and in the same sentence, this person said 'Eat something, you stupid twinks.' That really bummed me out to read that — because I've had my own insecurities with my body image. I think that everyone's body is as beautiful as it is, including my own, and it just sucks to see people talking about other people's bodies."[31]