Troye Sivan, Kylie Minogue and the Power of the Net

Image courtesy of Daphne Bryant

Troye Sivan and Kylie Minogue are bonafide pop icons. Both hailing from the Land Down Under and sporting a primarily queer fanbase, the two artists have each been hugely successful in their own right. However, Sivan seems to be pulling ahead of Minogue — in terms of chart success and pop culture relevance — despite having a significantly newer career, less developed in comparison to Minogue’s. The reason? YouTube.

Kylie Minogue has been creating infectiously fun pop music for the better part of 40 years. In 1988, she released her debut album Kylie, a peppy dance-pop record that established her upbeat sound and unique vocal style. Kylie netted Minogue her first #1 single on the Australian charts with “I Should Be So Lucky,” which was a huge deal for the young artist. It seemed as if the world was at Minogue’s fingertips — she was setting herself up to be one of the biggest pop stars in the world with Kylie’s release, as it had a sound perfect for the commercial market. However, Minogue would fall short of global stardom, having her success mainly confined to Australia for the majority of her career.

As Minogue released more albums and accumulated more #1 singles on the Australian charts, it became evident that her success was, for the most part, limited to the confines of the Australian music scene. She was wildly successful in the continent, but didn’t perform nearly as well on the American charts. Throughout her nearly 40-year-long career, she’s only had seven songs chart on the Billboard Top 100. No matter how many ARIA awards she won or #1 singles she bagged in Australia, there was always an invisible net holding Kylie Minogue back from global stardom. 

With the release of his newest album, Something To Give Each Other, Troye Sivan is ready to tear open that net.

Sivan began his music career in June 2007 with the release of his classical debut EP, Dare to Dream, which only made small waves at the time. Sivan remained pretty stagnant in his career for years, which directly contrasts Minogue’s hugely successful start in the music industry. However, with the release of “Happy Little Pill” in 2014, Sivan netted his first Billboard Top 100 single. With the more recent success of his songs, “Rush” and “One Of Your Girls,” Sivan now has a total of eight Top 100 hits — just one more than Minogue.

Sivan has only been consistently working in the music industry since 2014, despite having released music prior. Minogue, to contrast, has a career that has spanned nearly four decades and remained remarkably consistent. Despite this, Sivan still seems to be pulling ahead of Minogue in terms of Billboard Top 100 hits. The source of Sivan’s success can be traced back to his YouTube channel, which helped establish his artist persona and allowed him to directly interact with his target demographic.

In September 2012, Sivan began regularly posting on YouTube. He primarily created content that targeted a teenage demographic, such as vlogs and collabs. He posted pretty consistently for a few years before his content fizzled out in 2015 and 2016. However, throughout his years posting, Sivan gained a cult following that helped propel his music career to levels that would be otherwise impossible. His 2016 single “YOUTH” peaked at #23 on the Billboard Top 100 — his highest charting single to date — and was released at the peak of his YouTube career.

Despite no longer posting on YouTube, Sivan’s platform has both catapulted his career and aided in building his loyal fanbase. Minogue never had such access to YouTube or any equivalent at the beginning of her career — and therefore wasn’t able to directly interact with and expose her music to her demographic as Sivan could. Building a fanbase online prior to branching out on greater ventures is a tactic that plenty of modern pop artists have employed, including The Weeknd, Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber. 

Troye Sivan and Kylie Minogue will always be both queer icons and Australian royalty, despite their differences. Both have been hugely successful and have made names for themselves in a fiercely competitive industry. However, Sivan had access to one thing that Minogue never did — the internet, the place that sets space for fame.