Something to Give Each Other

Sivan teased the release of the album on 9 June 2023 on Instagram alongside a clip showcasing him throughout different years on a television starting from his first ever upload to YouTube and ending with a teaser for the music video of the album's then upcoming lead single "Rush". Sivan stated in the post caption that he had been making the album for over five years in between various commitments, such as his Bloom tour and the television series The Idol, in which he had a starring role.^[5]

Sivan announced the album name and release date and unveiled the cover art on 13 July 2023 on social media.^[6]

This album is my something to give you — a kiss on a dancefloor, a date turned into a weekend, a crush, a winter, a summer. Party after party, after party after after party. Heartbreak, freedom. Community, sisterhood, friendship. All that.

Something to Give Each Other is primarily a pop album.^[7][8] It consists of both up and down-tempo songs, with the album's overall tempo notably slowing down after its opening track, "Rush".^[8][9] Nick Levine of NME observed that, after "Rush", "the album is mostly midtempo, though with a slightly warmer, gauzier sonic palette than Sivan’s previous albums".^[7] In his review of the album, Rolling Stone's Tim Chan described Something to Give Each Other as a pop record on which the singer draws from synth-pop, house, and "Nineties-esque club cuts",^[10] while Lauren Dehollogne of Clash described it as electropop.^[11] According to Megan McEnery of Her Campus, the album has more prominent influences of house and R&B than Sivan's prior work.^[12] Lyrically, the album explores themes such as sensuality, love, and loss.^[11] Thematically, Sivan said Something to Give Each Other is about "pop music being able to bring people together", with its title referring to "community built off a common experience of dance music, partying, fashion, humor, and all of these things that I love so much about my life and about my friends".^[13]

Sivan has promoted the album as "a celebration of sex, dance, sweat, community, queerness, love and friendship".^[14] Variety's Steven J. Horowitz said the album is "equally about grief and being unable to let go of the pain of a relationship’s end" as it is about "sex, relationships and community", identifying "human connection" as its central theme.^[9] The singer identified pop divas such as Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, and Britney Spears as primary sources of inspiration for the album.^[13]

The album cover features Sivan smiling with his head between a friend's legs. Sivan stated that he wanted to smile for the album cover but did not smile throughout the day of the photoshoot because he felt awkward smiling and did not want his smile to look fake. The shot for the album cover captured when Sivan's friend kneeled down and tickled Sivan's ribs, which provoked a genuine smile.^[15]

Due to the cover's suggestive nature, countries such as Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, as well as countries in Eastern Europe, replaced it with the single artwork for "Rush" instead, which features a close-up of Sivan.^{[16][better source needed]}

More information Aggregate scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.0/10[17]
Metacritic	84/100[18]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[19]
Clash	9/10[20]
The Guardian	[21]
NME	[22]
Pitchfork	8.0/10[23]
Rolling Stone	[24]
Slant Magazine	[25]

Close

Something to Give Each Other received widespread acclaim from music critics,^[26][27][28] who praised its "unapologetic queer" lyricism, production, and vocals.^[29] Metacritic, a review aggregation website that assigns a normalised rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream publications, assigned the album a score of 84 out of 100 based on 13 critics' reviews.^[18]

Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian called it "one of the year's most distinctive pop albums" and stated that while "there are more high tempos, but where 'Rush' was claustrophobic and orgiastic, other tracks give Sivan more space to move".^[8] Writing for Variety, Stephen J. Horowitz opined that the album represents Sivan at his "most realized and forthcoming" and praised the confessional nature of the songwriting.^[30]

Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that the album "finds Sivan older, bolder, and, for a large part of its running time, unrepentantly horny" and what it "lacks in poignancy, though, is made up for by the joy with which it embraces queer pleasure".^[25] For Rolling Stone, Tim Chan called the album "an ode to queerness and reinvention" as well as "a pristine slice of pop heaven".^[10]

Reviewing the album for Clash, Lauren Dehollogne felt that "a wave of bubbling emotion and challenging energy is palpable throughout Something to Give Each Other, but somehow each transition goes over smoothly and not a single track feels out of place" and "each track [...] can evoke a chuckle, a smile, a tear, or a gasp".^[11] Nick Levine of NME opined that aside from "Rush", "the album is mostly mid-tempo, though with a slightly warmer, gauzier sonic palette than Sivan's previous albums". He concluded that it is "a strikingly vital pop album charged with love, lust, sweat and regret".^[22] Harry Tafoya of Pitchfork found the album to be "a showcase for some dazzling eclecticism" as "ideas that couldn't possibly work on paper are executed skillfully and to often gorgeous effect", commenting that it "scans as less of a reinvention than a gradual honing of Sivan's craft".^[23]

Something to Give Each Other debuted at number one in Australia, making it Sivan's highest-charting studio album in his home country.^[38] It opened at number 20 on the US Billboard 200 with 31,000 album-equivalent units, including 16,000 pure album sales.^[39] In addition to the album's singles charting internationally, three album tracks ("What's the Time Where You Are?", "In My Room", and "Still Got It") all charted on the Official New Zealand Music Chart, and additional songs ("Silly", and "Honey"), alongside "What's the Time Where You Are?" placed on the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart.^[40]

Notes

• ^{^[v]} signifies a vocal producer.
• The deluxe soft pack CD & deluxe webstore vinyl copies of the album contain the extended version of "Rush" (3:35).
• "Can't Go Back, Baby" samples from "Back, Baby", written and performed by Jessica Pratt.
• "Got Me Started" samples from "Shooting Stars", written by Jack Glass and Chris Stracey and performed by Bag Raiders.^[41]

Musicians

• Troye Sivan – vocals (all tracks), background vocals (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10), vibraphone (6)
• Zhone – vocals, background vocals (1, 9)
• Adam Novodor – background vocals (1, 9)
• Alex Chapman – background vocals (1, 9)
• Oscar Görres – bass, drums, percussion, programming (2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10); guitar (2, 3, 5, 6, 9), keyboards (2, 3, 6, 9, 10), background vocals (2, 3, 6), timpani (3), string arrangement (4); organ, piano (5)
• Jason Minnaar – spoken word (2)
• Santa Ouhamou Portillo – spoken word (2)
• Sofía Gallini – spoken word (2)
• David Bukovinszky – cello (4)
• Mattias Bylund – string arrangement, synthesiser (4)
• Karl Guner – synthesiser (4)
• Hanna Helgegren – violin (4)
• Mattias Johansson – violin (4)
• Guitarricadelafuente – vocals (4)
• Styalz Fuego – keyboards, programming (9)
• A. G. Cook – keyboards (10)
• Henki Skidu – saxophone (10)

Technical

• Randy Merrill – mastering
• Alex Ghenea – mixing (1, 4, 7–9)
• Serban Ghenea – mixing (2, 3, 5, 6, 10)
• John Hanes – immersive mix engineering
• Bryce Bordone – engineering (2, 3, 5, 6, 10)