“I Wonder If I Would Be More Commercially Successful If I Wasn’t Gay.” – Troye Sivan

Troye Sivan wonders whether he would be more “commercially successful” if he wasn’t gay.

The Bloom singer – who has achieved two top 10 albums in the US – joined Will Young and Chris Sweeney on their podcast, Homo Sapiens, where, although praising how far the music industry has come in terms of LGBT+ artists, he said there is still a long way to go.

He said: “I have a great management team and great label, and I haven’t had this conversation with anyone else in fear because I hate it, hate it, hate it when pop stars sound bitter, or blame any sort of lack of success on anything other than for themselves.

“I don’t want to come across like I’m saying that at all, but this just feels like a safe space where we can have an open conversation. Part of me wonders sometimes if I would be more commercially successful if I wasn’t gay or not as ‘in your face gay’.

“I think we’re in a really interesting time in music right now where we are seeing more and more queer artists pop up, but we don’t have a queer Taylor Swift, we don’t have a queer Rihanna, or a queer Beyoncé. It’s not there yet I don’t think, though it feels very exciting to be where we are, I still feel like there’s a really tall mountain to climb.

“Sometimes it can be frustrating because I’m giving my all and not having some humongous radio smash all over the world. 100 per cent could just be on the music, maybe the music just isn’t good enough, maybe the world is obsessed with hip hop right now and I’m making the furthest thing from hip hop. It could be a myriad other things, but a part of me wonders sometimes, is the world actually ready right now for what I’m trying to be?”