confidence!
sneak preview + troye sivan + committing to the bit
Hello !
My album is out next week. What a time to be alive. I did not plan for a single to come out beforehand so instead I will be offering an EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW for my dear substack readers and discord members. This is a song called ‘Lie To Me’. Multiple people told me it should be a single but I did not make it a single. It’s co-produced by my friend Ike Zwanikken who helped me get this album over the line. I think it was mostly inspired by Tendai.
I mostly seem to talk about shows I’ve been to on here. I went to see Troye Sivan on Monday. Lots to think about there! Expression of sexuality, dance music, the prominence of cameras in 2024 live shows…the fact that there was no band! (strongly agree with this choice)
The thing that I keep thinking about, though, is just how confident the show was. It was almost entirely new music! I’ve been banging on about this for years. I think artists should prioritise their new music always. They should stand behind it, present it alongside the old stuff and show the audience that you’re not just there to look back.
Obviously Troye has had a great year and this tour is somewhat of a victory lap, but there were many moments where he could have faltered and tried to please the older fans in the room. The only song from Blue Neighbourhood he played was ‘Ease’, which for the record, I think my remix of this song is far better than the original.
It can feel impossible to get your own audience to tune into what you’re doing now, especially when the old stuff is right there, available to listen to at all times. Your show is the best possible place to remind everyone that you’re alive and kicking.
My all time favourite example of this is U2’s Zoo TV tour (bear with me) - despite coming off the back of one of the biggest albums of all time, they chose to open the show with 6 new songs back to back. When they fall into the first classic U2 song of the set, it feels euphoric. The tension is broken. It gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
If there’s anything that I have a major problem with in the way music is made now, it’s the lack of confidence, or of self belief. Often when I’m checking out the new releases on a friday, I’m depressed by how many songs feel like they were made to please the editors at Spotify, or to sound good in a commercial. I feel bad typing this. And I might just be a cynic. But when I hear someones music I wanna hear them! I wanna feel that they love what they do and aren’t motivated by anything other than that love.
The Troye show definitely felt like that.
Talk soon !
Eddie
ps my dear friend Wells* has released his album. It’s amazing and the best pop music to come out of New Zealand in perhaps forever. Give it a listen.
motivated by love not fear !