Bloom

Here, Sivan has created an album that does away with any apology; instead it sees him seize happiness with both hands.

Bloom is an exceptional pop album, but maybe more importantly it’s a beacon for queer people who struggle to reconcile our neuroses--societal and personal--with our potential for joy and love.

Sivan may indeed only be 23 and while he might not be a gay icon just yet, records like Bloom which clearly and proudly sing about same sex relationships while sounding shiny and polished in all the right places, will certainly help him get there.

Bloom is a fun record, dreamy and vulnerable and urgently horny. Sivan has a fresh perspective, and his force of personality enlivens tracks that otherwise might sound conventional. His best songs perform a kind of magic, with sentiments that feel universal to all of us and as personal as a fingerprint.

Bloom is a bare-faced record, thrillingly honest and defiantly queer, proving Sivan is one of pop’s most essential voices.

Yet as easy as it should be for anyone to appreciate this thrilling and sincere record--truly, there’s no resisting the title track’s euphoric refrain--what might be most admirable about it is Sivan’s determination to make a particular group feel seen.

At a taut ten tracks, Bloom is an unambiguous statement from Sivan, clear in its intent to celebrate the highs and lows of queer love through the eyes of a proud pop star in the making.

The results are characterful. Bloom is done and dusted in 35 crisp minutes – a time at which some pop albums are reaching their mid-point--and feels like a coherent, artist-led album rather than a bet-spreading collection of songs designed to hit every popular musical base.

Occasionally sentimental but always endearing, it's impressive stuff. [Oct 2018, p.116]

Well beyond the already stellar dismissal of heteronormative storylines in pop love stories, Sivan finds a wealth of ways to bring about fresh reflections on age-old themes with undeniable charisma.

Appropriately, Bloom’s beauty and gifts reveal themselves gradually over time.

Bloom isn’t as consistent or engaging a musical experience as Sweetener, but it still feels meaningful. If Sivan is the product of baby steps, then maybe this is one of his.

While tracks like "Animal" and "What a Heavenly Way to Die" are pleasing-if-passable--largely due to the fact that they lack that air of specificity that gives so many other of Bloom's songs their strength--Bloom remains a powerful, thoughtful, and engaging listen: an album about queer life that welcomes all listeners from all quadrants.