Sivan experiences 'insane' success
Dianella boy wonder Troye Sivan has the world swallowing his Happy Little Pill, a dose of chilled-out synth-pop that has propelled his new EP to the top of iTunes charts in more than 50 countries.
The five-track EP, TRXYE, is racking up incredible sales in the US, where the release exploded into the Billboard 200 albums chart at No. 5 this week.
In selling nearly 30,000 copies in the US after only three days, TRXYE knocked fellow Aussies 5 Seconds of Summer's self-titled album down to No. 6.
The EP made its debut at No. 2 in Canada.
A recording industry veteran, who preferred not to be named, labelled the 19-year-old prodigy's chart performance so far as unprecedented and "insane".
Happy Little Pill, the white-hot hit about loneliness produced by local team Slums, has sold more than 300,000 tracks worldwide since being unveiled three weeks ago.
The accompanying video has accumulated two million views on YouTube in the past week. The YouTube audio stream of the single has had almost five million views since July 25.
With a sound akin to Kiwi superstar Lorde, Sivan is tipped to become one of the biggest artists to break out of this country in recent years.
In Australia, where EPs count as singles, TRXYE is expected to climb into the Top 10 of the ARIA singles chart, surpassing Happy Little Pill, which peaked at No. 16.
The song hit No. 2 on the New Zealand charts earlier this month.
Sivan has a ready-made follow-up single in Fun, which the Perth wunderkind described in an interview as the "most lyrically exciting song on the EP".
"I had just read a script for a film I was auditioning for . . . where a kid about my age gets recruited into the army, falling for the military being painted as some glory-filled holiday with your mates, while the realities of war are swept under the carpet," he said.
"I wanted to write a song about war and that classic 'We want you' recruitment style, from the point of view of the recruiter."
Born in South Africa, the fast-rising star moved to Perth at the age of two.
The keen actor and musician posted videos on YouTube and performed on Telethon before landing a role as a young James Howlett, Hugh Jackman's character, in the 2009 blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Sivan, who has more than 1.7 million followers on Twitter, also starred opposite John Cleese in the 2010 South African film Spud.
