Troye Sivan kicked off the North American leg of his "Something to Give Each Other" tour this week, and it took roughly eleven minutes for the internet to split into two warring camps over his stage wardrobe.
The Australian pop star, 29, performed in Chicago wearing a custom sheer black bodysuit with cutout detailing and sheer paneling that left, to put it gently, very little to the imagination.
Clips from the show racked up millions of views on TikTok within hours, with comment sections splitting cleanly between "this is art" and "I'm calling my mother." Sivan has never been a stranger to boundary-pushing fashion.
He's worn backless gowns on red carpets and bared his midriff at award shows for years, but this tour cycle has pushed the aesthetic further.
His team has described the looks as a meditation on queer joy and bodily freedom — though the phrase "bodily freedom" is doing some heavy lifting in the group chat.
The debate goes beyond fabric, or lack thereof.
Some fans argue the outfits distract from the music, which is a fair point to raise given that his latest album earned some of the strongest reviews of his career.
Others counter that a pop concert is supposed to be a spectacle, and that Madonna and Prince built entire careers on making censors sweat.
What's notable is how quickly the conversation migrated from fashion to something bigger.
Critics of the look have drawn comparisons to how male pop stars get policed differently than their female counterparts — Sivan's outfits would barely register at a typical awards show if worn by a woman.
That double standard has become its own thread of viral commentary, with plenty of users pointing it out.
Sivan himself has stayed mostly quiet, which is arguably the smartest move available.
He posted a single backstage photo with the caption "Chicago, you were loud," and let the discourse do the heavy lifting.
Pop stars who defend their outfits in real time tend to extend the news cycle; pop stars who post a cryptic photo and log off tend to win it.
The tour continues through the fall with stops in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville, which means we are looking at several more months of outfit discourse whether anyone asked for it or not.
Ticket sales, meanwhile, remain strong — suggesting that the people actually buying tickets are not the ones writing think pieces. **Our take:** The outrage cycle around Sivan's tour wardrobe says far more about us than it does about a bodysuit.
A pop star wearing something revealing on stage is about as scandalous as rain at an outdoor festival, and the fact that we're still litigating this in 2024 is honestly the more interesting story.
Final Thoughts
Let the man perform — the outfit is the point, and it's working.