Review : The Good Side, Troye Sivan

🎶 I got the good side of things 🎶

Vibes: A boat ride during sunset or sitting by the beach with somebody at sundown

The Good Side is the third track off Troye Sivan’s sophomore album, Bloom. Released on January 19, 2018, The Good Side is the longest track of the album. Presenting a 4 minute 28 seconds long acoustic sonic flair, this song sounds pretty like butterfly wings but with streaks of bold colours.

The official cover of The Good Side

The Production and The Mixing

Personally, I love the soft blend of the vocals and the instrumentals in this track. The melody brings out the beauty in the song as well . The sound engineers and the producers did a really good job too ; The high notes of the instrumentals that suddenly hit you are placed just right to create the intended sonic impact.

The Good Side begins with a very sharp sound of a “glitter-y magic spell” (for a lack of better word), similar to that of what is observed in Taylor Swift’s Bejewelled. Some might say that this GMS (Glitter-y magic sound) has no significance in the story and life of the song but I think not only is it very strategically placed, the presence of it also serves well in the narration of the song.

The GMS, being a short, high pitched and shrill sound may not have any stand alone role but it creates a great contrast with what’s about to come. It sets the stage for the soft melody of the guitar and makes the listeners more receptive of it. Due to the preceding strong presence of the GMS, the comparatively mellow blend that comes just after it starts to sound even more appeasing.

In terms of the literary significance, the GMS stays true to the title. For ages, the sound of GMS has been associated with something glorious and celebratory. The onset of something magical, an entryway to The Good Side. Picking up on this acquired association and using it as a “welcome to the song” sets the perfect thematic atmosphere for it.

Does the GMS ever go wrong?

Although it’s the sound of magic, the GMS does kind of get in the way of the listeners immersing themselves in the atmosphere of the song. There are moments in the song (maybe in the middle of it) when the GMS is played repeatedly with echoing backing vocals. That’s when GMS gets turned into a small problem. I think the placement of an excess of the GMS in the middle of the song creates a disconnect with the song and the listeners because up until then, the song is going in this one direction with the sound and the music but the sudden too much-ery of the GMS pulls the listeners out of the already established almost silky experience.

Where should the GMS go?

I think just having the GMS at the beginning and the ending of the song would add just the perfect symmetry and well roundedness to the song. This would create more of an expected transition instead of unwanted sonic jerks.

All that said, I love the layered vocals that make their way into the GMS throughout the song. They add a new flavour to the song.

The official album cover for Bloom

Thematics And The Lyricism

The Theme

The song focuses on the duality of heartbreak. It tells the story of a relationship in which one person walks away with their heart shattered while the other one gets to live with the good side of things. It is clear that subject of the song had to struggle more in the breaking of the relationship than Troye. However, the track also serves as an apology for that. The Good Side’s journey is based on the emotional consequences of the breaking of the connection rather than what led to it. There is no grieving about what the relationship meant or how important it was to Troye. The song only grieves the hurt it inflicted on the other person

I think a bit of more context about what might have led to everything would have added more depth to this track. Completely biased opinion here but I wanted to root for Troye so knowing that maybe he wasn’t all that a bad guy and having his perspective on the relationship would also have made me happier.

The Lyrics

The lyrics are simple and emotive. They carry the idea really well to the listeners without making anything feel too intense- which is where I think the magic lies. Instead of having a very serious grieving tone in the track, it somehow has a sweet nostalgic backdrop without ever going into the past developments of the relationship. One way I like to think of it is Troye used two different components of a song- Lyrics and Music to communicate two different emotions. That’s crazy how he did it. The lyrics are about the sorrow in the subject’s life while the music, melodies and the the feelings in his voice invoke a sense of past, nostalgia and bittersweet memories- which is his perspective on everything.

Here are a few of the lyrics I love :’)

Left you with both of the rings

This is pretty simple but I think it magnifies the emotional vulnerability through the use of “both of the rings” instead of just using one ring which people usually do.

I got the good side of you
Sent it out into the blue

This one’s pretty genius! It highlights two different things. The first one is pretty obvious. Troye talks about how he had all the good parts of the other person in his life but he sent them out in the blue (aka hurt and sorrow). The second meaning here is a reference to his Debut albu “Blue neighbourhood”. Troye mentioned that he wrote his last album about this relationship so saying “out into the blue” means he wrote all about the other person’s good parts in his last album, Blue Neighbourhood.

My other favourite lyrics:

The people danced
To the sound of your heart
The world sang along to it falling apart

The use of “danced” and “sang” adds more life to the lyrics and I adore that

Then I got the good side of new

This one just sounds so simple and beautiful.

Final Thoughts and Word Vomit

As much as I love Troye and The Good Side, I would give it all up and go hug and help and protect the other person in a heartbeat. I agree with Troye and it was so unfair for the other person to live with so much hurt from a person they loved DESPITE them giving all the best parts of them. I don’t know much but I either wanna be best friends with the other person and make them pretty cards or know that they are doing okay. I probably already love them . It is independent of the fact that I relate with them in feeling hurt and broken despite always being a source of love for other people. Just Sayin’

This puts an end to my very long review of The Good Side. Let me know what you guys think of the song

xx