Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Ep. 29 Troye Sivan - Ear Biscuits

Episode Date: April 18, 2014

Popular young South African-born Australian vlogger, Troye Sivan, sits down with Rhett & Link this week to share his empowering coming-out story and how he decided to share this personal detail of his life with his fans, why the internet is obsessed with his relationship with Tyler Oakley, and how a secret project in the works might have some people on the edge of their seats. *NOTE: This conversation contains adult themes and language. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. It's time for another conversation with someone interesting from the internet, and that week, that week, that week, you know, that week. You remember that week where we did that interesting person conversation? Yeah, well, I meant to say this week. Or that person.

But it did happen that week. That interesting person this week. Or that person. But it did happen that week. That interesting person this week. Is super popular Australian by way of South Africa vlogger, Troy Savan. That's right. Now, we caught up with Troy during our time in Orlando at Playlist Live. So, I think we met him in passing once before. Very briefly. I think at the Camp Dakota premiere, he was there, and Mamrie introduced us because they were friends when they spent time together in Australia. Right. But I digress.

My point is he sat down with us in the vestibule of our hotel room. It was really just sort of the front part of the suite. I'm just making a point that we weren't like- The foyer. School girls having a slumber party in our hotel room. We had chairs and- It was pretty professional. But still pretty intimate.

First of all, it'll sound a little bit different to you, but I'm wondering if you can sense an added level of candor in this ear biscuit. Is that your way of apologizing for maybe the low audio quality? I think it sounds pretty good. No, I'm not apologizing for anything. I'm saying to you, the listener, if you sense an added level of candor, it's because the conversation was happening in our living space. Okay, yeah. It wasn't, you know, this round table of dim lighting that we're sitting at now. Right.

And you might hear like. It's here in the studio, but it's not, you know, in like our home. Right. And you might hear like the ice machine down the hall or maybe someone knocking and saying housekeeping. That's also because it was in a hotel room. But I don't think any of that happened. Neither of those things happened. But if you just happened to hear them, maybe somewhere in the ether.

I like to use the word ether. That was all that was about. I'd like to use the term ice maker. Okay. Well, how about an ice breaker? Or an ether maker. Can we install an ether maker here? No.

In the studio? It'll kill you. It's poison. Make you go to sleep. Okay. If you haven't seen Troy's content, here's some context for you. He's an 18-year-old.

18-year-old. He's on roids. No. And he's not on roids. I'm sorry. I'm having a lot of trouble today. It's okay. I'm going to be fine.

Don't worry about me. I have not had a stroke as far as I know. He's 18 years old. There's a certain point when we're doing this that I have the realization that the person we're talking about is listening, and that's one of those moments. Like, Troy himself is listening to this Ear Biscuit, and, you know, you just said he was on roids.

We never, listen, I never claim to be a professional. That's not why I'm doing this. Sorry, Troy, thanks for listening. I'm not trying to win some award for this show, okay? Sorry. Okay, so what Rhett's trying to say is Troy has amassed a huge YouTube fan base. I'm talking almost 2 million subscribers,

73 million views, and arguably just one year as a vlogger. I get the shivers quite a lot, and I was just wondering what the f*** are the shivers? I mean, they happen mostly after I pee, but you know what? I'm actually goingivers quite a lot. And I was just wondering, what the f*** are the shivers? I mean, they happen mostly after I pee. But you know what? I'm actually going to Google this phenomenon.

I get shake, shake, when I wee, wee. Hmm. No results. Troy's also an actor in traditional media. He was actually in X-Men Origins Wolverine as the young Wolverine. Right, before he was 12 years old. I honestly haven't seen that. Oh, I have. I don't remember

Troy. Just because, you know, I didn't know him at the time. But now I'm gonna watch it and I'm gonna watch it for Troy. He looks a lot like a young Hugh Jackman the more I think about it. Maybe that's why he got the part. That and he's an amazing actor. And his skeleton is made out of, what is the stuff they're made out of?

Adamantium? I don't know. I'm going to get in trouble now. Adamantanium? No. Oh, gosh. I think I might have been right on that one. It's not titanium.

That's all I know. Right. It starts with an atom. I haven't seen the movies. Why are you asking me? But he's been in that movie and he's also the star of South Africa's box office topping

film series, Spud, which as he describes to us is kind of like the Harry Potter but just for South Africa. But it's huge in South Africa.

He's the lead. He is Spud. He's a big deal. And the third in that trilogy is coming out this coming December. And the third

in the trilogy of his talents includes his vocal ability. So here's a clip of that from his channel. And I don't want to let this go. I don't want to lose control. I just want to see the stars with you. And I don't want to say goodbye to someone Tell me why

I just want to see the stars with you Now Troy is really the first person that we've talked to from this group of British slash South African slash Australian vloggers who are quite possibly the most talked about phenomenon on YouTube right now. These guys are just taking YouTube by storm. Translation, the demographic that we are most jealous of. Yeah, right. I mean, we don't get the screams. It's kind of like the Beatles of YouTube is how I describe this crop of guys. And he is firmly planted in that group. I mean, yeah, like needing a security detail at a playlist. No, he's on roids.

He doesn't need security. Okay, Troy also talked to us about the different experiences he had in coming out to his family and then later to his fans. And I'll say for me as a parent, there were certainly aspects of his story that were particularly inspirational to me in discussing how his parents related to him. So you can listen for that. And we discussed the speculation around his friendship with Tyler Oakley, specifically answering the question, or asking the question, is Troiler a real thing? And what's the deal with

this secret project he's working on? Okay, here it is. Are you ready? Our hotel-encased ear biscuit with Troi Sivan. I think Stevie either gave you or started to give you like the rundown on what we do or whatever. I've had a bit of a rundown from Tyler and Grace. Okay.

And apparently you guys asked like hard-hitting. Really? I about **** myself and I was so scared. No, but I, yeah, I'm prepared for it now. I thought this was going to be like, woo, like, you know, just like a normal kids show or something, but nope. Like just have fun and just shoot the breeze kind of a thing?

Yeah. Kind of like what I did on the main stage. But no, I'm excited for it. I don't think that anything else exists like this online, so I'm excited about it. Well, I'm glad you think that. That might be true.

Because it's cool, yeah, because with YouTube, we're very in control of what we share, you know what I mean? Very edited. So it's very, very edited and the image that we put out to control of what we share, you know what I mean? Very edited. So it's very, very edited. The image that we put out to everyone is what we want. So that's why it's exciting. I'd be excited to watch, I'm going to go listen

to everyone's after this because I'm excited to hear a bit more of a real perspective on people. It sounds like they did give you a good primer. What did Tyler say specifically? He was like, hey. He was just like, it's intense. And I was like, oh, okay, cool.

And he's like, no, really intense. I was like, what do you mean? What are they going to ask me about? He's like, I don't know, just intense stuff. I was like, okay, cool. That's it. It's going to get intense. Yeah, it's literally, that's the word that I've been hearing.

So I can't promise that it won't get intense at some point. But we're not going to start with intense. I want to start with the pee shivers video. That's because I've got an answer for you. In the video... What was the name of that video? I Get the Shivers When I Pee, I think.

Pretty simple. I'm a huge fan of using whatever title I want. I think a lot of what I do on YouTube is trying to get as many people to watch what I do as possible and then try and impress them in the three minutes that I have. So whatever

it takes to get them to originally click, I'm all for it. But then once they're watching, I'm like, hey, I'm doing something that hopefully you might like. But you did talk about getting the shivers when you pee. You demonstrated it. It happens to me all the time and i i said to my i thought i was like making this hella relatable video and i spoke to like all of my family members and it never

happened to any of them so i was really nervous to put up that video have you guys have got the shivers of course okay oh yeah i think it's a relatively common thing. I desire it. You're like disappointed when you're peeing and you don't get the shivers? Yeah. I'm like, how can I induce this phenomenon? Well, I know how you can induce it. How? Okay, so I did a little research for you

because you said you wanted some scientific advice, and I specialize in scientific advice. Right. Especially in pee shivers, you specialize in... Yeah, exactly. When it comes to like bladder-related things. So it happens usually when you have a really full bladder. Okay.

And you are standing up. Those two things are usually a factor. And it's because when you pee, your blood pressure changes and your nervous system has this response to it. I don't know exactly what happens with your nervous system to basically account for the fact that your blood pressure is going down, I guess because your bladder is emptying. Right. And it causes this response that sometimes results in, it's almost like an overstimulation thing where all of a sudden you are shivering. That is the prevailing scientific theory. I probably kind of botched it because I just looked it up really quickly just so I'd have an answer for you.

But it is scientific. There's nothing wrong with you. I'm going to hold in my pee for the next couple of hours and stand up and see if it happens. If it does, I'm going to be so excited because then I can control it. For me, it's always been this mystical thing that happens every now and then, but not really all the time. And it doesn't happen when you're seated and peeing, is what I've been told.

And also experienced. I sometimes sit down to pee. I'm not going to lie. Well, from what I've heard, you sit down to pee quite a bit, which I heard about that. And I questioned it. I mean, it's your prerogative. It's your house. It's your pee.

Well, it just minimizes the splash and spray potential. Right, the missing. It minimizes my mom getting really, really angry at me because I miss and hit the toilet seat. Oh, you said mist. I thought you were saying misting. Like, you pee in a mist. Because that is a problem.

You do need to see a doctor i'm gonna make a video about that is that relatable does that happen to everyone right i'd be in a mist that's normal right that's your that's the video title that's the title so you're in the in the comments below the video you didn't see a lot of your audience relating to the shivers when no no i did i did i saw um i was just genuinely interested i wasn't sure if it just happened to boys if it happened to girls. Did you find that out? That's something that I'm quite interested in.

It does not happen to women. Unless they stand while peeing. Nearly as much. Because they don't stand. Because they typically sit down. And they also, their bladders are smaller than men's on average. So, yeah. It doesn't happen.

The factors are not in place. I'm so interested. And I would assume, you know the demographic breakdown of your audience, like girls to guys? What is it? It's like a solid 80, 20, or 90, 10. I can't remember.

It's one of the two. Right, so you've got these girls who are watching, so they're like, we can't relate to that. That doesn't happen to us. Maybe that video was a flop and I didn't even realize. Yeah, well, you got to take that into account video was a flop and I didn't even realize. Yeah. Well, you got to take that into account next time. Right, yeah.

Interesting. When you talk about flops, it doesn't seem like any of your videos are flops. I mean, you're breaking a million views per video pretty much on like a weekly basis, right? Yeah, it's starting to get up there. Yeah. That's great. get up there.

It's crazy. I didn't ever expect for that to happen. I posted scene videos for ages before I ever posted my first vlog and I literally never ever looked at the view count. Views and subscribers were just nothing to me. It was more about just putting the videos out there just to see who would ever watch

them. My manager found me doing them and it really did change my life regardless of the view counts. out there just to see who would ever watch them. And I've, my manager found me doing them and, you know, it really did change my life regardless of the view counts, you know? Um, so for me, when I started like, you know, becoming like a YouTuber and consistently uploading and everything, um, all of a sudden it was like a whole new world to me with like views and things like that. And I still, I'm not like as into it as I think a lot of people are. I love celebrating milestones, but I don't really look at my subscribers and views all that often. For me, it's always been about trying to make videos that I'm proud of.

But still on a consistent basis? No, that's the thing. Because I want to make videos that I'm proud of, and I've been traveling a lot over the last year, and because of the traveling, it's hard to make videos that I'm proud of, and I've been traveling a lot over the last year. And because of the traveling, it's hard to make videos that I'm proud of because I'm shooting them in hotel rooms and things like that. So I'd rather just wait until I got home. And because I'm not home very often,

the video consistency has kind of slowed down, which is not something that I'm happy about. But at the same time, I can't say what it is, but over the last year, I've been working on some pretty exciting stuff. And it'll all become clear in a couple of months why I've been absent. You'll tell us by the end of this conversation. This is too early.

We won't push you yet. We'll get some details. You were born in South Africa? Is that right? Yeah, Johannesburg. Okay, so how long did you live there? I lived there until I was two. No memories of that.

I've gone back a lot because I did this South African film series called Spud and there's four books and we've made three movies so far. They're kind of exclusively, they're getting an iTunes release in the US and they had an iTunes release in Australia but nothing crazy.

But in South Africa... So it's like an indie film, it wasn't a theatrical release? No, in South Africa it had a theatrical release and it's like bigger than Harry Potter there. The books are the best selling books in the country because it's by a South African author and everything. Over there it's kind of like this

crazy phenomenon. Everywhere else it's kind of quiet. And what did you do in the But basically I've been back, I've been back a lot to shoot those. The films are about like a boy who goes to a middle-class boy who goes to, he gets a scholarship to go to an all boys boarding school, like an elite all boys boarding school. And it's kind of like in the nineties in South Africa.

So apartheid is kind of coming to an end and everything. And it's basically like, it kind of is like Harry Potter just minus the magic, which sounds boring, but it's not boring. And more cleavage. Right, yeah. No, it's just,

it's a lot of like, it's a lot of like puberty stuff and growing up. It's a coming of age, coming of age film, 100%. And you're the star of this film. I guess, yeah.

You're the Harry Potter of Spud. I'm Spud in Spud. Okay. It's Spud. You are Spud. And is it John cleese and yeah john cleese is in it yeah it's cool this is this is a this is a big deal he's so awesome um and you when when did you start doing that how old were you when you did the first spud i think i was like

15 maybe 14 15 okay so this was i would assume that the success of Spud worldwide has been helped by your ascent to YouTube fame. I've only been doing YouTube for a year. So when Spud 2 came out in South Africa, Spud 3 is coming out this year, I hadn't really started YouTubing. So between Spud 2 and Spud 3, it's going to be really, really interesting to see how the rollout goes of Spud 3

now that I've been doing the whole YouTube thing. And on top of it, when they were looking for, another character comes into Spud 3 and his name is Garlic and they were looking for someone to play it and they found Casper Lee on YouTube. You guys know Casper? Yeah. He's South African and they were like, you know, he's cool.

He went and he killed the audition as it was and he's got this online following and he's like perfect when you read the character description when I read it now I'm like oh my god Casper so is Garlic like a villain character? no no no just a smelly one or something?

no he's just kind of a little bit he's an interesting fella and so Casper played him yeah perfectly I love Casper to death. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and you guys have collaborated. Yeah. We've collaborated. He's honestly like, he's honestly one of my favorite YouTube. Like I love, love, love Casper and spending those couple of weeks together in South Africa,

shooting the movie. And then like, that's one of the coolest things that I think about having YouTube friends is, is that like Casper and I over the last like year that we've known each other have hung out in like Florida, LA, London, Cape town, Johannesburg, like just crazy, crazy, crazy stuff. And to like have these life experiences with people is really, really, really awesome. And also I think what I started to realize a little while ago, because, because I've been traveling so much is, um, that even if I was to have like really, really strong relationships back home, which I kind of do, even those would be long-distance relationships. So to have people who are always meeting you in these places,

to have YouTube friends is something that I really, really am starting to cherish because you're not really going to see anyone who lives consistently in one place because you're not consistently in one place. But if you're all kind of meeting up all over the world, it's huge. It works out. Okay, so at the age of two, where did you move? To Perth in Australia, Western Australia. And that's still kind of home base for you?

Like parents live there type thing? The whole family lives there. Siblings? Yeah, I'm one of four. Got an older brother, then it's me, younger sister, younger brother. What took your parents to Australia? I think it was mostly the crime in South Africa They wanted more crime?

I don't know which way it got me I think it just kind of started to get a little bit crazy there Walls around houses kept on getting higher More and more security cameras and electric fences Apparently my older brother, he was four at the time He was like, are there any baddies in Australia? security cameras and electric fences and things like that. Apparently my older brother, he was four at the time, he was like, are there any baddies in Australia? Like a bad guy?

Are there any bad guys? And my mom was like, no, there's no bad guys in Australia. And he was apparently happy about it. So at four years old, for him to comprehend that, because obviously your parents tell you if anyone comes up to you or whatever, scream and run away or whatever. The crime there just kind of started to go through the roof. It's still pretty crazy over there. I get nervous to go back the roof and it's still pretty crazy over there. I get nervous to go back, but I love it so much as a place.

I don't know if it's still home, but I definitely have a strong connection to it. So it kind of sucks that we had to leave, but I love Australia as well. What do your parents do in Perth? My dad's a real estate agent and my mom is a stay-at-home mom. Okay. And you did a homeschool thing?

For a little bit, yeah. I started to kind of travel and do worky stuff when I was about 14. That's when I did the Spud movies. I also did X-Men Origins Wolverine. So I started to travel for acting and stuff. But even before that, are you in a family of performers? Are your brothers and sisters, are they into that? Because you go back to your first YouTube video where you were a 12-year-old kid, right?

Six years ago. And I think your second or third video is like you're performing on a telethon of some kind. Right. So you were obviously already, and even your first video, you could sing. You weren't a kid who was just like, I'm just going to sing on YouTube. It's like, okay, you've been performing.

So how did that start? I don't know. Like I'm not really from a performing family. My mom was a model when she was younger and she did like a couple of like stage plays along the way, but nothing crazy. I was just kind of, ever since I was really little, we've got like home videos of me, you know,

hiding behind my parents' curtains in their bedroom and like popping out and singing Spice Girls and stuff like that. Yeah, so I just have always, always, always sung. And then when I was about nine, I probably started doing like voice lessons. And I kind of started doing like events and things like i was kind of a boy soprano that i started to even travel even when i was like

10 i did like some stuff in sydney and melbourne and performing at different like dinners and like events and things um and then when youtube came along i i thought i'd i'd post on youtube and yeah and was there any uh oh uh troy you should you know your parents like oh yeah i don't know if you should do that it was just like oh no not really i think to be honest i think my parents were like pretty ignorant about the um risks of being online at like such a young age um because we had some really like dodgy people approach us that we were just so like you know like i don't I don't know. They said that they were someone that they weren't. And we were just like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, back then.

To like help out your career type thing. Yeah. Like a manager kind of vibe. And it just did not end well at all. So, yeah, I think it just kind of is one of those things where we weren't really aware of all the risks and stuff, but we just started to see like positives right away. Like my first ever, ever video, it's now deleted. And I wish I still had it, but I don't. Lisa LaVie, who's a YouTube singer, she was, she was featured on the front page of YouTube back when that was like a big deal for a song, an angel. And I posted a video response of me singing like literally a 10 second. It was like a live webcam cover because I saw she was replying to comments right there and then. And I was like starstruck because she had a million views and I couldn't

believe that she was like replying at that exact moment. So I, yeah, I posted that and she commented, she was the first person to comment. So right from the very, very beginning, there was like this, I like ran to my parents and there was like this positive energy around YouTube. So I think that even if they didn't really know what it was, we all just dumbfounded that my video had like a thousand views in like two days or whatever it was. Right. You saw a response. Yeah. Straight away. Straight away. I've never really not had a response. So yeah. It's always been a good thing, I think.

Right. But it wasn't, I mean, you obviously didn't immediately become a YouTuber. I mean, you go back over those last, you know, those years, and you did a few videos a year. You know, you would sing something here or that kind of thing or make a video here or there. But weren't you discovered by like a casting agent or director on YouTube? Yeah, so it was a manager in L.A., but he told me his name is Rod and he's amazing. I'm still with him, but he's not a music manager really. So he saw me singing and he was like, hey, have you ever tried acting before?

And I was like, no, but I'm keen to give it a go. So he's like, okay, cool. I'll send you through any auditions if I get them. And the first one was for X-Men Origins Wolverine. And so my mom and I like Googled how to do an audition, how to film it and stuff like that. And we learned you have to say your name and everything like that in the beginning. And we did that and Googled how to even export a video file

and send it to someone. And we did it all ourselves at home. So it was a video audition. Yeah, it was an on-tape audition. You didn't have to fly to LA or anything like that. No, no, no. We emailed it. Did you have to shave your head?

Nope. Wait, why would I. We emailed it. Did you have to shave your head? Nope. Wait, why would I shave my head for Wolverine? The X-Men dude. Wolverine? Wolverine has plenty of hair. He's like a hairy dude. Magneto? Professor Xavier.

Professor Xavier. No, no, no. You weren't auditioning. But you weren't auditioning for Wolverine's part. No, baby Wolverine. Oh, he had hair? Like on his head. Not like chest hair or anything got it yeah and so your first audition ever you got the part yeah like how many rounds of auditions were there just one just one yeah i mean where is this

audition tape is it on your youtube channel? I guess I should upload it. I still have it, I think. I think I've still got it. You should. It's probably in really, really bad quality. But that's perfect. Yeah, I hope I still have that, actually. Yeah, I mean, wow.

That's nostalgic, man. Yeah, that would be crazy to watch back now. Is it the type of thing that you felt like, wow, this is happening? Or because it happened so seemingly effortlessly, I mean, you had to Google some stuff. But I mean, that's just not how things happen. I don't even know how to do an audition

and now I'm playing Wolverine. Right. No, well, that's the thing. What was your perspective? I've kind of got a fear that one day things are going to stop working out because I've been so like impossibly lucky in my life like literally this that kind of stuff doesn't happen to people

and it happens to me like all the time and i'm just i'm really really really thankful that it does but i don't i don't really get it i don't i don't know why why it happens but it does i don't know it's just been so what was the experience like once you got the part i mean did you know i didn't that this this is crazy i'm just this is going to be a crazy ride i'm just going to enjoy it or were you like oh this is how it works no 100 i was like a crazy ride okay freaked out my mom came to school and like picked me up from school to tell me and everything like that and um you're gonna be an x-man yeah so X-Man right from then I was in Sydney two weeks later we shot my bit in Sydney at Fox Studios

and how many days was that shoot for you? I think it was 14 it was only like three scenes they take a long time to shoot the big budget movies it was cool. There was night shoots. It was my first time acting as well. I didn't know what I was doing at all.

We had a really, really good director. He was South African. He reminded me of my dad. He called me Troiki and Boiki, which is a very South African dad kind of thing to do. He just made me feel super, super comfortable. And yeah, it was like a really, really, really good experience. I loved every second of it. And then once I had done that, my voice started to break

and I kind of like freaked out because that had been my life since I was like nine and now I was 13 and my voice started to change and I didn't recognize the voice that was coming out of my neck. So I freaked out a little bit, but then acting was like a, like a hundred percent kept me busy for the next like few years while my voice was breaking. So that was a huge, huge, huge relief. I like discovered my, my next thing that I wanted to do for a while. Cause I feel like, like, even though it was only a couple of years, singing from like ages nine to 13 was like like it was like a big deal to me i

sung like all the time at all different kinds of things so i felt like i had like given it a proper go and i i didn't need a break but like i kind of wanted to just you know give it a break and try something else so acting was like it came in at the perfect perfect time but what was that you know when did you decide and was there a decision that was like you know what i'm going to i'm going to pursue this youtube thing like i'm going to i'm going to pursue this youtube thing like i'm going to i've got a strategy and how did that start and then what were the first videos like um so basically i i saw like the vlogging trend well i mean obviously vlogging had been around and i i've been watching youtubers since like 2007 so um i yeah and i just i kind of

always thought that i could do it if I wanted to, but I wasn't sure. Um, and I didn't really know like where to start or whatever, but, um, I had a camera and I got back from spud two and there was kind of like nothing really going on. And I was homeschooled already at that point. So I wasn't at school and I was just like, okay, well, what am I going to do with my time? So, um, yeah, I made an introduction video that was very, very like general in that it could have just been like, hi, you've been watching me sing on YouTube for a couple of years. Just thought I'd finally like introduce myself. Don't worry. I'm going to carry on posting singing videos. Nothing's going to

change. Or it could have been like, hi, I'm Troy. This is, I'm about to start like this whole vlogging thing. And I posted it and then everything was fine and I made the next video which was a challenge that I did with my friends or something like that. I showed it to my parents and they were like, but wait, what's the point? You're not singing. What challenge was it?

It was the salt and ice challenge. Salt and ice challenge. How does that work again? You put salt and ice in your hand and you clench it until it hurts. And then you sing is what your parents were singing. My parents, yeah. My parents were like, I don't understand.

What are you doing? What's the point of this? And I wasn't even sure if I was making a stupid decision, but I did it. And I didn't really get any backlash. So then I also noticed that the videos, like singers, they get views, but they don't necessarily get subscribers. And I started to get subscribers from vlogging. And I was like, it like blew me away.

The difference in between a sing video and a vlogging video was like huge. So yeah, I just started to kind of like consistently do it. And I just, yeah, carried on and on and on and on. And I made them pretty consistently for like a year, every single week. And yeah, now i said like i said it's kind of less consistent but i'm trying to get it back up there to once a week right now

your your most popular video could be wrong on this is your coming out video yeah at what point in the process did you make that decision kind of i mean you talk about this in the video itself but uh just kind of bring us up to speed on what went into your decision to making your coming out video. Right. Well, I think I thought about it for a lot, like for a really long time before I posted it. Because who were you coming out to? Just your audience? You were already out to family and friends. That's what I mean. So in my life, it wasn't really an issue anymore. As in, I was 18 when I posted that video. I just turned 18 like two months prior. And at that point in my life, I'd come out when I was 15 to my family and my close friends. So it had been like three years. And even though not everyone, I come from like a,

it's a relatively small city. Perth is like 2 million people, but I come from a small community within Perth. It's the Jewish community of Perth is like 8,000 people or whatever. So everyone knows everyone. And we all went to one school and, you know, um, yeah, so it was kind of, and it was starting to like leak out there, but, um, it was mostly just my close friends and my family. And I don't tend to socialize in like groups of people. I have three really close friends and that was it. So to me, it seemed like it was an absolute non-issue because the people that I hung out with all the time knew and it was so not a big deal because it had been like three years or whatever. Was it a big deal at the beginning amongst your family and tight-knit community?

Well, I guess it was, but not necessarily in a bad way. You know what I mean? It was just like it took a little while to adjust to it and stuff like that. I think for me as well, one thing that I wasn't expecting that I don't think a lot of people expect when they come out was it kind of felt invasive slash intrusive for me. I don't want to say this, but the day after I came out was like a really, really, really hard day for me to my parents, at least.

I felt so like weird the whole day. I felt like, obviously I think now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense because you're just, you know, you're telling someone a secret that you've just kept inside you for 15 years. But now, and now all of a, the people that you live with know. How did you do it? How did I tell them? I told my dad in bed.

We were just talking. And I'd been wanting to tell him for a really long time. You get to that phase where every single time you're alone with your parent, it's all you can think about. And it just becomes all-consuming. And every time I was alone, I was thinking about it. I was watching coming out videos on YouTube and things like that. And I was on gay teen forums and things like that, and just trying to read up and get resources and stuff like that. And

I just, I felt like I was going insane. I actually felt like I was going a bit nuts because it was all I could think about all the time. And just because it was like worrying me so much. And also we're a really close family. At the age of 15? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we were really, really, really close family. We're very, very like tight knit. And so for me to have this like stress and weight and pressure and all these worries

that they knew nothing about, it was like, that was also stressing me out. I felt like I shouldn't have to be like that. And I didn't want to lie to my parents and I didn't want to lie to my brothers and sister. And I didn't want to lie to my friends either. So it got to the point where I physically felt like I couldn't keep it in anymore. I didn't want to live like that anymore. I didn't want to have this big secret.

And was it a surprise for them? I think it was. I don't know. I'm sure there was always something in the back of their head that maybe they questioned it. Like I in, I don't know. I'm sure that there was always something in the back of their head that maybe like they questioned it. You know, like I said, I was jumping out and singing Spice Girls when I was like three. So, you know, like little things like that. But I was also, I remember being super, super, super conscious of being too feminine when I was younger. Like I, it was just something that I was very, very aware of. Like, no, don't do that. That's

gay. I didn't even know what gay meant, but like I felt like it was a bad thing. So yeah, I felt like I, throughout my entire childhood, I'm like, one time I came downstairs and I was wearing like a wig. My mom had these like wigs and I'd put on one of the wigs and they started singing like Troiella DeVille

or whatever, like Cruella DeVille. And I started to cry my eyes out because i was like oh my god and i must have been like eight or something like that right but i was like oh my god oh my god oh my god they're gonna think that i'm gay and i didn't even know if i was at the time but like it was i just remember it being a serious serious serious worry for me so um i maybe they had it in the back of their heads but nothing nothing like they weren't like oh yeah we know it wasn't like that kind of a reaction which some people get right um so yeah it was still it was i think that makes it scarier as well sometimes i think if you think your parents know um you know maybe make it a bit easier but um yeah i didn't

think that they really knew and they told me that they didn't really know so how did they react and your siblings what was the no so okay so you were talking about the next day yeah no so my dad was completely fine with it so it was it was at night time we were just chilling on my bed and um we started talking about religion and we got into the topic i was like if you could change anything about religion what would you change the jewish religion was specifically because we're jewish okay and um he was like oh you know the whole gay thing doesn't really make sense to me you know why why the jewish religion isn't okay with that and i was like i was like, oh, you know, the whole gay thing doesn't really make sense to me. Why the Jewish religion isn't okay with that? And I was like, oh, okay, cool.

Yeah, yeah, me too. And I was like, well, because, and then I went like really quiet for like 30 seconds. It felt like an eternity. I don't know how long it was, to be honest. It could have been five seconds. It could have been two minutes. And my throat was like locking up and everything like that. And I just, I, I just said it. I was like, because I think I'm gay. Right. And he, um, I'll like never

ever forget the look that he gave me. Like it wasn't, it wasn't a look of disgust or it wasn't a look of like, it was just like really, really, I think it was a look of love a hundred percent because he just, um, yeah, it's like his eyes welled up immediately or whatever. And we just started hugging. And yeah, it was a really, really, really sweet moment. I asked him if he still loved me and he told me that he did. Wow. So it was really in a, he kind of inadvertently opened the door.

He kind of, for you to say, this is who I am. That was what I'd been waiting for, for weeks. I'd been thinking about it nonstop, especially when I was like hanging out one-on-one with either of my parents. It was all that I was thinking about. So I was waiting for something like that to happen. And as soon as he gave me that opportunity, I just kind of took it. But then, yeah. And so right away we spent like the next couple of hours just like talking in bed and catching up on like, you know, everything that I'd been thinking over the last 15 years that I couldn't speak about. And yeah, so we spent some time talking about that and everything. And then again, because we're

such a close family, I understood 1000%. I was like, you don't, you know, you can tell mom, you don't have to like lie to mom about it. And I woke up the next morning and it was like super, super early. I had slept like maybe two hours because I was shaking the whole night. It was a big, big, big thing for me. So yeah, I woke up and he was like, oh, I've told your mother. And I was like, okay, cool. So then I went upstairs and my mom was like, Troy, sit down. And what is it about, what are the dynamics of your relationship

with your mother versus your father? Did you anticipate that would be the way that it would be? You would tell your dad and then he would tell your mom as opposed to, because I think a lot of coming out stories that I'm familiar with, the, they, you tell your mom first. Right.

So I think it was, it's interesting to tell, you know, what do you, what do you think, what's the dynamic there? My dad's such a, like a softie.

Like we, we've always had a really, really, really close relationship just because from when I was about, I don't know, maybe like five or six, up until right after I told him, so up until like 15, every Friday night, my dad and I would sleep together. And we would talk and everything like that before we went to bed, and then we got to sleep.

So we used to have pretty deep conversations about life and everything. We used to go on walks as well and talk about life and bicycle rides and things like that before we went to bed and then we got to sleep. So we used to have like pretty like deep conversations about life and everything. We used to go on walks as well and like talk about, you know, I don't know, just life and bicycle rides and things like that. So I, like, I can understand why I told my dad first, but not, that doesn't discount any, like it doesn't discount my relationship with my mom as in, I think it was equally probable that I remember a few days before I was in the car with my mom and she was speaking about like a gay person in our community or something like that. And I was so, so, so close to telling her then, but I couldn't, I didn't have the courage or whatever

at that particular moment. I just wasn't ready. So, um, yeah, I, I was fully prepared to come out to either of them or both if I want, if, you know, if I was going to tell both of them, but at the same time, I think my mom would have 100% been able to see my dad the next morning and be like, wait, what's up? Why are you acting weird? And I'm sure that then he would have told her. I think it's a testimony to your dad and I guess both of your parents' approach to being, that's just not the type of conversation that you can have

just out of the blue, just coming out. You know, first you said we were having a conversation about the parts of the Jewish religion that we would change. I didn't say it, but I was like, that's an interesting topic of conversation with your 15-year-old son. You know, I think it's a testimony of your relationship that you've had those conversations on a weekly basis your whole life. And as a father myself, it's inspiring to hear that. You're laying this groundwork of conversations with, it's not just a child or my son or daughter, it's another human being that... 100%.

It takes a lot of work to have those type of conversations. But then when you have to have the awkward or the tough or the really weighty conversation you've at least laid the groundwork for it to happen and and you know he opened the door for that to be a safe place for you right well i maintain that those friday nights were they existed solely for me to eventually come out like as in obviously i didn't know it at the time when i was like oh wait can i sleep with you because like I don't know what happened. Maybe my parents had a fight or something like that the first time that we ever did it. And my dad and I got to sleep with my dad that night. But yeah, something happened. And then I was like, wait, it's Friday night. Can we sleep

together again? Because we had obviously had some cool conversation or something. So yeah, I don't know. I think that, and then right afterwards, well, obviously I was 15 at that point. So right after I'd come out, it carried on for maybe like another three or four weeks and then I just slept by myself and it just kind of like stopped happening. It served its purpose. I think, yeah, I think that's what its purpose was and it served that purpose and then it was done.

So I agree though, that was 100% the groundwork that set me up to be so okay with everything and okay with my parents yeah and so so you you came out to your family and and friends and so you would you got to a point where that was just part of the conversation that well he was having we stopped the story when you were talking about telling your mom right your mom was like sit down oh yeah no so so yeah so my mom was sitting down on the couch and she was like come like sit with me let's let's talk um because my dad was standing there he's like Troy I told your

mom and she's like come sit down and I'm at that point again my heart started racing and everything like that and she was completely completely okay with it like hugged me and um I don't remember her crying or me crying or anything like that it was it was like pretty relaxed um and yeah we just kind of spoke about it and um she was like to me, so you don't feel like you want to be a girl, right? And I was like, no, no, no, I don't. I don't know. I think that was probably a sensible question to ask as well, because I think that, like, for example, I came out, the first time I ever, ever came out was to my best friend and I came out as bisexual because I feel like it was like less a big of a deal, you know, than coming out as gay. So,

you know, I think my mom was just like covering her bases, making sure, are you transgender? What's going on? Well, there's medical costs associated with that, ultimately, that as a parent, maybe you'd have to start budgeting for. Right, exactly. It's not like braces. So yeah, I think she was just kind of like,

it was straight away, it was all about me. And my dad kept using the word a toolbox. He wanted to give me the toolbox to cope with everything that comes with being LGBT or being gay. And he just wanted to make sure that I had someone to speak to. So immediately within a week or whatever, we went and my dad's therapist, we went and we spoke to my dad's therapist, me, my mom and my dad, and we had a group session. And then I carried on going for a few weeks afterwards, just like alone to just like,

I guess, get out all of the issues that I previously hadn't been able to speak about, or, you know, still maybe didn't feel comfortable talking to my parents or my friends about maybe, you know, things like that. And that was really, really helpful. And now I still have that therapist's number in my phone. And my dad's always said to me, you know to me you know if ever ever ever you need to give her a call or you want me to give her a call just let me know and you know we can we can sort it out so things like that it was all about making sure that i was okay and had the like the tools to to deal with whatever was going to come because of this you know what i mean right and so a few years pass and of course then your youtube career becomes what it has become.

And so did you feel, obviously you didn't start by saying, okay, hey, I'm Troy and I'm gay. No, yeah. You decided at some point, okay, well, I'm going to come out to my audience. Yeah. Was that because you felt a sense of responsibility or it was like, well, I kind of feel like I've developed this relationship with this audience and it's time to sort of lay it all out there. Well, it's interesting. I think it's, I think it's probably both because, um, it was definitely a thing for me of, um, responsibility because I, before I came out to my parents, the thing that I turned to the entire time was the internet. It was the only thing I like I really knew how to do. So I think that

that's why I was also, um, like coming out to myself was kind of not easy, but it just, the whole process was okay because I knew I'd done some like Googling and things like that. And I knew that it was okay. So I knew that it wasn't a terrible, terrible thing. So for me, it was important to reiterate that message to this now, like almost, I think it was like 400,000 people that I, that were subscribed to me. And, um, then the other really, really big part of it was I was speaking to this audience more often than I spoke to like people who went to my school and more often than, you know, just people in my life that, um, you know, I was tweeting with them and speaking and just like legitimately having a conversation and relationship with this. It's

fair enough. It's a large group of people, but with this group of people, you know, and, um, again, it got to the point where like, I felt like I couldn't say certain things. It was literally like exactly the same as how I felt around my friends and my parents before I told them, I just like, I was like, I feel like I should be able to say this. And I don't even think it would be weird for me to say this with this audience. I feel like they would get it and everything would be fine. So, um, yeah. Like say what? I don't know. Just little things. Like I have a crush on a guy. Exactly. I want it to be able to tweet who my celebrity crush was, or I want it to be able to, you know, things like that. I just, uh, you know, I just want it to be able to acknowledge that and talk about that. And again, I was so lucky that by that point,

everywhere else in my life, it was such a non-issue that I was like, why am I hiding this thing that I'm really, really not ashamed of that could help a whole bunch of people like it helped me a few years ago. Like, I can't forget how much the internet, I need it, you know, I felt the responsibility to like be that for someone else, you know? Yeah. And yeah, and I, even something like before I told the internet, I got the advice of a few people. And one of the first people was Tyler Oakley. I spoke to him on Skype and I was, you on Skype and it was my first time speaking to him. It was just on chat because I was too nervous to do a video call or whatever. I came out to him and I'm thinking about coming out to my audience.

He also gave me advice and everything like that. I just felt like it was, it was time and it felt odd to not be out to them. I don't know. It just, it got to that point. And I think once it gets to that point, that's when, that's when you know that you're getting close to doing it. And then on top of that, I think, I think it's also made like real life easier because I haven't had to come out to someone in a really, really long time in person because a lot of the people that I meet have seen my YouTube videos and things like that. So for me, it's a big relief in real life. Like I still get really, really, really nervous.

If I'm with someone who doesn't know and they start like talking to me about girls or something like that, I like freak out because I haven't actually like had that awkward moment of saying to someone, I'm gay actually. You're like, here's my YouTube channel. Yeah, I send them, I'm like subscribe to Troye Sivan 18. My most popular video. You like pull it up on your phone right there yeah just just watch this i'll i'll be back in like i'll be back like a minute or no i'll just hold my phone and you can just watch my coming out video that is your most popular video yeah it's my most viewed

video well and speaking of that it's like you know like you said it's it's so helpful for people to be able to see your youtube presence in this particular YouTube video. It's an interesting thing. There's a lot of different dynamics here. One of them is that you get to craft your coming out story and edit it. That was weird. And put it out there.

Having made it, is there something that you would change about it? I'm certain you have an ongoing dialogue with your audience about it, but that video, that's the video people go back to, to, you know, to be like, oh, he's gay. And here's the, here's a story. Any, would you change anything? No, I'm, I'm proud of that video. I think that, I think for me, there was a lot of time, like one of the biggest things before I was, before I did it was, why am I doing that? You know, like, why do I feel the responsibility to tell people about who I'm attracted to on the internet? Why am I telling strangers this information? This is bizarre.

But then I reminded myself of the other things, thinking about how much this helped you when you were 15. And also, you want to be able to have an open dialogue with people, so you need to make this first tough step. So yeah, I think that, I don't think I'd change anything about that video. I think that I emphasize that it wasn't everything about me. And that's something that I'm kind of also happy that I did is that I built the relationship with my audience prior to coming out. So my relationship with my audience is not based off of me being gay. And I didn't audience is not based off of me being gay. And I didn't build my audience based off of me being gay.

I don't run an LGBT channel. You know what I mean? I'm an LGBT person who makes YouTube videos that people hopefully enjoy. So yeah, and I'm proud of all of that. So I don't think I'd change anything about that video. What changed after releasing the video for you? I mean, did it change the complexion of your channel? I mean, you just kind of described what you were and what you weren't, how you saw it.

Did anything change? Yeah, some things changed. As in now I can do a skit again about my celebrity crush. I can talk about that in a video. I can talk about a cute boy in a video and not have to worry about it. And I can tweet whatever I want. And I honestly feel like I'm not hiding anything from the internet, which I don't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing, but I'm very much, you know, what you see is what you get kind of thing. Maybe I'm a bit more chill, like we discussed before, you know, when I'm not on camera. But pretty much they get me in a really deep and honest way.

They get me. And watching vloggers and the most successful ones, I think there has to be that connection. There has to be that authenticity that I'm not sure I'm editing myself, but it's still me. There is that connection. You can't keep back who you are. No, of course.

It's just like this innate sense that the audience will see through it. Yeah. People who are just vlogging to be somebody they're not isn't going to work. 100%. And I think I've had this conversation with a bunch of people, and those videos, Grace. it's Grace, right? When she posts those videos of her, like where she's had like a big night out before and she's like in bed or whatever, and you know that she's either sick or she's had a big night out, but she's just kind of like

chilled in her bed making a video. Those are like my favorite videos. Cause it just makes her so like real and human. If she was like on every single day, I would, I think that, I don't know. I just don't think her relationship with her audience would be as strong as it is. So things like that, that's kind of why I started a second channel. I just want to show people a much less edited and produced version of myself, even though I really believe that my YouTube personality is a part of my personality. It doesn't consume me at all times, but I'm not like putting on an act or anything like that. I never act for my YouTube videos, you know? So I think that's important as well.

Yeah, it's just, it's like authenticity needs to, the authenticity needs to be there because eventually you're going to get caught out if it's not there. You know what I mean? Maybe you could fool people for a little bit. I don't really even think you can fool them for a little bit. But eventually people are going to find out what kind of person you really are. Is one of the things that changed after the video was that your audience wanted to start putting you in relationships with people, like that whole Troiler thing, right? Yeah. So shipping you and Tyler together, you guys are in a relationship now type of thing. Yeah.

That, I mean, that's a result of... Yeah, no, so that changed. I didn't think about that. But yeah, I'd never really been shipped before. And like I honestly say, I think Troy is like the most shipped ship on YouTube right now. I don't know, it's just...

And how does it work? Explain it. Basically, I think originally what it was is I admire Tyler Oakley so much as a human and as a creator, I think he's awesome, right? So, and on top of that, when I was a young little kidling watching YouTube videos about being gay

and stuff like that, he was one of the results that came up. So I've got a relationship with him that goes way back to before we met. We met a year ago today, actually, it was on his birthday. Um, so I've only really known him for a year in person, but, um, I don't know. I've, I've just had a, in my head, I've had the relationship of what I assumed the viewers have with me or, you know, have with any YouTuber. It's like that cyber relationship. You feel like, you know, the person. So, um,

eventually then when i started kind of making videos and everything and he he paid attention to it which was fine this is before i was out and then i came out and then like a week later we collabed for the first time or two weeks later and so it was the very next video i think that it was so and also okay so you come out and then your next video is... It was with Tyler. Here's my boyfriend. Well, it wasn't. And you said that, right? No, definitely not.

No, for sure not. This was all a marketing scheme for... No, it just really happened that way. I was in LA for VidCon, I think it was. Yeah, VidCon. And yeah, that was the next video that I filmed. I wanted to do a collaboration. And Tyler and I had kind of become friends over Playlist and again i'd come out to him so we'd become

really tight friends and um we just thought we'd collab and i don't know i guess people saw some sort of chemistry or something like that there that they just liked and started to but also i think there's also that thing of oh he's gay he's gay they're gonna you know i don't know do whatever or they should you guys should be together because you're both gay it's like that same thing it's like oh my god i i have a gay friend do you know blah blah blah i'm like i don't know every gay person in the world just because we're both gay and how do you navigate that because uh obviously there is uh like even if you if you search troiler you know on google you'll you'll get all these all this conjecture from people about oh they, they are dating, and

people who just will not take that and take no for an answer. They just assume that that's the reality. You're obviously saying that you're not in a relationship. You're just friends that happen to be gay. But surely, people's perception of putting you and shipping you with somebody like Tyler, who's so successful, that's still got to be a positive thing for your brand. But how do you navigate? Are you always like, oh, I have to repeatedly clarify that we're not in a relationship? Or are you just kind of like, no, I'm going to let that tension just kind of linger out there? No, for me, I think it's like, regardless of brand and stuff like that, I think it's a fun, i think shipping is an honestly a really really fun part of the online community and a fun part of being in like a fandom of some

sort you know i i ship two members of one direction i'm not going to say who because i'll get like stoned to death by the people who don't ship them but that's the part that i don't like is that you know like it gets serious and weird and people take it people get crazy with it you know what i mean but um and there's definitely been times where there's been like a strain not on our serious and weird and people take it, people get crazy with it. You know what I mean? But, um, and there's definitely been times where there's been like a strain, not on our friendship or anything like that, but like just this weird, like pressure. Like I, I won't check my Tumblr tag for a few days just because I know that people are going to be, I don't know, either making stuff up or, um, you know, just kind of talking and it stresses me out sometimes. And it stresses Tyler out sometimes. But, um, I think we were in a really, really good place now, which is we are as in on it as our audience

are, you know what I mean? So regardless of how real trailer is, it's fun and we're all enjoying, we're all enjoying it a hundred percent. And, um, I love Tyler. I really genuinely do. He's an amazing, amazing, amazing person. And I couldn't be happier to have him, you know, be a part of my online existence. So, um, yeah, we're just kind of like, we're enjoying it. It's not the kind of thing that prevents you from, you're like, oh, we can't do another video because of all this. You're like, no, no. But at the same time, like now I'm like, I'll get excited if we're going to post a video. I'm going to be like, oh my God, everyone's going to be so excited about this. They love, they love us together, whether, whether they think that we're friends or that we think we're dating.

Regardless, I don't know, something about you and me hanging out really makes them happy and they're enjoying it. We're making good videos together. So yeah, we get excited by it. You know what I mean? I did stuff on the main stage today with him at Playlist Live. We do stuff together because people like it and we enjoy doing it. He's my best friend, so why wouldn't I want to hang out with him and do stuff with him on a daily

basis? Right. So you're dating. No comment. No comment. Oh, see, it's just like,

it's just one of those things. I don't know. It's just, it's like you said, it's probably just better to leave, leave alone. Okay. I see how it works.

Okay. So I love that you just said no comment. I feel like I just got to press. No, I won't. But I'll leave an awkward silence for a second. I'm happy to leave an awkward silence. Let's do that. Okay.

We can also edit it to make it longer. Or we can just insert the mouth sounds. I'm swallowing. Breathing. Okay, so if we're not going to get that detail out of you, how many details can we get out of your secret project that you're working on that you mentioned at the beginning? Yeah, go.

I'll say it's potentially the biggest thing that I've ever done in my whole life, like work-wise. Okay. It's something that I've always, always, always wanted to do. It's something that I think the very, very diehard fans have a clue of what it's about, at least. You're going to be on Wheel of Fortune, aren't you? No, I wish.

That would be bigger than this. No, I'm just kidding. No, it's just something that I've been working really, really, really hard on for I guess just under a year now. It's starting to get to the exciting point. But the reason why I don't want to say anything is just because it's too far away now and I don't want to get people excited yet

because I just want to... Do you think that they will get excited now and then not be excited when it happens? No, not necessarily not be excited, but I just think it's going to be funner for everyone involved if I'm just like, oh, by the way, I've been doing this for a year and you guys are going to consume it in a month or two months. You know what I mean?

Keep it to where it's closer to people being able to get it. There's going to be a big launch. But you've written it maybe it took a while to write maybe yeah and maybe i'm writing it now well you're not done writing it but you've written enough of it to it is written to be excited about it go right it's written to go ahead and get in you've got enough people excited you know this is bigger you've got other people involved can i can i see your palm yeah that's gonna help me go ahead but okay yeah we've got the lifeline here taking a left uh so it's a it's an actual thing it's a how how old am i going to be when i die it's an album i

can look at your um your uh your palm and tell it's a It's a blockbuster album. What if it's a film? What if it's a book? It's an album, a film, and a book together. It's a big project. It's a book set. All three. Yeah, yeah.

It's a feature-length movie that's based on a novel that you've written, and it has a soundtrack featuring original songs from you. And that is awesome. I'm glad we can break that to your audience. Is this going to be on your channel? Or is this going to be something that's going to be out there somewhere else or you don't know yet?

Probably a bit of both. I'm excited to carry on making my videos while all this is happening because I think it's something that not a lot of people have done before. So I'm excited to have a very close relationship with my audience while this is going on

whatever it is I'm still racking my brain because you've got the proven acting chops you've got the vocal chops and you're in a blockbuster, you know, relationship. So you've got all these elements. Spoiler the movie. I think Rhett's saying it could be anything.

I think that's the exciting thing. That is what's kind of exciting about it. And I think that, okay, I think that sometimes, and I'm not going to name any names, I'm not even thinking of anybody in particular, but sometimes you hear about people who've kind of come up through YouTube, especially someone who would categorize themselves as a vlogger on YouTube. Who's like, I got this big project in the works. And you kind of roll your eyes internally because you're like, you're just a vlogger. But I think the interesting thing about you is, yes, you are a vlogger, but you're a lot more than that. And you're a talented guy who can act, who can sing.

I assume can write things and create original projects too. So I think it's going to, I'm excited about whatever it is. And I think your audience is obviously going to be excited about it. But I'm also excited about what that kind of thing continues to do for the community, for the YouTube community, because there's real stuff happening here. No, 100% there is stuff happening. And like I said, one of my goals is,

though the stuff is very, I'm not going to use the term beyond YouTube, because I hate that, I think that's gross, but it's out of the space, I'd say. Largely. So I'm excited to keep up the YouTube, just keep them engaged with what's going on. That's why I can't wait to announce it.

People just think I'm eating slack and not uploading videos. It's because I've got stuff going on. You're already shooting it? Shooting? Yeah, it's a film, right? A film wouldn't take a year, would it? Unless I was writing the movie. I don't know, maybe I'm writing a movie. Maybe that's what I'm up to.

So it's not that. Can we make a cameo? Is it too late? Yeah, I guess you could be involved in some capacity. Yeah, like a rap cameo on the album part. Throw it to a rap. Will that work? Or does it need to be more of like a... on the album part. Throw it to a rap. Yeah. Will that work?

Or does it need to be more like a... Do we need to write a recommendation on the back cover? You could write a recommendation on a book or a movie, though. As long as we get to say our name like Timbaland says his name when he produces a track.

No, do it like Jason Derulo. Do it like... Jason Derulo. Okay, we've got to come up with our own thing. Jason Derulo. Red hand. I think I'll just sing Jason Derulo. Do it like, Jason Derulo. Okay. We've got to come up with our own thing. Jason Derulo. Rat and... I think I'll just sing Jason Derulo.

Oh, okay. I was leaving that. Rat and Jason Derulo. Yeah. Yeah, that's going to be a little confusing. Well, this has been fun and insightful. Thank you. We appreciate the time.

No worries. That flew by. Is it done? Is it over? Yeah. Wow. Cool. I mean, we got as much as we could get out of you.

And I didn't cry. So that's good. I thought I was maybe going to cry because I don't know. It's going to be intense. We can do that in post. Anytime anyone asks me about it, I'm going to be like, guys, it is so intense. You have no idea how intense that interview is. We're going to put the voice crack filter on your voice in the middle part.

There it was, our Ear Biscuit with Troy Savant. I truly enjoyed our conversation with Troy. I appreciated him letting us in on his story. And I think it would be great if you let Troy know what you thought. Tell him thanks for being on the show. Tweet at him, twitter.com slash Troy Savan. That's Troy with an E-S-I-V-A-N. Troy, an E at the end.

Yeah, T-R-O-Y-E-S-I-V-A-N. I mean, I don't know where else it would go, but I'm just letting you know it's at the end. And add hashtag Ear Biscuits so we can see that conversation too. Let us know what you thought. Yeah, first time we've resorted to palm reading on an Ear Biscuit,

which makes me think maybe we should do that every week. Because you thought it went that well. Yeah, I mean, I think we might have a natural talent. What are you looking at when you look at a palm? How are you reading it? Well, you were the one looking at the palm. I know, but I'm just asking. I want to tell you what I do. I just want to know what you do, because if we're going to go into business together and open up a palm reading place. Well, I

look at the hand where the palm is. I mean, I've never really tried to do it. I think well, the thing that I would want to make sure we did was just couch I've never really tried to do it I think well the thing that I would want to make sure we did was just couch people's expectations Rhett and Link palm readers is very much entertain first actually give

the future probably never but I guarantee you'll have a good time and you'll kind of be holding hands with us but I can I'm really good at that's worth at manipulating people and making things up about them to make them excited about their future. I mean, that's what palm readers do anyway.

I think the thing that we need to do is the logo. I'm concerned about the logo. It should definitely have a hand in it, though. Whose palm is it going to be? That's kind of expected, isn't it? Yeah. What if we read the back of the hand? Like, back of the hand readers.

What do you call it? Is there a short name for back of the hand? The unpalm reader. The alter palm reader. I think it's backhand. Backhand readers. The backhanders. The backhanders?

They're going to think they're going to come in and get slapped. We can offer that for a fee. Okay. We read the back for a fee. Okay. We read the back of your hand and then we backhand you. See, this is our creative process, people. Welcome to it. I think it's a pretty horrible idea. You wanna know your future?

Well, pucker up for this backhand. But I do, I do. You're gonna get slapped in the near future. I do enjoy speculating about people's secret projects. And that's kind of become a thing. Have you noticed that? Well, they don't want to talk about it. We need a secret project.

Everything we do is too public. Everything we do, we tell people about it. Let's do something secret. Let's start a secret society. Well, it can't be a palm reader business because we've let that cat out of the bag. Well, I can come up with something else. I mean, if we had kept that one to ourselves, we could have just said, and we also have a secret project.

That's how we could have been talking about it like that. I think we've missed the opportunity. I've got an idea. Oh, you do? I'm not going to tell them about it, though. Is it secret? Oh, very secret. Is it project-like?

Well, it can be made into a project. Is it a science project? Do you know? Because I won a couple of those back in the day. We'll talk about that later. No. All right, guys,

do you know a chicken farmer? I know quite a few actually. Okay. That's a key. Don't give them too many hints on our secret chicken farming project. No, it's not a chicken farming project. Thanks for hanging out with us as we hung out with Troy.

And now, as we speculate on what our, how secret of our project should be. Give us feedback by using hashtag EarBiscuits as well on the Twitter. And leave us a review on iTunes. It makes a difference. We don't know exactly how it works, but we know that when

you go on there and you show some love by rating and reviewing the podcast, listening to the podcast, it goes up in the rankings. More people hear EarBiscuits, more biscuits are made, more love for the Ear Biscuits. More biscuits are made. More love for the Ear Biscuits happens, and everyone is happier. And we'll speak at you next week.

You can count on us to serve up the biscuit, and we can count on you to listen to it. So we appreciate that. Unless this secret project involves the chicken farm really takes a lot of time, and we may not see you next week. But don't count on it. We'll be here probably.