Throughout the record, Sivan puts two versions of himself at odds: the one who feels perfectly at home in a crowd, and the one who yearns for someone to go home with after the party. He’s both a feverish hedonist and an introspective romantic. The further you get into the tracklist, the harder it becomes to separate the two.
In a TikTok-ified music landscape that’s hellbent on building songs around one catchy hook, Sivan makes music that rewards you for listening from start to finish. You might like a song by the first chorus, but by the end, you’ll love it, because he never leaves it in the same place. His arrangements are full of unexpected detours, flourishes, and details so inventive that you wonder how anyone thought to try them in the first place, let alone how they managed to make them all work together. There’s no desire to make a clean, clear-cut pop "hit". A random vocalization? A flute? Why not? You can practically hear Sivan saying, "Wait, hear me out" all over She’s the Best.
Let's break it down track-by-track!
"She’s the Best"
Backed by hazy synths and a generous dose of production flourishes, Sivan paints a picture of a woman who’s always drained and unflatteringly messy, but still altogether fabulous. He sounds like he’s telling you about that friend you just have to meet, including a few details she’d probably rather he kept to himself. His spoken-word verses are affectionate without ever becoming overly sentimental, and somehow, the less flattering the portrait, the more convincing his admiration. As an opening track, it’s a nice reminder — before all the romantic yearning to come — that Sivan’s life isn’t missing intimacy, just a particular kind of it.
Favorite Lyrics: "She takes down an incel on the internet / When she needs just a little unwind..."
"Canada Dry"
Built around a cheeky double entendre about his attraction to a Canadian man, this track is a sugar rush equally suited to dancing in a packed club or making everyone at a red light listen to it with you. Sivan’s vocals are so thoroughly woven into the production that his words often (and somewhat progressively) become indistinguishable, to the point where his voice might as well be another synthesizer. By the outro, it’s clear Sivan has never heard the phrase "quit while you’re ahead" and frankly, we hope he never does.
Favorite Lyrics: "And you look like you got something to say that’s just for me..."
"Party"
Sivan lists places to party with all the lyrical sophistication of a group chat making Friday night plans, but that’s sort of the point. He leans into the phonetic quality of each syllable, using their sounds and stresses to propel the rhythm. For all the song’s wonderfully mindless repetition, the interpolation of Madonna’s "Music" cuts through to give the revelry a sweetly sincere thesis: music brings people together.
Favorite Lyrics: "Party on the way to the party at the park..."
"I Do This For You"
Sivan is running for Boyfriend, and he’d very much appreciate your vote. This track is practically an infomercial for a man who’s done everything he can think of to become someone’s dream partner, only to discover that love isn’t much of a meritocracy. Brassy, jazz-tinged house synths, an off-kilter trip-hop sample, and sudden swings in intensity make the production every bit as theatrical and eager to impress as Sivan himself.
Favorite Lyrics: "Find hot singles in the Los Angeles area / Sit around, talk, and sink deep into my sofa..."
"Cowboy"
After spending "I Do This For You" making his case, Sivan abandons all bargaining power. The cowboy doesn’t have to prove himself; one call, and Sivan is sold. Sonically, it’s a softer affair, pairing dreamy indie-pop with a few well-placed hints of Western flair — the kind of meticulous, casually inventive production that makes the George Daniel and Jack Antonoff credits unsurprising.
Favorite Lyrics: "I wanna feel your shackles against my wrist / I wanna taste the blood on your busted lip..."
"Embarrassingly"
At his most vulnerable, Sivan confesses that he still fantasizes about an ex from years ago, even though he’s pretty sure the feeling isn’t mutual. In the verses, looking back feels lonely and humiliating; in the chorus, it’s still intoxicating enough to keep doing it. The gentle, jangling acoustic guitars are almost comically romantic for a song with such endearingly depraved subject matter. By the bridge, Sivan’s voice drops to a near-whisper, as though he’s suddenly embarrassed to be overheard, even on his own record.
Favorite Lyrics: "It’s so amazing turning on my iPhone 6S / And taking a step I shouldn’t be taking..."
"Le Boy"
Sivan’s dream guy hasn’t entered his life yet, but he’s already inspired a rather extravagant love song. If "Embarrassingly" has an intoxicating chorus, this one is straight-up addictive. Its sweeping, reverb-drenched walls of sound recall the anthemic grandeur of Britpop. Sivan seems well aware of the chorus’s appeal, teasing its enormous swell in the first verse, only to pull back. That push and pull between tentative restraint and full-blown euphoria feels a lot like the difference between the life he’s living and the one he’s daydreaming about.
Favorite Lyrics: "Driving around, do things I enjoy / I got the car, but, baby, I still haven’t found le-"
"Sex Star"
For a song called "Sex Star", it is awfully fixated on domestic companionship. Confidence and insecurity butt heads here. Sivan finds himself desirable, but he can’t find someone to share the life he’s built. The intricately stacked vocal harmonies are hypnotic, but as the processing grows more pronounced, his voice is more and more removed from the intimacy he’s conjuring up.
Favorite Lyrics: "I don’t want drinks, I don’t wanna go out / I just want you in my really nice house..."
"Troye Meets World"
After several tracks spent longing for a plus-one, Sivan remembers he has a whole guest list. This track doesn’t begin so much as barge in, dragging a skittering breakbeat and a woodwind section behind it. Bouncy, tightly layered R&B melodies mingle with shuffling two-step rhythms and the sped-up vocal playfulness of hyperpop, making for a delightfully crowded arrangement. We even get some crucial family lore. Thank you, Troye Sivan’s Mom!
Favorite Lyrics: "And who would’ve thought I like a good time, baby? / Get it from mom, she passed me down her crazy..."
"FF"
For a true ballad, the acronym "FF" makes for a hilariously unceremonious lifelong vow. The track’s unabashed romanticism recalls Sivan’s own Blue Neighbourhood (2015), while the sprawling, shoegaze-tinged production lets the emotion build without rushing toward a conventional pop payoff. By the final chorus, what began as a promise of forever now sounds like a plea for it to finally begin.
Favorite Lyrics: "I saw a bead of your sweat drippin’ off of your head into your Blue Moon / So I take a big sip, and I’m licking my lips while I’m lookin’ at you..."
"Love So Big It Hurts"
Here, Sivan’s idea of romance has the competitive spirit of a playground argument. You love to infinity? Well, he loves to infinity plus one. This song breaks a pattern of choruses that burst open, allowing the arrangement to close in around the declaration of love instead. Lyrically, the verses are much lonelier, finding him sleepless and passing the time with household chores. Yet that’s where the production puts most of its energy, as though the hours he’s currently trying to kill might be worth looking forward to if there were someone else around.
Favorite Lyrics: "I can’t sleep, I’m feeling just like a kid at night..."
"Lost Time" (feat. Lily-Rose Depp)
In another love song written in advance, Sivan imagines meeting someone so right for him that all the years before their introduction will suddenly seem like time they need to make up for. Lily-Rose Depp’s starry-eyed French monologue gives the fantasy an almost fated quality, as though this love has existed long before the two have met. After an album spent reinventing the pop chorus, Sivan’s final trick is to let one practically evaporate.
Favorite Lyrics: "Being busy is overrated / Just wanna stay at home and be creative..."
She’s the Best is an interesting title for an album so preoccupied with finding a boyfriend. But after all the romantic fantasies, shameless confessions, and occasional humiliations, it starts to make perfect sense. The songs may be mostly about men, but the album feels like it’s being told to women. And while Sivan spends much of the record longing for someone who isn’t around, the women in his life very much are.
