Openly gay Aussie pop singer Troye Sivan appears to have taken #20gayteen as a personal challenge, releasing a new song which supposedly addresses losing one's virginity as the "bottom" in a gay relationship.
The track, aptly titled "Bloom", is now taking the internet by storm - and it's no surprise why.
For those like me, who grew up in the 90s and early 00s, learning about gay sex was something left to the patient educators of amateur gay porn. These lessons were held late at night by the blue screen light of your parents' PC. They were conducted at a dial-up internet pace and were always followed by a diligent "clear all history" web cleanup.
There were no laminated diagrams, slid into overhead projectors in sex-ed class. There were no awkwardly narrated BBC documentaries about the 'birds and the bees'.
And there were certainly no pop songs delivering the promise that everything was going to be gay-okay.
While other local musicians such as have brilliantly risen to the challenge of representing the less palatable elements of queer culture for international audiences, Sivan's "Bloom" does what few others have managed to; it has introduced themes of gay sex to those who are perhaps experiencing it for the first time.
As someone who lost their virginity to a total stranger at the age of 18 and subsequently embarked on a hit-and-miss-miss-miss journey of sexual self-discovery, it's hard not to recognise the value in candid pop lyrics which venture to find beauty in the occasionally messy and painful.
To do so on a mainstream world stage is nothing short of remarkable.
Sivan has already been open in addressing the challenges of becoming sexually active as a gay teenager, particularly when your main points of connection are online and through hook-up apps. His experiences growing up in Perth aren't dissimilar to my own in Sydney's inner-west, meeting up with older men and feeling too insecure and embarrassed to tell anyone where I was going.
“[I] started to try to meet people who were like me, but you sort of are forced a little bit into these hyper-sexualised environments, and even though that’s awesome when you’re 17… I didn’t know what else to do." Sivan said in a recent cover story interview for magazine.
“I don’t remember specifically but, because I was always so small, I was so scared to meet up with people because I was like, ‘I’m going to get killed, I’m going to get murdered by someone'.”
What I suspect Sivan will accomplished through his release of "Bloom" is far greater than any industry accolade; it's removing some of the shame and stigma that can still be attached to gay sex, particularly for those without trusted and open educational figures in their lives.
And that the song's true meaning will surely remain undiscovered for many a homophobic parent is the (popped) cherry atop the sweetest cake.
You can watch the lyric video for "Bloom" below:
