Troye Sivan has a new single out, and it comes with a narrator you might not expect. “Party” is the lead track from his upcoming album She’s the Best, and the video has Sir Ian McKellen doing the talking. Yes, Gandalf himself narrates the clip, which follows Sivan as a Medieval knight in a baroque setting.
The song itself is built around a sample of Madonna’s Y2K hit “Music,” and it arrives with a director credit for Gordon von Steiner. The video is described as “risqué,” which fits a knight in a fancy setting telling you about a dance floor.
The Track
“Party” is the lead single from Sivan’s new album, She’s the Best. The record is due October 9, following his 2023 release Something to Give Each Other.
Sivan spoke about the track in press materials. “Dance music sounds very different on a dance floor than it does coming out of your laptop speaker,” he said. “The repetition becomes almost hypnotic, and I wanted to play with structure in that way.”
The sample is the obvious hook. “Music” was a defining moment for Madonna at the turn of the millennium, and Sivan’s version leans into that energy.
The Video
The visual side is where things get interesting. Sivan plays a Medieval knight, and the setting is described as baroque. That means ornate, detailed, and probably very lavish.
Gordon von Steiner directed the clip. Sir Ian McKellen provides the voiceover. He is best known as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings films. His involvement adds a layer of absurdity to the whole enterprise — a knight, a Madonna sample, and a wizard’s voice guiding it all.
The clip also includes a cameo from Nicole Kidman. She appeared in the music video for Sivan’s title track.
What We Make Of It
This is a bold move. Sivan is taking a well-known pop song, dressing himself in Medieval armor, and asking a famous actor to explain it all.
The combination is genuinely amusing. A Medieval knight is not the usual framing device for a dance track, and the sample makes the contrast even sharper. The video asks viewers to sit with a knight dancing to a Madonna track while a wizard explains why the repetition is hypnotic.
Sivan’s point about the difference between a laptop speaker and a dance floor is a fair one. The repetition that can feel monotonous on a small speaker becomes hypnotic in a room full of people moving together.
The album She’s the Best arrives October 9. It follows Something to Give Each Other, released in 2023. Sivan announced the record last month alongside its title track, which also featured Nicole Kidman in its video.
The single’s reception will depend on how audiences react to the visual concept. A knight in Medieval armor dancing to a Madonna sample is a strong image, but it may not translate to everyone’s radio.
- Album: She’s the Best
- Release date: October 9
- Single: “Party”
- Sample: Madonna’s “Music”
- Director: Gordon von Steiner
- Voiceover: Sir Ian McKellen (as Gandalf)
- Cameo: Nicole Kidman
The Verdict
This is a fun stunt. It is not subtle, and it does not pretend to be. Sivan is taking a classic pop reference, dressing it up in period garb, and adding a voiceover from a beloved character actor.
Whether it works as a piece of art is a separate question. As a marketing tool, it is hard to miss. The video is visually striking, and the pairing of Sivan’s modern pop sound with a knight in a fancy setting creates a memorable image.
The song itself remains the core of the package. A sample of “Music” is a strong foundation, and Sivan’s point about repetition as hypnosis is a genuine observation about how music functions.
For now, the video stands as a bold statement. It is the kind of project that gets noticed, and it does not apologize for being weird. That is a good position to be in when you are trying to promote a new album.
“Party” is out now, and the full album She’s the Best arrives later this year.
Source material: “Gandalf Narrates Troye Sivan’s New “Party” Video,” Pitchfork.
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