"Got Me Started" is a song by Australian singer
Troye Sivan
Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter, actor and YouTuber. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013 and released his thir ...
. It was released through
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, ...
and
Capitol
A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity.
Specific capitols include:
* United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
* Numerou ...
on 20 September 2023 as the second single from his third studio album, ''
Something to Give Each Other
''Something to Give Each Other'' is the third studio album by Australian singer and songwriter Troye Sivan. It was released by EMI Music Australia and Capitol Records on 13 October 2023. It is Sivan's first album release in five years, followi ...
''. It samples "
Shooting Stars" (2009) by Australian electronic duo
Bag Raiders
Bag Raiders are an Australian electronic music duo founded in 2006 by Jack Glass and Chris Stracey. They play keyboards, drums, and act as vocalists, producers, and remixers, with Stracey additionally playing guitar, violin and piano. They also ...
.
At the
2024 ARIA Music Awards
The 2024 ARIA Music Awards are the 38th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) and consist of a series of awards, including the 2024 ARIA Awards, ARIA Artisan Aw ...
, the song was nominated for
Song of the Year Song of the Year may refer to:
* Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year
* Dove Award for Song of the Year
* Golden Melody Award for Song of the Year
* Grammis Song of the Year
* Grammy Award for Song of the Year
* Latin Grammy Awa ...
.
"Got Me Started" also received a nomination for
Best Dance Pop Recording at the
67th Annual Grammy Awards.
Background
Describing the creation process, Sivan explained: "When we were writing this song, I was emphatic about using 'Shooting Stars'—I just kept humming it in the studio. It's a huge sample and was a big ask; and I knew that they had never approved it in the past. So I'm over the moon about the opportunity to sample that track because this song is iconic to me. And then we have Ian Kirkpatrick on production, who is a genius. I love his work – he had this plan to record the vocal at a slower speed and then speed it up, and ultimately that's what you hear in the chorus. I instantly loved the way it sounded."
Sivan explained that sampling "Shooting Stars" came naturally while he and his team were working on the song in the studio but that he did not actually believe that Bag Raiders members
Jack Glass
John Thomas Atkinson Glass (8 September 1936 – 24 February 2004), often known as Pastor Jack Glass or simply as Jack Glass, was a Scottish Protestant preacher, evangelist and political activist. Glass is most readily associated with his stro ...
and
Chris Stracey would allow him to use the track in the final version. Discussing how he convinced them to give him permission, Sivan stated "It was one of the first songs that we wrote for the album and it just stuck around. They
ag Raiderswere like, 'By the way, we've had hundreds of requests and we've never said 'yeah,' so don't fuck this up.' And I was like, 'I promise you, I'm going to make a video. It's going to be sick.' Like, I really believe in this."
Music video
The song's music video, directed by Gordon von Steiner, was released concurrently with the single on 20 September. Shot in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populatio ...
, Thailand, the video includes various clips of Sivan, featuring him walking and running through the city, sitting nude in a bathhouse, flying up the side of a building and engaging in choreography with several dancers. It concludes with him dancing in a disco ball jumpsuit on a heli-pad. The video also features cameos from fellow UMG recording artist
PP Krit
Krit Amnuaydechkorn ( th, กฤษฏ์ อำนวยเดชกร; also known as PP (), born 30 April 1999), is a Thai actor, model and singer. He is known for his roles as Tewkao in ''My Ambulance'' (2019) and as Oh-aew in ''I Told Sunset ...
, and Thai drag performers
Angele Anang
Angele-Anang Pokinwuttipob, known professionally as Angele Anang, is a Thai drag performer, best known for winning the second season of ''Drag Race Thailand'', the Thai spinoff of '' RuPaul's Drag Race''. She was the first transgender winner in ...
,
Année Maywong, and
Miss Gimhuay.
Discussing the video with
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
, Sivan explained "There's this sort of reprise when the synth comes back at the end in the video when I'm like being pulled up the building and there's this new drum pattern and to me it was perfect. It was the euphoric moment of that total freedom of realizing that you're completely fine on your own and that also this is not a moment of sadness, but a moment of endless possibilities."
Reception
In reviews for the album ''Something to Give Each Other'', ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' stated that "'Got Me Started' bookends its propulsive
two-step beat with a sample snatched from Bag Raiders' 'Shooting Stars', aka from ''that'' years-old meme. Although initially grating, its wiggling synths build upon the song's romantic pining in a way that feels funnily reminiscent of
Overmono
Overmono is a Welsh electronic music duo consisting of brothers Tom and Ed Russell.
History
Both Tom and Ed Russell had careers in music prior to the formation of Overmono. Tom made predominantly hard techno under the name 'Truss', and Ed as ...
's sample-heavy take on
UK garage
UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. I ...
", while ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' said that the song "has a nimble UK garage rhythm."
In popular culture
The song was used in a sketch during the
49th season of ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...
'' featuring
Bowen Yang
Bowen Yang ( zh, link=no, 楊伯文; born November 6, 1990) is an Australian-born American actor, comedian, podcaster, and writer based in New York City. He co-hosts a comedy pop-culture podcast, '' Las Culturistas,'' with Matt Rogers. Since Se ...
as a doctor examining
Sarah Sherman, a patient who has started seeing visions of a dancing Sivan (played by host
Timothee Chalamet, with
Boygenius
Boygenius (stylized in all lowercase) is an American indie rock supergroup formed in 2018 by Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. Their self-titled debut EP '' boygenius'' was written and recorded at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles ...
appearing as clones) as her
sleep paralysis demon. Sivan himself reacted to the sketch and changed his profile pictures on social media to that of Chalamet.
The song was also used in the 2023 romantic comedy film ''
Anyone But You''.
Charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{Troye Sivan
2023 songs
2023 singles
Troye Sivan songs
Capitol Records singles
Songs written by Troye Sivan
Songs written by Tayla Parx
Song recordings produced by Ian Kirkpatrick (record producer)
Songs written by Ian Kirkpatrick (record producer)
Songs written by Leland (musician)
UK garage songs