Troye Sivan knew exactly who he wanted when he began imagining the woman at the center of his new “She’s the Best” music video, Nicole Kidman. What he did not expect was for her answer to arrive while he was sitting in the middle of a Zoom meeting.
Sivan told Rolling Stone that he sent Kidman the song and visual references before receiving a call from an unfamiliar number. He initially let it go to voicemail, then saw the transcription begin with, “Hi darling Troye, it’s Nic.” Sivan recalled, “I slammed my laptop shut and just ended the meeting.”
The result arrived Aug. 14, with Kidman starring as the mysterious woman Sivan watches make her way into an after-hours world filled with drag performers, dressing rooms and dancing. The collaboration also reunites the two Australians eight years after they appeared together in the 2018 drama Boy Erased.
“She’s the Best” is the title track and lead single from Sivan’s forthcoming fourth studio album, which arrives Oct. 9. Just Jared lists Sivan, longtime collaborator Leland, Jack Antonoff, Styalz Fuego and the 1975’s George Daniel among the song’s writers and notes that RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Sasha Colby also appears in the video.
Kidman Was Already Sivan’s Idea of the Woman He Wanted
Sivan first met Kidman while making Boy Erased, in which they appeared alongside Lucas Hedges and Russell Crowe. He kept her phone number after the production. “She’s always just been such a picture of the divine feminine to me,” Sivan told Rolling Stone.
Sivan sent her the song along with references showing what he had in mind. “I sent her the song and I showed her some references for the video,” he recalled. Her response came unexpectedly during a Zoom meeting. When an unknown number appeared on his phone, Sivan let the call go to voicemail before realizing who had contacted him.
“I see the transcription starts coming, it’s like, ‘Hi darling Troye, it’s Nic,'” he said. “I slammed my laptop shut and just ended the meeting.”
The Video Sends Kidman Into Sivan’s After-Hours World
The official music video, directed by Gordon von Steiner, opens with Kidman dressed in black as she makes her way through the city and into a nightclub. Inside, she watches Sivan perform from the stage before eventually drawing him onto the dance floor.
The visual moves between the club, backstage dressing areas and performances as Kidman becomes increasingly immersed in the world around her. Sasha Colby appears among the performers, while Sivan also returns to drag during the video. Kidman later appears backstage alongside the performers, helping with makeup and costumes before rejoining the nightlife around her.
Von Steiner has previously directed several of Sivan’s videos, including “Rush,” “Got Me Started” and “One of Your Girls,” all from his 2023 album Something to Give Each Other.
Sivan has described “She’s the Best” as a collage inspired by several women and feminine people in his life rather than a portrait of one literal person. “The one thing that has been constant in my whole life is the women in my life, and the feminine people in my life,” he told Rolling Stone.
Charli xcx Has a Cameo You Can Hear Rather Than See
Kidman is not the only famous friend worked into “She’s the Best.” Sivan revealed that the voice heard near the end of the track belongs to Charli xcx, his longtime friend and former Sweat Tour co-headliner. “The vocal that you hear at the end of ‘She’s the Best,’ it’s Charli,” Sivan told Rolling Stone.
The connection extends into the song’s creative team. Charli’s husband, George Daniel of the 1975, worked on the track with Sivan, Jack Antonoff, Leland and Styalz Fuego. Sivan said he had never previously worked with Daniel.
“We’ve found ways to work these women into the songs,” Sivan explained. “I don’t want to speak for him, but I think for both George and I, Charli is obviously a very, very, very special person to both of us, and so to have her on that song in some small way is very meaningful to us.” Sivan and Charli previously co-headlined the Sweat Tour in 2024, while Sivan attended Daniel and Charli’s wedding in 2025.
‘She’s the Best’ Starts Sivan’s Next Album Era
“She’s the Best” is Sivan’s first album since 2023’s Something to Give Each Other and his fourth studio album overall. The record is scheduled for release Oct. 9. Streaming listings currently show 12 songs on the album, while some services also display an additional album-teaser item.
Sivan said the project moves between the excitement of the past few years and a more private sense of loneliness and longing underneath them. “There is this high-octane side to the album that feels really bombastic, and then there are the songs that feel like the interior of my mind,” he told Rolling Stone. “There’s this deep sense of longing. The album is a crazy journey.”
In a statement published by Just Jared, Sivan called the record “a painting that captures my life in all of its moods and colours,” adding that he eventually realized the most dependable constant had not been his work or his relationships with men. It was, he said, “the feminine.” “Thank god for them.”