As soon as I heard the first few strums of the guitar, I knew “Trouble” was going to be the type of song that would pull at my heartstrings. I wasn’t wrong — it brings about feelings of angst, hope, love, and euphoria all in less than three-and-a-half minutes. My first note about the song was that it made me think of movie montages, so I wasn’t too surprised to find out it was written for the coming-of-age movie, Three Months, in which Troye Sivan stars. “Trouble” mirrors the feel-good energy of the story it was written for.
My favorite thing about the production of “Trouble” is the way the energy fluctuates throughout the piece. The song starts off simply with just the sounds of the guitar and Sivan’s smooth singing. As it continues, the energy picks up and the music starts to feel like it’s flowing through your body. The drums are the source of this: When they are silenced or quieted, the song becomes gentler. However, once they are added back, it makes you want to start dancing.
Another wonderful component of this song is Jay Som’s soothing voice. Although her name is on the song, her first couple of lines surprised me due to the contrast between her vocals and Sivan’s. She sounds sweet and comforting, like a reassuring friend helping you through hard times. Her part gives the song a conversational feel to it and further aligns the story of the music to the story of the movie.
Three Months, the movie this song was written for, is about a teenager who discovers he has been exposed to HIV. It follows the internal and external conflicts he faces while awaiting his own test results. In an interview with HollywoodLife, Sivan spoke about the songwriting process for “Trouble” and how it was inspired by his character, Caleb: “I actually had some rough edits of scenes that I took into the studio with me and wrote from Caleb’s perspective while watching scenes from the movie.” This method was definitely effective, as you can pick up on the character’s conflict through the lines of the song.
“And you’ve got a funny sense of timin’ / Showed up on the night that I stopped tryin’ for somethin’ more”
This line hints at the sense of hopelessness the character has begun to feel regarding his situation. However, lucky for him, a companion has come along to make things easier for him. Hope and fate are the main themes I get from this song, and this part sets that up quite nicely.
“Tandem lover, what I tell you is in confidence / Layin’ here together makes me wanna take a second chance”
Again we see the hope shining through a difficult situation, but this time from Jay Som’s perspective. This adds to the conversational effect I mentioned earlier. It’s like they are both revealing how a helping hand came along to show them a new perspective and give them a new shot at life.
“Trouble” does exactly what it is supposed to do and it does it well. It takes an emotional, complex story and breaks it down into an easily digestible jingle that makes us feel good and, more importantly, makes us run to watch the movie it was inspired by.
