Nicole Kidman, 59, made a surprise appearance in Troye Sivan’s new music video for “She’s the Best,” released Thursday.
The Oscar winner struts through the clip in a skintight black leather dress, oversized glamorous coat, leather gloves and dark sunglasses, cigarette in hand. She saunters into a club where Sivan, 31, performs alongside drag queens including “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 15 winner Sasha Colby. Kidman sips a cocktail front and center, flirtatiously motioning Sivan toward her before they dance with their faces nearly touching.
Sivan’s lyrics paint a vivid picture of the woman Kidman embodies: “She’s walking down the street with her little thin cigarette / Great smile, and a c-m stain on her dress / DJs from Wednesday to Monday / Don’t ask, she’s not taking any f–king requests.” He continues, “Quick drag, a rouge cheek, a blush lip / Eyeliner in her waterline and some contour on her t-ts / Night owl and somehow an early bird / She kind of just stays perpetually tired.”
The chorus builds with Sivan repeating “that girl” before declaring, “Wow, that girl / She’s the best.”
Fans flooded YouTube with praise for the unexpected pairing. “Nicole Kidman in a Troye Sivan video was not on my bingo card but I really love it,” one top comment reads. Another wrote, “And when the world needed him more than ever, he grabbed Nicole Kidman and said, ‘let’s show em.'” A third fan dubbed the track the “diva worship national anthem.”
Sivan shared a statement about the project: “‘She’s the Best’ is a painting that captures my life in all of its moods and colors. It explores the high-octane highs of the last few years, and the solitude and longing that sat underneath. It’s chaotic, layered, organic, troubled and alive. It feels like the truest and most creative version of myself I’ve ever shared.”
He continued, “At some point along the way I realized – the only constant in my life keeping me somewhat sane has not been the work, or the men, but the feminine. Thank god for them.”
The collaboration marks a reunion for the two Australians, who first crossed paths on the 2018 film “Boy Erased.” In that project, directed by Joel Edgerton and based on Garrard Conley’s memoir, Kidman played Nancy Eamons, mother of a closeted gay teenager sent to conversion therapy. Sivan played Gary, another teen at the program, and co-wrote the Golden Globe-nominated original song “Revelation” with Jónsi of Sigur Rós.
Sivan said that Kidman has long represented something sacred to him. “She’s always just been such a picture of the divine feminine to me,” he said. He sent her the song and video references, then received a call from an unknown number mid-Zoom meeting. “I let it go to voicemail, and then I see the transcription starts coming, it’s like, ‘Hi darling Troye, it’s Nic,'” he recalled. “I slammed my laptop shut and just ended the meeting.”
The video, directed by Gordon von Steiner, pays tribute to New York’s LGBTQ community circa the 1980s. Sivan also appears in drag during later scenes, continuing a motif from his 2024 video for “One of Your Girls.” The track was written and produced by Sivan, Jack Antonoff, Leland, Styalz Fuego, and George Daniel of The 1975. Charli XCX contributes backing vocals at the end.
In the viral moment that launched their connection, Sivan and Kidman promoted “Boy Erased” together on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in October 2018 alongside Lucas Hedges, where Sivan performed “Revelation.” The film tackled the harrowing subject of gay conversion therapy, with Kidman’s character ultimately choosing her son over her husband’s religious convictions.
Sivan’s fourth studio album, “She’s the Best,” drops October 9.
