Hayley Kiyoko is a 32 year old American singer, songwriter, and actress. While she first became widely known for her roles as a child actress in popular TV shows and movies like “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “Lemonade Mouth,” she is most commonly known within the queer community for her singing and songwriting of pop-ish songs about her experiences as a gay woman. Hayley Kiyoko gained popularity as a musical artist and an LGBTQ activist with the debut of her hit song “Girls Like Girls” on her 2015 EP, “This Side of Paradise” because of its openly queer music video featuring a young lesbian love story. As Kiyoko’s music garnered more recognition, she released her first full album, “Expectations,” in 2018. The album provided an array of upbeat romance songs using she/her pronouns and gave her largely young, female audience a source of unapologetic queer joy, which was rare in the pop scene at the time. Kiyoko made some bold moves on her debut album, collaborating with another popular, openly queer female artist, Kehlani, on track three of the album, “What I Need.” She mixed pop, alt, indie, and R&B sounds fluently throughout the tracks. In the last five years, Kiyoko has released her second album, “PANORAMA,” and a number of EPs and singles, as well as collaborations with artists like FLETCHER and MAX. In October 2022, Kiyoko announced that she would be publishing her first novel, “Girls Like Girls,” a coming of age, young adult book based on her hit song and its highly grossing music video. With successes as an actress, artist, and author, Kiyoko has risen to be regarded as an iconic popstar by many, and a “Lesbian Jesus” by her supporters. By sharing openly about experiences and relationships in all phases of her life, Kiyoko has become a role model for those looking to live an unapologetic life full of queer joy.
My personal top five songs by Hayley Kiyoko are as follows:
- Girls Like Girls
- found my friends
- Molecules
- deep in the woods
- Let It Be
