Hayley Kiyoko makes her Coachella debut on April 15. Here’s what you need to know about the singer whose fans nicknamed ‘Lesbian Jesus.’
Hayley Kiyoko, 27, is set to make her Coachella debut on April 15, which means tons of festival goers are about to feast their ears on some truly phenomenal pop music. But if you’ve been relatively clueless to her rise up the charts and into the hearts of her fervent fans, don’t worry. Here are five things you need to know about the singer before you jam out to her new album in the desert:
1. She just released her debut album, Expectations. The highly anticipated project took over two years to complete and was finally released on March 30. The LP explores her personal experiences and romantic relationships with women while also touching on other aspects of her life. “Honestly, I wouldn’t take anything back. I’m proud of this album and body of work, and it’s something that really represents me as an artist and every aspect of myself as a person,” Kiyoko told LA Weekly. “I’m just so proud of it.”
2. She already has a cult following. Kiyoko dropped her single “Girls Like Girls” in 2015, and the self-directed video for it went viral. The song is about exactly what the title says – girls liking girls “like boys do.” The video builds on that idea by following two female friends as they realize their romantic feelings for one another. After the music video scored millions of views on YouTube, she signed a record deal with Atlantic. This track, along with her EPs This Side Of Paradise and Citrine, garnered her a dedicated fan base who have lovingly nicknamed her “lesbian Jesus.” Her fans even took a hashtag she made up in one tweet on Jan. 1 (#20GAYTEEN) into a viral movement that celebrates LGBTQ+ excellence this year.
3. She wants to normalize lesbian relationships in society and the music industry. After finding massive success with “Girls Like Girls,” Kiyoko realized that she needed to keep being honest about her sexuality. “That was the moment where I was like, ‘Holy shit, I don’t have a choice. This is something that I have to do because no one else is doing it,’” she told Billboard. “It forced me to step into my own as an artist. And this is something I’ve always wanted to do — be loud and sing about sexy girls.”
She also told the magazine that she believes LGBTQ+ artists help other members in the community feel comfortable with their identities. “That’s how life is. If you see two girls falling in love and normalizing that, then [people] can go, ‘I can fall in love, too. I can be that person. I can look like that. I can get a girl that looks like that,’” she explained. “If they see that, then they can believe it. It’s just how we are.”
4. Taylor Swift once defended her from Swifties. The backlash started when Kiyoko opened up about her experiences with homophobia in the music industry. In an interview with Refinery29, she said:
Fans took her words as criticism of Taylor, and bashed her on Twitter. Then, an anonymous person asked a fellow Swiftie on Tumblr about Kiyoko’s comments, and the fan ended up supporting the rising pop star. Taylor then replied on the same thread. “We should applaud artists who are brave enough to tell their honest romantic narrative through their art, and the fact is that I’ve never encountered homophobia and she has,” the “Delicate” singer responded. “It’s her right to call out anyone who has double standards about gay vs straight love interests.”
5. She was in Disney Channel’s Lemonade Mouth. She starred in the 2011 DCOM about a high school rock band alongside Good Luck Charlie star Bridget Mendler. Kiyoko also appeared in Disney Channel and Nickelodeon shows as a kid. Her music career, however, got its start when she joined a girl group called The Stunners in 2007. The band released a few singles and supported Justin Bieber on his My World Tour, but later disbanded in 2011 before ever releasing an album.
