Hayley Kiyoko
Hayley Kiyoko Alcroft (born April 3, 1991) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and author. As a child model and actress, she appeared in a variety of films, including the Scooby-Doo! film series (2009–2010), Lemonade Mouth (2011), Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012), Jem and the Holograms (2015), Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015), and XOXO (2016). Alongside her film roles, she also had a recurring role in the TV series The Fosters (2014) and a lead role on CSI: Cyber (2015–2016)[3] and Five Points (2018–2019).
Hayley Kiyoko
- Singer
- songwriter
- actress
- director
- author
2007–present
Becca Tilley (2018–present)
- Vocals
- drums
- guitar
- bass
- keyboards
Kiyoko was a founding member of the Stunners in 2007.[4] The group supported Justin Bieber's My World Tour, before disbanding in 2011. After this, Kiyoko issued three solo extended plays: A Belle to Remember (2013), This Side of Paradise (2015), which includes the single "Girls Like Girls", and Citrine (2016). Following the singles "Sleepover", "Feelings", and "Curious", she released her debut studio album Expectations on March 30, 2018. The album reached the top 20 of the charts in the United States, Canada, and Australia. She has also created a comic book, with the help of Naomi Franquiz and Marla Vazquez, based on her song "Gravel to Tempo". Kiyoko released her fourth extended play I'm Too Sensitive for This Shit on January 14, 2020, and released her second studio album Panorama on July 29, 2022.
On May 30, 2023, Kiyoko released her first novel, Girls Like Girls, "a coming-of-age romance based on her breakthrough hit song and viral video"[5] published by Wednesday Books, an imprint of St Martin's Publishing Group at Macmillan. The book debuted at number one on the New York Times Best Sellers list for Young Adult Hardcover.[6]
Early life[edit]
Hayley Kiyoko Alcroft was born on April 3, 1991, in Los Angeles, California, to figure skater and choreographer Sarah Kawahara and actor and comedian Jamie Alcroft. Her mother is from Canada and is of Japanese ancestry and her father is from Ohio and has English and Scottish ancestry.[7] Kiyoko has two siblings, Alysse and Thatcher.[8]
She began acting at a young age, appearing in national commercials for companies such as GM Onstar, Slim Jim, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.[9] Insisting on drum lessons at age six, she was writing drum charts for new releases and selling them in a local music store by age 11.[10] At age 8, Kiyoko wrote a song called "Notice," which her father still urges her to release.[11] She was elected student council president of her middle school and high school freshman classes[12] and vice-president in her senior year. She attended Agoura High School and graduated in 2009. She was appointed "Commissioner of Entertainment" in her sophomore year and "Commissioner of Pep Rallies" in her junior year.
She created and choreographed "The Agoura High Step Team" which was faculty-approved as a school club under her direction. The team placed third at a Nationals competition in 2009.[13] Upon graduation, she was accepted into Clive Davis School of Recorded Music at New York University but initially deferred until eventually declining due to career opportunities.[14][15][16]
Kiyoko was discovered at the age of five when she went with her friend to a photoshoot. The director asked her to step in front of the camera, and she ended up in a national print ad for KnowledgeWare.[17]
Nickelodeon spotted her at the Culver City Ice Rink, and she ended up featured in and narrating a short piece about children in sports called, "I'm Hayley, a Skater".[10] Kiyoko continued to hone her skills in middle school plays and, in seventh grade, asked for an agent after seeing Eurasian girls like herself act in J. C. Penney commercials.[16] She got her commercial agent and booked her first audition, claiming acting was always just something she did on the side to make money for college and music equipment.[18] Kiyoko started the garage band Hede, named after her grandfather,[13] in November 2007 and released five songs on Myspace and a music video for "Warehouse".[19][20] The band performed locally on several occasions and split in 2009 after the remaining band members left for college.[21] Her grandfather died in 2011.[22][23] He was one of the biggest inspirations in Kiyoko's life.[24]
Personal life[edit]
Sexuality and musical influence[edit]
Kiyoko is a lesbian. She has stated that she knew she was attracted to girls when she was six years old, coming out to her parents in the sixth grade.[96][36] Upon realizing she liked girls, she grew up struggling with those feelings, fearing rejection and judgment if she came out. Kiyoko wanted to inspire confidence in young people dealing with the same struggles.[97] Kiyoko's music is focused on her story and emotions she has experienced while coming to terms with her identity. The "This Side of Paradise" music video focuses on her struggles with expressing her true self[98] and the "Gravel to Tempo" music video draws on her experiences with having crushes on girls while growing up.[54] In a 2016 interview, she expressed her frustration about not connecting to people the way she wanted. When Lily May-Young, one of the co-writers for "Girls Like Girls", asked Kiyoko about something about herself that no one knew and she was afraid to sing about, Kiyoko wanted to sing about the fact that she likes girls, but was struggling to be out about that.[12] Tegan and Sara and Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" were Kiyoko's turning point and inspiration to turn to pop music.[12][36] Through her music, Kiyoko works to normalize lesbian relationships in a society and music industry that she sees as being very heteronormative: