Hayley Kiyoko

“We need more happy endings. The world is hard enough as is.”

These are the words Hayley Kiyoko uses to describe the intention behind her work, both in music and literary works alike. One of the first well known lesbian pop singers, Hayley showed the world the power of displaying raw emotion in her songs, unafraid of the public’s eyes.

Born in 1991, Los Angeles, Hayley made her debut on screen from a young age. Starting off as an actor on network TV, she kept up her acting career alongside a blossoming love for music. It was through these roles in movies and her eventual solo musical projects that Hayely would gain a loyal fanbase. 

Early on in her career, Hayley made it clear she wanted full control over her music and the messages it represented. Her commitment to honesty ultimately led her to come out publicly, after first confiding in one of her co-writers on the song Girls Like Girls, in which she explored her desire to ‘steal someone’s girl.’Her sexuality was something no one else knew about her, and it was her desire to give her queer fanbase someone to look up to that inspired her to become such a prolific- activist, displaying a broad range of queer identities in her music videos. It was through these videos that she discovered another growing passion of hers: directing. 

Over the years Hayley has donated to many charities, especially those helping queer homeless youth, remained outspoken in politics and always made a point to call-out fetishisation in the media. After winning Push Artist of the Year in 2018, she dedicated her win to LGBTQ+ women of colour from all over the world.
Marching at Pride for the first time in 2019, her dedication to uplifting the entirety of the queer community in all its shapes stays as true as ever. Over the years fans have taken to calling her “Lesbian Jesus” – something which the pop star has always taken pride in. 

After writing a book named after her hit song Girls like Girls, Hayley makes her directorial debut in 2026 with her movie based on the same story. The feature promises to show the coming of age experience through a queer lense, showing all sides of that difficult, but oftentimes beautiful, journey. It isn’t often such intimate and personal stories, like the one of two girls slowly growing together and realising not only their feelings but themselves, get to be told by the very same people who lived them.

That’s exactly why Hayley’s new focus on bringing LGBTQ+ stories to the big screen is so inspiring. Her journey reminds us that the queer experience isn’t defined solely by the radical joy we bring to the world – it’s also about the stories we share and the visibility that creates.