Hayley Kiyoko exceeds my 'Expectations' with promising debut album
The long awaited debut from Hayley Kiyoko, a.k.a. Lesbian Jesus has finally arrived.
Right now, I know I'm probably getting some strange looks. Lesbian Jesus? Hayley Kiyoko?
Well, I will gladly make sense of all of this.
For some, the name Hayley Kiyoko may sound familiar. For most, you might not know the name, but there's a good chance you've seen something that included Kiyoko.
Kiyoko has had a long career both in the music and acting business. She started her music career in 2007 as part of a girl group called The Stunners, which also included fellow recording artist Tinashe.
Around the time of the group's split, Kiyoko started getting more in to acting. Starring in recurring roles on shows such as Wizards of Waverly Place and The Fosters, as well as starring as Velma Dinkley in the cartoon network movie versions of Scooby Doo and as Stella on the iconic Disney Channel original movie Lemonade Mouth.
Her solo music career started around 2013, when she released her debut EP A Belle To Remember which was partially crowd-funded on MusicPledge. Two years later she released her second EP This Side of Paradise, which caused a big shift in Hayley's career.
Not only was the music a more mature direction than the first EP, but it also was one of the first times Kiyoko talked about a certain personal aspect of her life. She released the video for her biggest song to date "Girls Like Girls" where she proclaimed "girls like girls like boys do" and eventually came out as lesbian.
From then on, fans received more videos featuring female love interests for Kiyoko as well as songs using more female pronouns. Her third EP Citrine featured a song titled "Pretty Girl" where Kiyoko simply just wanted to tell a random girl that "she thought she was pretty."
Fast-forward to 2018 (or, 20GAYTEEN as popularized by Kiyoko's fans) and she has finally released her debut album Expectations. Kiyoko has continued to be more outspoken about her sexual orientation, making more videos kissing girls and being the queer icon we've all been waiting for. Fans have even started calling her "Lesbian Jesus" and she kind of just went with it.
With the background info out of the way, it's time to get to why we're really here — to talk about the amazing new piece of art that our Lesbian Jesus has blessed us with.
Expectations isn't like any album I've heard before and that's a really fucking great thing. Most publications would call Hayley Kiyoko a pop artist, but the general genre of pop is so expansive and seemingly limitless that it's not right to just call her or anyone 'another pop star.'
For one, what does that even mean?
Kiyoko embraces so many different genres that there would really be no way to box her in and I think that very fact is just so wonderful. It means that she is free to be herself as an artist and grow in whichever way she wants and it excites me that I get to be apart of this journey.
The album starts with an Overture, something quite ambitious for a debut work from a 'pop' artist. The Overture is an absolutely necessary musical moment that helps start the adventure off in the perfect way.
The adventure, in question, being a journey of relationship ups and downs combined with the queer representation that we all needed. Throughout the album, Kiyoko isn't afraid to address her lover by all of the female identifiers she can muster up, helping normalize queer artistry within the music business.
Another very important thing to take of notice of when enjoying Expectations is the beautiful transitions between the songs, each flowing into the next, inviting the listener to go track by track, rather than just shuffling. It makes for quite the experience and it shows how hard the artist worked on it.
Kiyoko previously commented on the concept of having water flowing throughout the whole album by mentioning that she was an Aries, which is a fire sign and how she would need a girl who is a water sign to calm her down.
With all of that in mind, let's jump back into the record.
Once the overture builds to its climax, the water continues flowing right into Feelings, one of the previously released singles and a song that will forever be a jam. Feelings has a killer bass with a unique use of flute in the chorus. It's fast-paced, it's dance-y and lyrically very relatable. "I over-communicate and feel too much. I just complicate it when I say too much."
Continuing the high energy, the next song What I Need, featuring fellow queer artist, Kehlani bursts in with razor sharp verses and several clear pronouns relating to their female love interests. Their voices sound great together and the song appears as a duet, giving both artist an equal opportunity to shine.
My guess is that this will be the next single and take over the radio during the summer, paired with one of the most iconic queer music videos of all time.
Sleepover, Kiyoko's first offering from the record, is next. This song begins to slows the pace with a more R&B feel. The video mirroring the lyrics of Kiyoko having a girl sleepover in her bed, but only really being in her head. It's sad, honest and a feeling that so many listeners would know so well.
The next song, I would argue is one of the biggest and most important parts of the album. The track Mercy/Gatekeeper, containing a merge of two songs that blend perfectly together; offers a special strangeness unlike any other song from Expectations.
In this track, Kiyoko decides to experiment with different sounds and beats, as well as effects. The Mercy section being slightly more whispered and tame, while Gatekeeper grows into something a bit trippy.
Near the end, Kiyoko has a section where she speaks with a rather demonic echo effect around her voice. It took me by surprise the first time, mostly because I wasn't sure what the words she was saying were, but I had gone back to look at the lyrics later and realized that from the entire album, this was probably the strongest lyric-wise.
Mercy/Gatekeper is definitely an important moment that you'll need to spend a little more time with.
The same could be said for the next track, Under The Blue/Take Me In. It doesn't entail quite the same level of experimentation, but continues the trend of merging two songs. I like that these two are back-to-back because it continues to show how seamless the transitions between new music are for Kiyoko. This particular track ending with a faded piano and angelic voice that are subtly being drowned by the flowing stream.
Curious, a song that you may already know or soon will, comes next and perfectly balances Kiyoko's pop/R&B/dance vibe. The video becoming one of her fastest viewed, while the song could soon be her most streamed on Spotify. It's a must listen and the perfect way for one to understand more about Hayley Kiyoko as both an individual and an artist.
The interlude xx comes next, transitioning into, what I think; is the best streak of music.
Wanna Be Missed (my personal favorite) comes in unabashedly telling the world that Kiyoko wants a girl to "miss her every night" and say she "can't eat, can't sleep, can't breathe, without her." I think it also has single potential as one of the slower R&B tinged samples from Expectations because it also presents an incredibly relatable idea.
HNLY (He'll Never Love You) is another strong moment on Expectations with another very relatable instance about someone you love who is in a relationship, but per Kiyoko's example, specifically with a guy. Kiyoko sings "he'll never love you like me" explaining that she loved this person in a relationship and believed they belonged with her rather than their significant other. (Raise your hand if you've ever been there.)
Two more of my favorites, Palm Dreams and Molecules are up next.
Going back to earlier, when I mentioned the exquisite musical transitions — the one from HNLY to Palm Dreams is probably the best, with the next one into Molecules being a close second. Palm Dreams is the 80s inspired dance club jam that you didn't know you needed and Molecules is probably the saddest and most intense song on Expectations, but given to us with Kiyoko's best vocal performance from the record.
Expectations ends in the best way possible. Let It Be is a break up anthem with a rather hopeful tone to it. The country twang following the choruses gives it a homey feeling, while the lyrics, also some of the best she's written, explain that sometimes good things just come to an end and you have to move on. "All in my head and it's killing me, it's killing me that we're at the end."
"I miss you, I love you, so it's really hard to see, but we just gotta let it be."
Overall, Expectations blew me away and even exceeded my... expectations. (sorry, I had to)
It's deeply honest, musically interesting and I fully believe that it will do a lot to help the queer community, considering there is still so much to accomplish with both visibility and normalization.
For me, personally, Expectations is the best album of the year, so far. It's done what many other artists only hope to accomplish with any album, let alone their first and it gives a voice to those who feel like they don't have one. I see a lot of big things in Hayley Kiyoko's future and Expectations will definitely play a big part in getting her there and getting her noticed.
Check out Expectations anywhere you find music. Buy it on iTunes or Hayley Kiyoko's website. Stream it on Youtube, Spotify and Apple Music. You won't be disappointed.
~ Happy #20GAYTEEN ~