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Hayley Kiyoko Explains Why She's Emphatic to See Queer Artists Emboldened in 2021

Hayley Kiyoko Explains Why She's Emphatic to See Queer Artists Emboldened in 2021
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Hayley Kiyoko

It has long frustrated Lemonade Mouth actress and musician Hayley Kiyoko to see the lack of queer artists in the music industry. Being in the LGBTQ community herself, Kiyoko expressed that she never had any role models to look up to growing up. However, she is now thrilled to finally see queer artists 'winning.'


Hayley Kiyoko kicked off iHeartRadio's "Can't Cancel Pride" event earlier this month in her first performance since the pandemic. In this emphatic emergence, the 30-year-old singer could not be more pumped to be returning back to the stage.

"I'm just so excited to have that human interaction," she told Billboard's Stephen Daw. "We have been through a lot. But I'm also just so excited to feel that energy and share that energy in person. There's just nothing better than experiencing that in person."

Despite growing up a queer woman of color without an LGBTQ role model to look up to, Kiyoko always maintained her passion for performing. "Music and art helps us get through things, and they can be used and support you in ways that maybe it wasn't meant to support," she told Billboard. "That's what so awesome about music in general."

Kiyoko has long been attempting to re-write the status quo regarding the representation of queer musicians. In 2015, she publicly came out with her single "Girls Like Girls," for which she received an abundance of support and representation for the LGBTQ flood into the music industry.

She tells Billboard, "I've seen just a shift in the presence of queer artists in the industry, and it's been really cool to see so many queer artists winning, you know?"

Kiyoko's new single Chance and her new music video is out now.

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Luke Keller