Found My Friends - Pride Song of the Day - June 4th

“I keep on running beside myself
I keep on running, don't think I'm well
I can't be alone, beside myself
I need some help, I need some help!”

There is nothing more important than the relationship we have with ourselves. 

The struggle for alignment, that state in which we find both our inner and outer selves completely in sync with one another, is the focal point for the brilliant Hayley Kiyoko in her 2021 single, “Found My Friends,” our Pride Song of the Day for June 4th.

Kiyoko, affectionately dubbed, “Lesbian Jesus” by her dedicated fanbase, went viral in 2015 when her jam, “Girls Like Girls,” was released on YouTube, to the tune of 110 million views. The biracial, AAPI pop star and actress got her start in the music scene as a founding member of The Stunners, scoring a dance hit with “We Got This,” in 2010, just a year after she’d graduated high school. 

In her youth, Kiyoko struggled with her feelings about coming out, fearing judgment and rejection from those around her. Wanting to help inspire confidence in young people dealing with the same struggles, Kiyoko’s music focuses on her story, her emotions and experiences as a Queer individual coming to terms with her own identity. 

The 2018 MTV Push Award winner, Kiyoko is a fierce activist, working to normalize lesbian relationships within the music industry and in society as a whole. In her words,

“"If you see two girls falling in love and normalizing that, then [people] can go 'I can fell in love, too. I can be that person. I can look like that. I can get a girl that looks like that.' If they see that, then they can believe it. It's just how we are."

In “Found My Friends,” Kiyoko takes us on a beautiful journey of the self, moving from the disconnected, out of body sensation of running alongside herself, and the fear of being alone with herself, to the sweet harmony of dancing and knowing that at the heart of it all, the thing each and every one of us needs is to know that we are enough, that we are lovely, and that there is deep beauty and healing in showing up for ourselves. 

Check out Kiyoko’s self-directed music video for “Found My Friends” for the full experience of the song, as she moves from wrestling with her fears laying on the floor, to dancing on her own! 

And make sure to check out the rest of Hayley’s discography on your favorite streaming service, follow her work on socials, and to pick up her latest record, Panorama, which includes “Found My Friends,” at your local, independent record store!