Out singer Hayley Kiyoko, also known as
Lesbian Jesus to her fans, revealed in a recent interview that she
was told to “tone down” her sexuality.
The 27-year-old Kiyoko has said that
she came out lesbian to her parents in the sixth grade.
Speaking with British fashion glossy
i-D, Kiyoko said that she was encouraged to “tone down”
her sexuality early on in her career.
“'Girls Like Girls' was too violent
and too sexual for a lot of people to premiere,” she
said, referring to her 2015 single considered by many as her
public coming out.
“When you're in the LGBTQ community
and you're open about your sexuality, it's not common for you to hear
your music played on the radio. It's more common to be underground
and left of center with a selective core that listens to that music.
That's why this is an exciting time to really break those barriers of
… I wouldn't say judgment, but to break out of that box.”
“I don't like to play it safe,” she
added. “I like to make a statement. My sexuality, loving myself
and expressing my love for others is not something that's negotiable.
There's no toning that down because this is who I am and this is
what I experience. I can't change that.”
Kiyoko's debut studio album,
Expectations, was released last year.