Alternative pop star Hayley Kiyoko is back with new music after over a year. She introduced her new single, “Found My Friends,” this past week.
Learning To Love Yourself On “Found My Friends”
“Found My Friends” arrives as the follow-up to Hayley’s January 2020 EP I’m Too Sensitive For This Sh*t. After taking a small break from music, she’s returned stronger – and more creative – than ever.
The new single was written before the pandemic hit and is a tribute that Hayley wrote for herself to learn about self-love. “‘Found My Friends’ is a song I wrote during a challenging time when I realized instead of being my own worst enemy, I could actually be my own best friend. It’s about discovering and nurturing a strong friendship with yourself. And I think also too, this song can resonate even more so now with everyone experiencing isolation in quarantine when we still somehow find the resilience to connect with one another and find comfort in each other,” she said in a press release for “Found My Friends.”
The Marvelous Self-Directed Music Video
The single’s accompanying music video, shot in LA’s remarkable Millennium Biltmore Hotel, gives us a new perspective on the song that people might miss when first listening to it. In it, the star dances around the LA landmark by herself while singing the lyrics, “Found my friends, I’m not dead, here we go again. What’s the time? How long has it been? Help me come alive, sail across the sky, take me further. Can we last all night again?… I just wanna dance with you tonight.”
The music video for “Found My Friends” was self-directed by Kiyoko and shot on 16-millimeter film. “It was really an amazing experience because film is very specific. The lighting has to be perfect. Everything has to be perfect because there’s no grace in the editing room,” she told NYLON.
She added that she was nervous to come back to the spotlight after all this time of being by herself. “Found My Friends” marks her return to music after a year-and-a-half. “I was worried about my performance (in the video) because it’s been a long time! I haven’t danced. Haven’t been on stage. Haven’t seen my fans. We’ve all just been in our own personal bubbles.”
