Hayley Kiyoko

Actress and musician Hayley Kiyoko may be recognized from her early roles as Stella from the Disney Channel original movie Lemonade Mouth (2011) or as the glasses-wearing sleuth Velma from the live-action Scooby Doo films. But these days, Hayley may be known for a lot more. Whether it’s a new feature film, a hit procedural drama or an EP release, Hayley’s been making strides in her careers, both on screen and on stage.

Hayley grew up with a love for music. “[It] was my first passion and something I always wanted to pursue,” she says. She started off playing the drums at a young age, and from there picked up other instruments. “I fell in love with percussion and rhythm,” Hayley remarks. “As I continued to be a songwriter, the more instruments you learn, the better songwriter you are and the more outlets you have to create. So I play a little bit of everything.” She’s still a drummer at heart, and still plays percussion during her live performances. “ I trigger all the sounds, too,” she adds, “so I bring that skill set back to my life.”

Her second EP, This Side of Paradise, came out in February. Making the EP was a process of self-discovery for Hayley, as she fine-tuned her sound and songwriting. Throughout this process, she found a lot of juxtaposition in her music. “If you listen to the lyrics, it’s kind of a sad song, kind of a song of, like, being in a one-sided relationship, but sonically and melodically it’s very uplifting and inspiring,” Hayley explains. As for her songwriting, she strives to create and tell stories. “I like to take my personal feelings and emotions and put it into a situation or a story, and storytell,” she says. This EP has been an overall success, and one that Hayley takes pride in. “I feel like the EP is 100 percent who I am, and I feel really proud of it,” she remarks. “It’s very exciting how people are starting to notice it more and actually listen to it.”

When writing, Hayley almost always begins with the beat, builds off that and finishes with lyrics. The exception to this: “Girls Like Girls,” the LGBT-positive anthem from This Side of Paradise. “We created the song in a very bizarre way. I just improvised over the beat for like three and a half minutes, and then we actually reversed my vocals so it was playing backwards, and then we would chop it up,” Hayley explains. “We created the vocal melody like we were conducting. It was actually a really cool way of creating a melody and a top line. I haven’t done anything like that before.” “Girls Like Girls” is special not only because of the unique way it was crafted, but because of its music video, which Hayley co-directed.

Though just five minutes long, the video tells the coming-of-age story of two young girls and reinforces the LGBT support found in the lyrics. The story and visuals behind the song were something Hayley had in mind from the very early writing process. “I knew I wanted to do a coming-of-age story, but I wasn’t quite sure what the drama was going to be like,” she explains. “When I wrote the bridge, the instrumental, I knew I wanted to have some kind of drama happen. That you have to discover and kind of figure out, and find the right amount of drama without it being too over the top and still realistic, so that was kind of the tricky part.”

Though she wasn’t sure exactly where the story might go, the details were very concrete in her mind. “I definitely envisioned the video set in the late ’90s, and the coloring of the yellows and the oranges. I definitely was seeing that as I was writing the song,” she recalls.

The video was shot and turned around in a very quick, very stressful process, but one that Hayley says was enriching. “It was the best kind of stress because everyone involved was extremely passionate about the project,” she explains. “I was really overwhelmed and so thankful to see the product. When you put so much heart and passion and time behind a project, you know there’s going to be something where you go, ‘Oh, I could’ve done this better, or I could’ve done that better,’ but it’s a video where my vision was fully realized. I have no regrets.”

Hayley has been busy with her acting career as well. This half of her life started middle school, when she took roles in school plays as well as TV commercials. From there, she starred in Scooby Doo and Lemonade Mouth and appeared as a guest star on The Vampire Diaries, The Fosters and Wizards of Waverly Place.

Though her Scooby Doo days are behind her, Hayley still solves crimes as Raven Ramirez in CSI: Cyber, which is in production for the second season now. “It’s fun having a fake FBI badge and pretending you save the world,” she says. “It’s always challenging, and I feel like I learn a lot. A lot of the episodes are based off of real life, and stuff that happens in the real world, so you really do learn a lot about how technology can affect the world on a very real scale.” Luckily, the writers explain most of the technical aspects, so there’s not too much research left for Hayley to do. “Obviously it’s a lot of work in general,” she remarks, “and a lot of, like, memorizing definitions.”

This October, Hayley will star in the upcoming feature film Jem and the Holograms, a reboot of the 1980s animated television series of the same name. The modern-day adaptation follows Jerrica Benton (Aubrey Peeples) as she and her band, Jem and the Holograms, are boosted to international stardom. Hayley’s character, Aja, is one of the band members. She gets to play bass and guitar and even a little bit of drums. “I’m really excited for everyone to see it,” she says. “It’s a great way to introduce Jem and the Holograms to a new generation and to the original fans of Jem, as well.”

In addition to the other two acting gigs, she’s also starring in a Netflix film, XoXo. The film follows six strangers who all meet at the biggest EDM festival in the United States. Because the film is set at a rave, there are a lot of extravagant costumes and props. “I got really dressed up and had, like, crystals on my face. The outfits that people wear at raves are insane,” Hayley says. “It’s going to be really colorful and awesome. It’s going to be a very visually pleasing film.” Production for the movie just finished, and it should be released sometime later this year.

As for what’s next, Hayley hopes to just continue moving forward. “My goal would be to just keep doing music and acting,” she remarks. “I would like my music to get to the next level where lots of people are listening to it. Hopefully tour next year and release another single or my first album.”

At her core is a true passion for what she does, and it’s what keeps her pushing to the next level as an actress and as a musician.

“I just love creating,” she says. “I love creating, I love the hustle, I love the challenge, and I’m just going to keep doing it." NKD

Words by RILEY STENEHJEM | Photos by CATHERINE POWELL | Hair by DEREK WILLIAMS | Make-Up by MARLA VAZQUEZ | Styling by JORDAN STOLCH