“Found My Friends” by Hayley Kiyoko

In revealing the surprise twist early on, “Found My Friends” actually serves as a soliloquy, for lack of a better word. The lyrics of the verses more or less feature the singer entreating a friend to remain faithfully by her side. But who she is talking to and about, as sort of revealed in the pre-chorus and hinted throughout, is actually herself. 

This isn’t something which readers may pick up on unless they read Hayley Kiyoko’s own description of the matter at hand. And according to her explanation of “Found My Friends”, what this track is supposed to represent is an exercise in self-love, or perhaps we can more accurately say self-friendship.

We commonly come across songs that are centered on the concept of self-hatred, i.e. a narrator having internal self-esteem issues. And such common emotions are apparently something which Hayley Kiyoko herself has gone through also. However, on this particular outing she has decided to flip the script. 

Or put differently we can assert that yes, hating one’s self, being your “own worst enemy”, as Kiyoko has phrased it outside of the song, does require a bit of conscientious effort. But this time around, she decides to rather come off as her “own best friend”. So it is somewhat of a revolutionary approach, even if one that is not necessarily clearly expressed.

So put into simpler terms, what the vocalist is doing in this song is inviting herself to be her own best friend.

Hayley Kiyoko

As her name implies, Hayley Kiyoko is actually of Japanese descent. That is via her mother’s ancestry with her mom, Sarah Kawahara, being a highly-celebrated figure skater and related choreographer.

Hayley’s dad, Jamie Alcroft, also has his own Wikipedia page, being a well-tenured comedian and voice actor. However, Kiyoko did not follow in either of their footsteps per se, although she does possess a pretty extensive filmography herself.  Rather from a very early age she took up a keen interest in music.

Her first notable foray into the music industry was during her mid-teens, when Kiyoko joined a girl group called The Stunners. That act never really took off.

Hayley Kiyoko dropped her first solo project, “A Belle to Remember”, in 2013. And in between 2013 and 2020 she has come out with four EPs as well as one full-length, the latter being 2018’s “Expectations”. That project did well for itself. It made it onto the top 20 of the Billboard 200 and top 30 of the UK Albums Chart. And it also produced a mild hit in terms of 2018’s “Curious”.

But honestly, whereas Hayley has been able to build up a notable name for herself, she hasn’t really had a lot of hit songs during the first decade of her career. Rather what she is perhaps known for just as much as being a musician is the fact that she is an open lesbian and popular LGBT activist.

“Found My Friends”

This song was co-written and co-produced by Kiyoko. As implied earlier, she started studying music when she was just six years old. The other two co-producers/co-writers are Kill Dave and Pat Morrissey. Both Dave and Morrissey are regular collaborators of the songstress. Additionally one E. Kidd Bogart is given songwriting credit.

Moreover, Kiyoko self-directed the music video to this song. It was filmed “with a small crew” during 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic, and accordingly marked the first time Hayley had performed in a minute. And she decided to actually record it on film as it “captures color differently than digital”.

As of the release date of this track, on 30 April 2021, Hayley Kiyoko is 30 years of age.

Why the message (Self-love) of “Found My Friends” is important

Self-love is the complete acknowledgment, acceptance, and appreciation of whom you are as a person. It is the well-deserving and deliberate value, care, support, and compassion a person places on themselves. This action translates to having good health, happiness, luxury, and a total life balance. 

It includes having higher regard for your own well-being as a person. This means behaviors and actions that will only improve the conditions of life for an individual are the priorities and goals for a person with self-love.

It is an important value that helps a person create and achieve goals in life. When a person has self-love, the awareness and idea of making something great out of every opportunity for their benefit are always available to them. This awareness helps one to utilize every opportunity and achieve every task available.

The confidence of a person is increased when they have self-love. 

Self-love includes the acceptance of all the flaws and perfections of yourself. When you embrace all that you are, feelings of shame and insecurity cannot stop you from excelling. People with self-love are not so harsh on themselves for mistakes. However, they rather quickly correct every error, to enable them to achieve their goals successfully.

All relationships a person has with others are enhanced by self-love. Through this value, we teach others how we are supposed to be treated. Standards are set by a person with self-love on what behavior to accept in all relationships. This makes a person gain a lot of respect from anybody involved in a relationship with him or her.