Superficially, Hayley Kiyoko has followed a tried-and-tested route to pop stardom. A child star, she was on the payroll for Nickelodeon and Disney in her teens, and supported Justin Bieber as one-fifth of now-defunct girl band the Stunners. So far, so familiar. However, after a creative breakthrough in 2015 inspired by Tegan and Sara, Kiyoko started writing candidly about her sexuality and, via the springy, self-explanatory bop Girls Like Girls, was hailed “lesbian Jesus” by her fans. It’s a moniker she feels passionate about; earlier this year she dismissed Rita Ora’s leaden, male gaze-inviting Girls as invalidating “the very pure feelings of an entire community”.
At her first UK gig, she’s preaching to the converted, re-christening it “U Gay”, and by the closing Gravel to Tempo is draped in a rainbow flag. In fact, the floor is littered with missiles, ranging from a curly wig to a small collection of bras. The galloping Kehlani collaboration What I Need is dashed out early, with Kiyoko – dressed down in a grungy T-shirt and what look like pyjama bottoms – an intriguing mix of unvarnished pop rebel and choreographed star. Songs are often elongated either by emotional monologues or expert solo dance breaks, with He’ll Never Love You (HNLY) transformed into a pulsating club throb.
She’s on less sturdy ground playing the straight-up rock star on stodgy ballad Let It Be, while a drum battle on Wanna Be Missed seems to last an eternity. Thankfully, she returns to what she does best on the excellent Curious, an elastic electropop belter about being a straight girl’s secret, delivered with a knowing wink. She challenges the constantly ecstatic audience to match her on the song’s tongue-twister of a chorus; unsurprisingly, they don’t let her down.
