Expectations is the debut album by Hayley Kiyoko, AKA "Lesbian Jesus". It was released on March 30th, 2018. The majority of production is handled by 4e, and it should be noted that all but two songs have at least four songwriters. It is 11 songs long, with an intro and an interlude track.
Hayley Kiyoko is quite the interesting character, and this album definitely shows that. She started as an actress in Lemonade Mouth; later, she went on to release three EPs. Though most of them were not memorable at all to me, "Gravel to Tempo" is one of my favorite songs and everyone should definitely give that a fair listen. Anyways, I digress. A very big part of Kiyoko's character is her being a proud lesbian. The fact that she has absolutely no shame about this (to the point where the original cover has a nude girl on it, I had to edit it) and sings loud and proud about her female lovers is extremely admirable to me and definitely sets her apart.
However, Kiyoko doesn't exactly have a super distinctive voice. The second single and first track of the album (other than the orchestral intro), "Feelings", proves that. Don't get me wrong, it's a total bop, but a very, very large amount of that is the production. The distorted guitar, the woodwind accents, and bright synths all work together so extremely well, especially during that deliciously smooth breakdown for the bridge. On this track, Kiyoko confesses her motives toward a crush, and though she does have some good vocal moments (the flow during the chorus, for example), there's nothing really, really good about her vocals.
This is a recurring theme. Hayley doesn't do any kind of vocal gymnastics; she doesn't belt, she doesn't do whistle notes, she doesn't do any huge key changes. Instead, she makes up for this in her own way with her unique flow. She uses her rather limited scale to its fullest extent. A certain album highlight for anyone is "Curious". Other than the classic, kick heavy pop production, playful chorus of "I'm just curious / is it serious?", and decidedly queer lyrics, the main selling point of this song is the absolute barrage of words that she just spits out in the chorus. 24 words in 5 seconds in the infamous "Santa Monica" part. Somehow, it doesn't even sound like rap; it just sounds like a part of a standard pop chorus, and the fact that it works is just so amazing to me. I can't think of any other songs that do this sort of thing, and it certainly keeps me coming back.
Production-wise, this album sticks to two trends in the two halves.The first half, up to "Wanna Be Missed", tends to utilize synth-heavy, electropop instrumentals. "Wanna Be Missed" has some of my favorite production on the album; the longing, lilting vocals work extremely well with the minimalist instrumental on the verses and the dark, heavy bass chorus. The second part (well, the last four songs) makes a lot more use of strings and atmospheric instrumentals. One of my favorite tracks on the album is "Palm Dreams", a delightfully chill track that sounds like a time machine to 1980's California. Her delivery is some of the best on the album; it just makes you want to go party with her, which is exactly the point of the song. Even the way that she says "stars", which could be divisive, works just right for me. Meanwhile, the outro track, "Let It Be", is her attempt at a more folk-flavored chorus, and it just falls flat. The awkward lyrics on the verses, the totally lame bridge, and the extreme contrast makes the end of the album turn sour.
The majority of songs on this album are either about her lovers or her own experiences in her life.
Being LGBT allows Hayley to take some perspectives that straight people usually haven't lived; it's not just different pronouns for Kiyoko. In "Sleepover", the lead single, Hayley sings about being in love with her best friend, who doesn't know about Hayley's feelings. She's able to create unique imagery during the first verse and the downtempo chorus, as she laments about having "sleepovers in my bed" with the other girl. The two friends can have such strong physical closeness without any perceived romantic nor sexual motive on the other girl's part; this is how the queer themes on the album really shine.
Hayley keeps making use of these themes in "What I Need", about the struggle of having a girlfriend who won't make the relationship public due to the pressure of coming out. This song features Kehlani, another bisexual artist. Though their voices do work well together, the pop drop in it, kind of ruins the song for me.
However, there are two really strange two-part songs; "Mercy/Gatekeeper" and "Under The Blue/Take Me In". The former is quite horrible, at least in the first part. Throughout the song, there's a totally unfitting layer of distortion on Hayley's voice; it makes the song so hard to listen to. The production is nowhere near strong enough to justify an almost six minute song. Lyrically, the song moves through many phases but the only part I like is the start of "Gatekeeper". The rest of the song is just a total, edgy mess. There's nothing wrong about dealing with sensitive mental health issues like this one tries to do, but this is just so horribly executed.
On the contrary, "Under The Blue/Take Me In" is quite the opposite to me. "Under The Blue" is an amazing song. It probably has the best production on the album; the synths just wrap around every word that she says, the kicks get me so hyped, and the vocal manipulation is subtle enough to be effective. However, her delivery of lyrics can get a bit awkward, and it definitely gets to be very repetitive by the end of the album. "Take Me In" is wholly unneeded; the outro is nice, but the messy heap of words that she just throws out there just ruins the flow of the song.
My biggest complaint about this album is an issue that I've never really considered before. I love transitions between songs on albums, but this album simply has too many. Almost every song has either an extended intro or outro; even if these are just a few seconds, it makes a huge difference. I've listened to this album seven times in the past week, but it feels like I've listened twice at most. Every time I listen to this album, I'm surprised by how long it's actually been; it feels like it is twenty minutes long. The thing is that the songs don't even sound very alike. Somehow, this album just flows so, so extremely well. It is way too much of a good thing, and makes the album listening experience deeply flawed to me.
Overall, I do think that this is a good album, regardless of the flaws in it. It should be consumed piecemeal for the best experience; this is the total opposite of most albums I listen to, but I've determined that I always enjoy the songs more listening to them by themselves. Hayley Kiyoko could very well be the future. She can dance, sing, write songs, and act; she's like queer Britney Spears with more talent. As her style continues to evolve, I fully intend on following her through her career; I see so much potential in her, even though Expectations slightly missed my own expectations.
Final Verdict:
65/100
Favorite Tracks:
Palm Dreams, Sleepover, Wanna Be Missed, Feelings
Least Favorite Tracks:
Mercy/Gatekeeper, Let It Be
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