Hayley Kiyoko is an amazing pop artist that you'll rarely hear on the radio, but most people know her name. She first found fame in her acting career when she took on the role of Velma from Scooby Doo. Let me tell you: I'm so happy that she started making music. While I'm a fairly new fan, she's been releasing music since 2013. I'm even a bit late to writing a review for this album that was released in August of 2016. Anyways, her music takes electronic pop music to a whole new level for me. It's a very chill and smooth sub-genre that's perfect to listen to loudly in the car.
The reason why she calls the album "Citrine" is because of a crystal necklace she wears to bring positivity and well-being, which is pretty cool to me.
The EP starts out with Gravel to Tempo. It starts out with the sound of feet against, well, gravel. You can almost see exactly how Kiyoko got the inspiration for the song while taking a walk along an unfinished road. The beat of walking carries through the entire song softly while more and more instruments and vocals are introduced. It's a very upbeat song while also remaining eerie.
All of the songs on the album seem to fit together so well. They're very similar, while also being drastically different (if that makes sense). Kiyoko has a voice that's easy to fall in love with and I could listen to her for hours. In fact, I have listened to her music on repeat. I'm not even ashamed to say that.
One of my favorite things about this album is the meaning behind it all. While she was struggling to write her music in general, her producer asked her to "write about something you've told no one before". What she chose to write about was her sexuality. For every song on this EP, she is singing to a girl, which is really important to a lot of young queer people. In the music industry, it's really rare to have an openly gay artist who casually writes music about their lovers. For anyone who is questioning their sexuality, hearing just one song about a girl singing about how normal it is to think a girl is pretty (see "Pretty Girl" by Hayley Kiyoko) can be very comforting.
Even though it's a short album, every song is my favorite. I highly recommend this album if you enjoy chill pop music. Give her a listen!
