Hayley Kiyoko – I Wish [Official Video]
Hayley Kiyoko trades heartbreak for witchcraft in her first release since ‘Expectations.’
Hayley Kiyoko dropped the official video for “I Wish” on July 18, 2019, her first new music since her 2018 debut album Expectations. Released through Atlantic Records, the track pairs a synth-pop confession about a selfish, inattentive lover with a visual that swaps typical breakup-video imagery for a coven in the woods. Kiyoko wrote the song with Bibi Bourelly, Jason Evigan and Pat Morrissey, and stepped behind the camera herself to direct the clip.
- “I Wish” is Kiyoko’s first release since her 2018 debut album Expectations, produced by Jason Evigan and Pat Morrissey and co-written with Bibi Bourelly.
- Kiyoko directed the music video herself, with Marla Vazquez as creative producer, casting Maia Mitchell, Madison Pettis, Ana Osorio, Tamika Miller and Bree Kish as her on-screen circle of friends.
- Alongside the video, Kiyoko announced an interactive “I Wish” pop-up and merchandise event set for July 19-20 in downtown Los Angeles.
A Breakup Song With A Body Count Of Feelings
Lyrically, “I Wish” is blunt about what wore Kiyoko down: a partner who “shuts down” when she speaks her mind, “butts heads” with her instead of listening, and keeps “paying her attention” — attention Kiyoko isn’t getting. The hook strips the frustration down to a single repeated plea, “I Wish I Wish I Wish I Found Love,” turning a specific grievance into something anyone who’s been ignored by someone they love can sing along to.
Cause I wake up up in the morning time / And there’s nobody here by my side / I Wish I Wish I Wish I Found Love
It’s a sharper, more wounded turn than much of Expectations, and it sets up the video’s premise directly: if the song is about being stuck grieving a relationship that never gave her what she needed, the visual is about what it actually takes to let go of it.
The Coven In The Woods
Rather than lean on a straightforward narrative or performance clip, Kiyoko built “I Wish” around an occult-tinged ritual. She gathers a group of close friends — played by Maia Mitchell as Carmen, Madison Pettis as Jo, Ana Osorio as Beth, Tamika Miller as Luz and Bree Kish as Raquel — deep in the woods for a seance and potion-making ceremony designed to help her detach from the memory of the unfaithful partner described in the lyrics. The choreography throughout is deliberately uncanny and stylized, matching the witchy staging rather than defaulting to conventional pop-video dance breaks.
The result reframes heartbreak as something communal rather than solitary. Instead of Kiyoko processing the breakup alone, the video hands the healing work to a circle of women performing a shared ritual on her behalf, which fits the sisterhood theme she’s said drives the piece.
Kiyoko Behind The Camera
Kiyoko directed “I Wish” herself, working with creative producer Marla Vazquez to translate the song’s occult concept into a finished visual. That hands-on control is consistent with how Kiyoko has approached her music videos going back to her breakthrough singles, and it puts her in the same lane as other pop artists using the music-video format as a proper short film rather than a promotional afterthought — a trend that’s shown up across recent releases like Nicki Minaj’s “Do We Have A Problem?” video.
Given how much of Kiyoko’s public identity is tied to her advocacy and her image as a pop artist who doesn’t fit the industry’s usual mold, the DIY directing approach also tracks with a broader pattern among musicians who turn out to be nothing like their packaged image once you look at how they actually run their own projects.
The Pop-Up In Downtown LA
Kiyoko didn’t stop at the video. Alongside the digital release, she announced an interactive “I Wish” pop-up experience and merchandise event scheduled for July 19 and 20 in downtown Los Angeles, giving fans a physical extension of the video’s ritual concept just a day after the song hit streaming platforms.
That two-day window turns “I Wish” from a single release into a short event cycle — video first, then a walk-through experience for the fans willing to show up in person and buy in on the coven aesthetic Kiyoko built for the song.
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