--- title: Hayley Kiyoko Celebrates 2018 VMAs as 'Queer Woman of Color' description: Hayley Kiyoko said her win as the push artist of the year at the 2018 VMAs 'validates any queer woman of color...can follow your dreams.' canonical: https://time.com/5372599/vmas-2018-hayley-kiyoko/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-21T01:23:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:14.293Z og:title: Hayley Kiyoko Celebrates VMAs win as 'Queer Woman of Color' og:description: "It's 20GAYTEEN!" og:url: https://time.com/5372599/vmas-2018-hayley-kiyoko/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb77b6a07ac96454/6989382eab6d7747b96b373e/hayley-kiyoko-mtv-vmas-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: 2018 MTV Video Music Awards - Red Carpet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hayley Kiyoko Celebrates VMAs win as 'Queer Woman of Color' twitter:description: "It's 20GAYTEEN!" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb77b6a07ac96454/6989382eab6d7747b96b373e/hayley-kiyoko-mtv-vmas-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hayley Kiyoko on Her VMAs Win: 'This Validates Any Queer Woman of Color' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Celebrities Walk the 2018 VMAs Pink Carpet [Watch (HLS stream): Celebrities Walk the 2018 VMAs Pink Carpet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uNvctn9I.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2018-08-21. 2018 Video Music Awards Red Carpet_  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 21, 2018 1:23 AM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 20: Hayley Kiyoko attends the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic) NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 20: Hayley Kiyoko attends the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic) Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 21, 2018 1:23 AM UTC Pop newcomer [Hayley Kiyoko](http://time.com/5220817/5-songs-you-need-to-listen-to-this-week-47/) took home her first Moon person trophy after winning “Push Artist of the Year” at the [2018 MTV Video Music Awards](http://time.com/5347009/2018-mtv-video-music-awards-guide/) on Monday night at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. The [“Push Artist of the Year”](http://time.com/5340179/mtv-vmas-2018-nominees/) is a new category that MTV debuted this year to highlight artists like Kiyoko. Other nominees include Noah Cyrus, Lil Xan, Chloe x Halle and Tee Grizzley. Upon winning, the California native couldn’t contain her excitement, sharing all of her exuberant feelings with a heartfelt declaration. “This validates any queer woman of color that you can follow your dreams.” > [](https://twitter.com/MTV/status/1031703021212913669) It appears Kiyoko was manifesting her win earlier as well, if her tweet ahead of the show indicates anything. > [](https://twitter.com/HayleyKiyoko/status/1031543406726656001) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5372599/vmas-2018-hayley-kiyoko/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5372599/vmas-2018-hayley-kiyoko/"},"headline":"Hayley Kiyoko on Her VMAs Win: 'This Validates Any Queer Woman of Color'","datePublished":"2018-08-21T01:23:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:14.293Z","description":"\"It's 20GAYTEEN!\"","url":"https://time.com/5372599/vmas-2018-hayley-kiyoko/","keywords":["Newsfeed","awards"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb77b6a07ac96454/6989382eab6d7747b96b373e/hayley-kiyoko-mtv-vmas-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb77b6a07ac96454/6989382eab6d7747b96b373e/hayley-kiyoko-mtv-vmas-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2018 MTV Video Music Awards - Red Carpet","caption":"2018 MTV Video Music Awards - Red Carpet","creditText":"Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5372599/vmas-2018-hayley-kiyoko/","name":"Hayley Kiyoko on Her VMAs Win: 'This Validates Any Queer Woman of Color'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Celebrities Walk the 2018 VMAs Pink Carpet","description":"2018 Video Music Awards Red Carpet","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uNvctn9I/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-08-21T03:08:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uNvctn9I.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5372599/vmas-2018-hayley-kiyoko/","duration":"PT1M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5372599/vmas-2018-hayley-kiyoko/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```