ROCK OF ASIAN: Hayley Kiyoko, Star Of The Disney Channel’s Forthcoming Lemonade Mouth

By Guest Contributor Jen Wang, cross-posted from Disgrasian

Does the world need another high school musical? No. Yes? I dunno–it depends on how you feel about that sort of thing. But after Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens broke up last month–or did they?–because “they just grew up,” and with Zac graduating to new man roles like his part in The Lucky One, for which he put on lots and lots of man-muscle in order to play a war veteran with a manly albeit curious Southern accent–Get it people? Zac Efron is a man, now, okay?–something must be done to fill this terrible, awful void. Plus, high school musicals move nail polish units, apparently.

Enter Lemonade Mouth, brought to you by Disney Channel Original Movies–producers of HSM–the plot of which sounds something like The Breakfast Club meets School of Rock for the Belieber set. In other words, it will be awful! And, in other words, I will be watching it late at night on my DVR when I can’t sleep and am particularly vulnerable to bad TV starring teens with impossibly good skin who will make me feel only more wretched and old than I already do!

I will also be watching Lemonade Mouth for Hayley Kiyoko (pictured, center), who plays one of the lead misfits. Because the 19 year-old of Japanese descent is crazy talented. She plays the drums, keys, guitar, and writes her own music. I’m particularly partial to the song “Lungs” on her MySpace (listen here). She’s also in a girl group called The Stunners who opened for the Biebs last summer, not that you care (I mean, I don’t). And she’s so pretty in a tomboyish way-Hayley played Velma in both Cartoon Network Scooby Doo movies–she kind of demands your attention. Added bonus: she’s goofy as hell, as witnessed by this YouTube video she made last summer, when she and girl-groupmate Lauren Hudson, who’s also Asian, got stuck in the back of their tour van:

Lemonade Mouth premieres Friday, March 25 at 8PM ET/PT on the Disney Channel.