Hayley Kiyoko on girls like girls and how it helped queer youth come out

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• How a Song Became a Major Sapphic Film
• Why On-Screen Sapphic Romance Still Matters
  • What the movie explores
• Hayley Kiyoko’s Personal Journey: A Decade in the Making
• Pride, Politics, and the Need for Joy
• The Cast, Themes, and What Audiences Will See on Screen
• Community, Partnership, and Support Behind the Scenes
• Who This Film Is For — And Why Young Viewers Will Notice
• Practical Details: When and Where to Watch

When the lights dimmed at my screening of Girls Like Girls, I found myself unexpectedly undone. There’s something powerful about seeing a tender, unapologetic sapphic love story played out on a theater screen — especially when it centers young women of color. For many viewers, that cinematic mirror can finally provide words and feelings they didn’t yet have, and that possibility is precisely what Hayley Kiyoko set out to create.

Girls Like Girls has traveled a long arc from an indie pop single to a full-bodied feature film — and the result feels like both a gift and a reckoning. It’s a coming-of-age drama that leans into longing, grief, and the messy thrill of first love, with the real-world stakes of representation woven into every scene.

How a Song Became a Major Sapphic Film

The story of Girls Like Girls is unusual and instructive for creators and fans alike. What began as Kiyoko’s 2016 single has been reimagined across formats: first as a hit music video, later as a New York Times bestselling YA novel in 2023, and now as a feature film. That evolution mirrors the way queer stories can expand and gain momentum when audiences hunger for them.

• 2016: The original song and music video introduced the world to the idea.
• 2023: A YA novel adapted the narrative into a coming-of-age book that reached a wide readership.
• 2026: The story finds its cinematic form, starring Maya da Costa and Myra Molloy as two teenagers whose relationship anchors the film.

The film’s tone balances intimate character study with broader cultural resonance, aiming to be at once specific to Kiyoko’s experience and universal in its emotional truth.

Why On-Screen Sapphic Romance Still Matters

There’s been a surge in queer romance stories in Hollywood, but much of the visibility has skewed toward gay male narratives. Hayley Kiyoko has made a point of filling the gap for lesbian and sapphic viewers — stories that show women loving women in full, unashamed color.

Representation isn’t just symbolic; it changes lives. For young people learning their identities, seeing a film where two girls fall in love and are allowed to be the main characters can reshape expectations about what’s possible. Kiyoko’s project intentionally centers those experiences, acknowledging that films like this can act as lifelines for viewers who don’t yet have language for their feelings.

What the movie explores

• First love and the confusion that comes with it
• Grief and how it shapes teenage identity
• Intersectionality — especially the specific visibility of women of color within queer narratives
• The everyday, vulnerable moments that make romance feel real rather than idealized

Hayley Kiyoko’s Personal Journey: A Decade in the Making

Bringing this film to theaters was not a quick process. Kiyoko spent roughly a decade shepherding the project from idea to release, working through industry gatekeeping and the practical challenges of making a film that centers queer women of color. Along the way, she moved from pop star and music-video creator to bestselling author and first-time director.

When we met in Toronto at a bookshop event, the scene captured that transition: a block-long line of young people waiting to meet her, copies of the novel stacked on display, and a palpable sense that this was more than promotion — it was cultural affirmation.

She described the film as a love letter to her younger self, a chance to give audiences the validation and visibility she wished she’d had while coming of age.

Pride, Politics, and the Need for Joy

Releasing Girls Like Girls during Pride month in 2026 feels both celebratory and urgent. The last several years have seen advances in visibility alongside renewed legislative and social threats to queer rights, and Kiyoko acknowledges that contrast. Her film is intentionally an offering of joy and hope at a time when many in the community are weary from fighting for safety and recognition.

She points out that joy isn’t frivolous — it’s a form of sustenance. Films like this help replenish emotional reserves, provide space for celebration, and remind audiences of what they’re fighting to preserve.

The Cast, Themes, and What Audiences Will See on Screen

Starring Maya da Costa and Myra Molloy, Girls Like Girls foregrounds two young women whose chemistry feels lived-in rather than manufactured. The film sketches out familiar teen territory — awkward conversations, tense family dynamics, and the dizzying rush of new love — while layering in deeper themes of loss and identity formation.

• Performance focus: The leads deliver quiet moments as convincingly as emotional peaks.
• Visual style: The movie aims for intimacy, often framing scenes to emphasize the personal stakes of each encounter.
• Emotional arc: A slow-burning path from uncertainty to self-recognition, with grief threaded through the narrative.

Community, Partnership, and Support Behind the Scenes

This film is a community project as much as an individual one. Kiyoko credits the people closest to her — including her fiancée, Becca Tilley — for steadying her through the long, sometimes painful process of making the movie. Tilley contributed in ways that went beyond a simple credit; she provided emotional backup during late nights, creative doubt, and the inevitable “will this ever exist?” moments.

For Kiyoko, the premiere was a personal milestone: to stand beside a partner who knew the years of work and worry and to share the payoff in a packed theater.

Who This Film Is For — And Why Young Viewers Will Notice

Girls Like Girls aims to reach anyone who has felt unseen, especially teens grappling with attraction and identity in private. The film positions itself as both mirror and map: a reflection of what viewers might already feel, and a guide toward the language and courage to claim those feelings publicly. Kiyoko hopes the movie will allow queer youth — and particularly queer women of color — to take up space without apology.

• Young people searching for representation
• Fans of queer romance and coming-of-age stories
• Viewers curious about contemporary sapphic narratives in mainstream cinema

Practical Details: When and Where to Watch

Girls Like Girls opens in theaters on Friday, June 19, 2026. The theatrical release is part of Kiyoko’s deliberate mission to make the film a shared, public experience — a contrast to the private viewings many people had of queer media in earlier decades.

Expect press appearances, bookshop appearances where the novel is still on sale, and a continued conversation about how representation in film affects real lives.

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