“I thought the world was against me.”
It’s hard to imagine someone like Hayley Kiyoko, singer, songwriter, author, actor, and director—ever feeling small. For many of us, she has been a defining part of growing up, on our screens in Lemonade Mouth, Scooby-Doo!, Wizards of Waverly Place, or on our playlists with songs like “Gravel to Tempo” and “Cliff’s Edge” that perfectly captured the emotional chaos of being a teenager in the 2010s.
Her work has long been a source of comfort for young girls and the LGBTQ+ community. In 2015, Hayley Kiyoko publicly came out as a lesbian with the release of her breakout song and music video, Girls Like Girls. After seeing fans on Tumblr embrace the story and create edits of the music video, Hayley was inspired to take the story further.
For nearly a decade, she fought to bring Girls Like Girls to life on the big screen. What began as a song evolved into an emotional coming-of-age story about first love, heartbreak, and discovering your identity. But for ten years, the answer from studios was the same: no.
“10 Years of No, sounds like the title of your next memoir” joked Los Angeles Times music journalist Mikael Wood during the evening’s Q&A.
We had the chance to attend Hayley Kiyoko’s panel and performance at the Grammy Museum on June 29, where she reflected on the journey of Girls Like Girls. From song, to music video, to bestselling novel, and now, finally, a feature film. After all these years of persistence, this Pride Month made for an especially meaningful one with her vision finally becoming reality.
The film’s rollout has embraced the LGBTQ+ community every step of the way, with West Hollywood Pride Parade appearances, nostalgic Disney-themed club nights, and the release of an inspired-by soundtrack featuring other queer artists like Young Miko, Tegan and Sara, Gigi Perez, Chelsea Cutler, Joy Oladokun, August Ponthier, and Snow Wife.
We got to chat with a member of the street team, Maya Cheav, who shared about her experience and importance of the film:
Q: How did you get involved with the Girls like Girls street team and what was the most memorable part of the experience?
MC: A post from Hayley came up on my TikTok For You Page detailing how to sign up for the street team, and I immediately filled out the application. I didn’t hear back for over a month, so I was so overjoyed to see the acceptance email in my inbox! It is genuinely one of the greatest honors of my life to get to be a part of something that shaped my life as deeply as Girls Like Girls did growing up. Through the GLG street team experience, I made tons of posts and videos talking about the movie itself, the street team challenges, and the exclusive events we got to go to. By far the most memorable part of the experience was getting to walk alongside Hayley and her lovely fiancé, Becca Tilley, at the WeHo Pride Parade!
Q: What has been the community reaction to the film?
MC: Most queer women know that Hayley Kiyoko has been dubbed the title of “Lesbian Jesus,” so she and Girls Like Girls feels beloved to the community. I feel like people showed up for the movie in droves, despite the fact that it was released in only about 500 theaters and is yet to be distributed in regions outside of the U.S. I feel like the community has been fighting for a movie like this to be made for a long time, and we want other countries and continents to get to experience it too.
Q: What does this film mean to you?
MC: I’m a writer, and something I mentioned in my street team application was how I’m working on a series of novels where one of the characters is named after Coley from the film because that’s how much the Girls Like Girls video meant to me growing up. I would say that it’s one of three pieces of queer representation that played a role in me not feeling ashamed of my sexuality or experiencing as much internalized homophobia amidst a very conservative world. Because of that, I will always be grateful to every iteration of Girls Like Girls, whether it be the music video, the book, or the movie.
“I just needed to wait.”
In 2023, Girls Like Girls was finally picked up by Focus Features, and Kiyoko described the moment as feeling almost destined. “When Focus Features called and said they were green-lighting the movie and had found a location to shoot it, they told me it would be in Kelowna, Canada,” she recalled. “The crazy thing is that’s where my grandparents are buried. I have photos of myself taking my first baby steps just streets away from where we ended up filming.” After years of self-doubt and rejection, the coincidence felt almost like an affirmation that the story had arrived exactly when and where it was supposed to.
“I promise I’m not a witch.”
Kiyoko laughed as she recounted another surreal full-circle moment. One of the soundtracks that heavily inspired the album was the 2004 Garden State soundtrack. While developing Girls Like Girls, she even placed photos of Zach Braff on her vision boards. “I never imagined I’d actually end up casting him as the dad in the movie.”
Casting the film’s two leads came with its own unexpected surprise. Kiyoko explained that she never specifically set out to cast two Asian actresses. “We put out a casting call and got over 4,000 auditions. The first tape I watched was Maya Da Costas, and I just knew we’d found Coley…Then, when we did the chemistry read with Myra Molloy, everything between them felt so natural.”
It wasn’t until Kiyoko began acting that she started to unpack what it meant to be mixed-race. “When you go into an audition, everyone either looks completely different from you, or everyone looks exactly like you. When I auditioned for Velma, I never thought they’d pick an Asian actress.” Landing the role of Velma in the 2009 and 2010 Scooby-Doo! films came as a total shock to her. Although it wasn’t intentional, Girls Like Girls placing two young South East Asian women at its center is significant. It creates space for more Asian women to see themselves in leading roles, and helped Kiyoko heal another part of herself that once felt unseen.
Following the panel, Kiyoko took the stage for her first live performance since 2023. The set featured songs from the Girls Like Girls soundtrack, including “Lungs,” “Falling Through,” and “Periwinkle Princess,” with Chelsea Cutler making a surprise appearance for “nobody should have you.” For the final song of the night, Kiyoko performed the orchestral version of “Girls Like Girls,”where fans sang along to the lyrics and swayed their arms to the final chorus. You could truly feel how far the song, and the community that grew around it, had come since its release over a decade ago.
After the performance, Kiyoko stayed to meet fans, signing vinyl records and taking photos. It was a fitting end to a night that celebrated not just the release of a film and album, but the power of believing in your story.
Girls Like Girls is now playing in theaters, and the inspired-by soundtrack is available now.
Use the link: https://glgtickets.com/MayaC