Ten years after Hayley Kiyoko released the Girls Like Girls music video — a moment that reshaped queer pop culture — the story has reached its next chapter.
The long-awaited trailer for the Girls Like Girls film has officially dropped, sending sapphic fans into a collective emotional spiral.
From the very first notes, the trailer pulls viewers straight back to 2015. The same aching melody. The same quiet intensity. For many, it’s not just a preview — it’s a time machine.
For those who first saw themselves reflected in that three-minute video, the experience feels deeply personal. A song that once lived in bedrooms and headphones is now headed for cinemas.
The film is set for release on 19 June 2026, right in the heart of Pride Month in the United States — a fitting milestone for a story that has grown alongside a generation of queer women and gender-diverse fans.
From Music Video to Cultural Milestone
When Girls Like Girls debuted in 2015, it didn’t soften its edges. It showed longing, jealousy, tenderness and rage — and, crucially, it centred queer desire without apology.
The video has since amassed more than 160 million views and was included in Billboard’s “30 Lesbian Love Songs.” It also cemented Kiyoko’s fan-bestowed title: Lesbian Jesus.
In 2023, Kiyoko expanded the narrative into a New York Times bestselling young adult novel, diving deeper into the lives of Coley and Sonya. Now, she has stepped behind the camera to direct the feature adaptation herself — ensuring the film remains emotionally raw and unapologetically queer.
A Sapphic Coming-of-Age Story
The film stars Maya da Costa as Coley and Myra Molloy as Sonya.
Coley is a grieving teenager adjusting to life in rural Oregon after the death of her mother. When she meets the magnetic and complicated Sonya, an intense first love begins to unravel everything she thought she understood about herself.
The story exists at the crossroads of grief, identity, longing and desire — capturing that familiar sapphic trajectory from “just friends” to something undeniable.
The screenplay was co-written by Kiyoko alongside Stefanie Scott, who originally portrayed Coley in the 2015 music video — a detail that adds an extra layer of full-circle resonance for long-time fans.
A Generation Grown Up
Within 24 hours of release, the trailer had racked up millions of views, with fans flooding social media in celebration.
One YouTube commenter summed it up best, saying they were proud to have watched the story grow “from an iconic music video to a book and now a movie.”
For many queer audiences, Girls Like Girls is more than nostalgia. It represents a turning point — a moment when sapphic love stories began to claim space in mainstream pop culture.
Ten years. One song. A book. A film.
And proof that queer women’s first loves are worth telling — and retelling — on the biggest screens possible.
