Hayley Kiyoko’s ‘Girls Like Girls’ Streaming Release Date Announced

Hayley Kiyoko has dedicated over a decade to developing ‘Girls Like Girls,’ which began with a viral 2015 music video that resonated as a coming-out anthem for many queer fans. This single song eventually transformed into a bestselling novel, and this year, it has reached its most ambitious form yet as a feature film that Kiyoko wrote, directed, and scored herself.

The movie premiered in theaters back in June, arriving during Pride Month, a particularly meaningful time given the song’s own history. Set in 2006, the coming-of-age tale follows Coley, a grieving teenager who relocates to a small Oregon town to live with her estranged father, played by Zach Braff, and finds herself falling for a captivating girl named Sonya during one transformative summer.

Now, fans who missed the film during its theatrical run will have another opportunity to watch it, as ‘Girls Like Girls’ is officially set to begin streaming exclusively on Peacock starting August 14. The film grossed over $2.7 million at the domestic box office during its run and received strong reviews, achieving an 86 percent Certified Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The positive reception is particularly significant for Kiyoko, who views the film as a love letter to her younger self. She expressed that seeing a story like this on the big screen as a teenager would have greatly influenced her journey of self-discovery, according to Refinery29.

The journey to bring ‘Girls Like Girls’ to screens was not a swift one. Kiyoko has discussed the project’s long, stop-and-start development, with the original song evolving into a novel in 2023 before finally becoming a film nearly ten years after its initial release. She described this process as one of the most personally fulfilling creative journeys of her career.

This lengthy development period also allowed Kiyoko to create a companion soundtrack featuring collaborators who share personal connections to the song’s legacy, including Gigi Perez, Joy Oladokun, Tegan and Sara, Young Miko, and Chelsea Cutler. Perez has acknowledged Kiyoko as a true pioneer in queer music, someone who built her career without the typical support system many artists depend on.

The film’s transition to Peacock follows a typical release pattern for Focus Features, which generally see their films move to streaming platforms a few months after their theatrical debuts. Other recent titles from the studio, such as ‘Hamnet’ and ‘Bugonia,’ have taken similar paths to major platforms following their theatrical runs.

With its debut on Peacock, ‘Girls Like Girls’ joins a growing collection of queer coming-of-age stories finding renewed life on streaming, providing audiences who missed it in theaters an accessible way to experience Kiyoko’s decade-long passion project. For a film so deeply rooted in one artist’s personal history, its expanded streaming availability feels like a fitting next chapter in the story’s ongoing evolution.

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