A 2015 pop single about two girls falling for each other has been made into a feature film, directed by the singer who wrote it. The project shows how musicians are using songs, videos and fan communities to tell longer stories on screen.
What is the story behind this particular song becoming a film?
The Guardian reports that Girls Like Girls, a single released in 2015, was the singer’s breakthrough. According to the paper, the song was also the first time she felt confident about her sexuality. She has now co-written and directed a feature film based on it. The publication describes the film as a love letter to her 17-year-old self. It follows a 17-year-old character called Coley, who falls for another girl. The Guardian’s reporting presents the film as a deliberate return to the song that first made the artist widely known. It adds a narrative to what began as a three-minute pop track. Beyond these points, details such as the cast, running time and release plans are not covered in the material available here.
Why would a musician turn a single into a full-length film?
A song can sketch a feeling or a situation, but there is little room for character, setting or consequence. A film gives an artist time to show where that feeling comes from and what happens next. For songs that already have a strong story, such as a first love or a heartbreak, the step to a screenplay can seem natural. There is a practical side as well. A song with a devoted audience gives a film a ready-made group of viewers who already care about the material. For the artist, directing also offers more creative control than a music career usually allows, since record releases depend on label schedules, radio and streaming playlists.
Has this kind of song-to-screen adaptation happened before?
Yes, although it is not common. Narrative ballads have been adapted for cinema before. One example is Ode to Billy Joe, which was expanded from a story song into a feature film. Songs about specific characters or events can work as ready-made treatments, because they already contain a premise. What sets the recent case apart is that the songwriter is the director, not a studio buying the rights to a hit. When the person who wrote the song also shapes the film, the adaptation is closer to an extension of the artist’s own work. It is less like a licensing deal. The material available does not say how the project was financed or produced.
What part do music videos play in this?
For many pop artists, the music video is where a song’s story first takes visual form. A video can establish characters, settings and a mood that fans then link to the track. That gives a later film a visual starting point that audiences already recognise. Videos that tell a clear story, rather than simply showing a performance, are especially easy to expand. They work like short films, and some musicians who direct or co-direct their own videos go on to make longer work. The step from a few minutes of footage to a feature-length script is still a large one. It needs a full cast, a structure and a reason for the story to last much longer.
Why do queer coming-of-age stories matter to young audiences?
Coming-of-age stories deal with first experiences: first crushes, first heartbreaks, and first attempts to understand who you are. For young people who are attracted to people of the same gender, seeing those experiences on screen can be reassuring, because many grow up without examples that reflect their own lives. Pop songs written from a queer perspective have long done similar work, giving listeners words for feelings they may not have been able to name. A film based on such a song extends that role into a longer, more detailed form. The Guardian frames this film as one made with a teenage version of its director in mind, which links it closely to this tradition.
What does the nickname “Lesbian Jesus” refer to?
The Guardian reports that fans came to call the singer “lesbian Jesus”. Nicknames like this are part of how fan communities talk about artists who matter to them. They often mix affection, humour and a sense that the artist has given a voice to an under-represented group. In this case, the name suggests that listeners see her as a figure who made openly sapphic pop more visible. The summary available here does not explain exactly when or how the nickname arose, or how widely it is used. The term shows how online fan culture can give an artist an informal role that goes beyond their records. This is particularly true when the music speaks to an identity that mainstream pop has often overlooked.
Why does the timing of the release matter?
The Guardian’s headline presents the decision to release a film with this title in the current climate as radical. In general terms, this reflects continuing public argument in a number of countries about LGBTQ+ representation, especially in material aimed at or involving young people. Disputes over school libraries, classroom content and age ratings have made queer stories for teenagers a politically charged area. A film whose title openly names same-sex attraction between girls is therefore more than a romantic drama to some viewers. The source material does not set out which specific policies or events the remark refers to, so it would be speculative to link the film to any particular law or controversy.
How does the film draw on its director’s own adolescence?
According to the Guardian, many of the singer’s teenage summers were spent bored and pining. She waited at her computer for a crush to reply on AOL Instant Messenger. The paper reports that, like the film’s protagonist Coley, she fell hard for a girl who caused her heartbreak and stayed on her mind for a long time. This personal background helps explain why the film is described as a letter to her younger self. Drawing on memory in this way is common in coming-of-age cinema, where small period details, such as a particular chat program, can set a scene in a specific era. How closely the plot follows real events beyond what the Guardian describes is not known.
What does a pop star moving into directing mean for the music industry?
Musicians have long worked across film, fashion and other media, and directing is one more route. For artists with a loyal audience, a film can deepen fans’ attachment to existing songs and bring those songs to new listeners. In the streaming era, older tracks can gain fresh attention when they appear in films or series. A film based on a single could have the same effect on that song, although there are no figures here to show it. Directing also lets an artist present themselves as a storyteller rather than only a performer, which can shape how they are seen later in their career. Whether this film leads to further directing work is not known.
What is still unknown about the film?
The material available here leaves several questions open. It does not give the film’s release date, its distributor, the countries where it will be shown or its age rating. The cast beyond the protagonist’s name, the running time and any festival screenings are also not covered. There is no information here about critical reception or audience response. Without those details, any judgement about how the film has been received, or how it compares with other queer teen dramas, would be guesswork. Readers wanting those facts should look to official announcements from the film’s distributor or to reviews published once it is widely available.
Sources and further reading
- The Guardian: interview feature on the singer-director and the film adaptation of her single
- Film industry trade publications: coverage of song-to-film adaptations and music artists who direct
- Academic writing on queer cinema: studies of coming-of-age narratives and LGBTQ+ representation for young audiences
- Music journalism archives: reporting on the music video tradition and fan culture in pop
Surfaced from the rss:guardian_music signal “pop song adapted into film”. AI-assisted draft, editorially reviewed.
