Focus Features’ Girls Like Girls is a new film based on the Hayley Kiyoko's hit single and best-selling novel of the same name. The feature was directed by the artist and includes all-new music.
Girls Like Girls is set in a small Oregon town in the summer of 2006, where Coley (Maya da Costa) has moved to live with her estranged father Curtis (Zach Braff). While biking down the town’s backroads, she stops off at the Cherry Pit, where she encounters the charismatic Sonya (Myra Molloy), her boyfriend Trenton (Levon Hawke) and their friend group. While content to observe from a distance, Coley is pulled into their world, and flirtation blossoms between the new girl and the popular girl.
The film was released in US theaters on June 19th and features an original score by LA-based composer Jessica Rose Weiss. Weiss and Kiyoko also collaborated to co-write the film‘s original song "Falling Through.”
Weiss (pictured) is an alumna of the Universal/DreamWorks Composers Initiative and a member of the Alliance for Women Film Composers. Her credits include Cinderella, which earned her a BMI Award,
Canary Black,
No Hard Feelings,
American Horror Stories and
The Kill Room. Here, she shares details on her most recent project.
Jessica, how did you get involved in the soundtrack for Girls Like Girls
?
“I was brought on to score the project quite early in the process. I was sent the script and absolutely loved it, and then I was set up to meet with Hayley. We grabbed coffee and discussed the story, as well as her ideas and goals for the score. Soon after that, we were off to the races!”
What were the film’s musical needs?
“After much discussion regarding the story, the characters and the emotional landscape of the film, we realized that the score had to be a delicate voice within the film — one that helped support and elevate the narrative without taking up too much space. The performances and execution of the film were so powerful that I needed to spend a lot of time creating melodies, motifs and a palette that felt congruous within the architecture of the film, always making sure to honor Hayley's vision and incorporate her musical DNA throughout.”
How many cues did you create?
“I wrote 22 cues for the film - my lucky number!”
Can you share some details on your recording process and setup?
“I always start at my piano, working on finding the themes and melodies that feel supportive of the story and characters. Once I feel that those are working, I move to my rig in Logic Pro and start building a palette. For this score, there were a lot of bespoke pads built using Hayley's voice, as well as other analog synths in my studio (my Juno-6 and Prophet Rev2). I also spent time implementing acoustic and electric guitars, strings, a lot of cello, played by my brilliant friend Dave Eggar, and percussion.”
Photo: Maya da Costa and Myra Molloy with director Hayley Kiyoko during production.
How about the process of co-writing the song?
“I co-wrote and produced a song for the film titled ‘Falling Through’ with Hayley and my dear friend Scott Effman, as well as co-produced and arranged three others for the film: ‘Notice,’ ‘Lungs’ and the new orchestral version of ‘Girls Like Girls.’
“Hayley came to me with a batch of her old demos and asked me to have a listen through them and choose which ones I felt might be applicable for the film. It was such a beautiful moment of trust, and after going through multiple options, we chose ‘Notice’ and ‘Lungs.’
“Hayley, Scott and I used those demos as a launching pad to create a sonic palette for the songs. Having cohesion throughout all of them felt necessary. We ended up creating our own little band of sorts. I was on keys, Scott on guitar and Hayley at the mic. We continued to add production elements, including synths, drums, bass, BVs, etc.
“Co-writing ‘Falling Through’ together was a marriage of the minds and happened very organically. The three of us spent time discussing the scene that it would support within the film and found the melody, instrumentation and lyrics quite quickly. Working with Hayley as a songwriter was a real honor and a dream come true. We ended up using an old loop of Hayley's voice from a demo as the opening hook for the song as an homage to her younger self.
“The final cherry on top was when she asked me if we could do an orchestral version of ‘Girls Like Girls’ for the closing credits. Scott and I got to work arranging it for her, and then we brought her into the studio to re-record the vocals, which was a very emotional moment for her and all of us. The original release of that song was in 2015, so for her to revisit it in this context was a major moment. I then got to work arranging the strings for the track, and we recorded it live with a 30-piece string orchestra through the FAMES Recording Project - truly a highlight for all of us.”