Women and non binary artists have been pushed aside and forgotten about on festival lineups since the beginning. With even the biggest festivals in the UK forgetting to make gender diversity their number one priority, this is an ever growing problem within the music industry.
Take the most recent Reading and Leeds festival lineup for example, next year will see the introduction of two main stages and six headline acts instead of the usual three. Sounds decent, right? That is, until you take a closer look and see that there is a VERY clear inequality between the number of male artists versus the number of female and non binary artists featured. Post Malone is set to play the main stage for what will be the third R+L weekend in a row, alongside Liam Gallagher, who is clearly trying to stay relevant despite Oasis’ break up 11 years ago and the release of two extremely mediocre solo albums. Other names set to headline are Catfish & Bottlemen, Queens of the Stone Age, Stormzy and Disclosure. You really cannot help but notice the distinct lack of female and non binary artists, not just in the headline slots but across the board. This is appalling, especially from a festival with such a large following.
It is because of the recent announcements from Reading and Leeds that I have decided to compile a list of women and non binary artists who deserve a spot on EVERY festival lineup whether that’s on a main stage or a smaller stage. Times are changing – there is no longer any need for lineups to be centred around white, cisgender, heterosexual men. Women and non binary people are changing the game for good.
HAIM: 3 piece band made up of sisters Danielle, Este and Alana. Hailing from Los Angeles, the band have released three full length albums since 2013 and played at some of the world’s biggest festivals including Glastonbury and Reading + Leeds. Their newest venture, Women in Music PTIII is pop rock Heaven and you can stream it here.
Wolf Alice: Fronted by lead singer Ellie Rowsell, the band have built themselves a rather large following having released two very successful albums; My Love is Cool in 2015 and Visions of a Life in 2017. They co headlined Reading + Leeds in 2018 but, I’d love to see them back next year!
Janelle Monae: With over two million listeners on Spotify and a Grammy nomination under their belt at just 34, it’s a surprise that Monae isn’t already on next year’s R+L lineup. With their music spanning across many different genres including soul, funk, hip hop and new wave – it caters for a lot of festival audiences globally, which is another reason I’m surprised they aren’t featured on festival lineups for next year.
WILLOW: Daughter of actors Will Smith & Jada Pinkett, Smith released her first song at just 10 years old. Then in 2015 she released her debut ARDIPITHECUS followed by second album The 1st in 2017 which, The New York Times described as the ‘Soundtrack to adolescence’. I really think WILLOW deserves a headline at, at least one UK festival
In regards to headliners, the list could go on but there are so so many smaller artists that deserve recognition too! Here are some of my favourites:
Dream Wife: The three piece consisting of Icelandic born lead singer Rakel Mjoll, bassist Bella Podpadec and guitarist Alice Go met at university in Brighton and started the band as a university project. Their music tackles issues related to feminism, gender roles, body image and sexual objectification. Their newest album So When You Gonna… is available to stream everywhere now.
Rina Sawayama: Despite only releasing her first full length piece this year, Rina has over a million listeners and her album SAWAYAMA recieved incredible reception from both her audience and critics alike. She confronts issues of identity and conflict through pop anthems with influences of RnB, nu-metal and club beats. You can listen to SAWAYAMA here.
Arlo Parks: South London native Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho, known professionally as singer and poet Arlo Parks was signed to Transgressive Records after the release of her debut single ‘Cola’. Since then, she has released two EP’s: Super Sad Generation and Sophie. Even though she is still fairly new to live music, having only played her first proper gig last May at Brighton’s Great Escape festival, she has already made appearances at both Glastonbury and Latitude festivals so she is way more than deserving of a place at Reading & Leeds too.
The Japanese House: The Japanese House is the solo project of London-based singer/songwriter Amber Bain. After signing to Dirty Hit Records in 2015, she released her first two EP’s: Pools to Bathe In and Clean. Then in 2018 after the release of of another two EP’s in 2016 and 2017, Bain teased her debut album Good at Falling with the release of single Lilo. The album arrived in March 2019 and received extremely positive reviews from the likes of NME and Pitchfork.
Sorry: Started by childhood friends Asha Lorenz and Louis O’Bryen, the North London based quartet (Lorenzo and O’Bryen are joined by Lincoln Barrett on drums and Campbell Baum on bass guitar) have a wildly experimental sound with influences of trip-hop, 90’s alt rock and early trap scattered throughout their discography but most prominently on their debut album ‘925’ which was released on Domino Records in March this year. Fingers crossed they get added to at least one festival lineup next year! You can stream their debut, 925 here
Marika Hackman: Having released a mini album, 4 EP’s and 3 full length albums in the space of 8 years, Hackman is no stranger to the music industry either; she has supported Laura Marling multiple times on tour and played festivals such as Reading and Leeds and Festival Number 6 in the past. Her albums I’m Not Your Man (released 2017) and Any Human Friend (released 2019) have been met with critical acclaim from multiple publications. You can stream Any Human Friend here
The Big Moon: The London based quartet made up of Juliette Jackson on lead vocals, Soph Nathan on guitar, Celia Archer on bass and Fern Ford on drums have been credited with breathing new life into the indie genre at a time where guitar based indie music had fallen out of favour. The band have released two albums and their first, Love in the 4th Dimension was nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2017. Album two, Walking Like We Do followed in January 2020 and it is a true masterpiece. I can’t wait to see them go on to bigger and better things next year
There are hundreds of artists I could’ve included in this list but these are just a few that stood out to me the most. I have curated a playlist of my favourite songs from each artist and you can find that here.