Olivia Rodrigo pretty much broke the internet when she announced an all-female festival Daisy Chain Fields. The one-day event, with performers including Chappell Roan, Doechii, Kateseye and of course Olivia herself, will champion women’s music and 100 per cent of the proceeds will go to charities ‘advancing and advocating for women and girls’. The announcement caused a meltdown, with many fans praising the move and Olivia’s Instagram was flooded with comments such as “this is badass” and “Most insane line up...truly incredible.” And while there was so much excitement and anticipation surrounding the festival, the other overwhelming feeling was one of surprise.
In the last few years women have been dominating the music industry. Taylor Swift’s Era’s tour grossed more than $2billion in ticket sales (the biggest tour to do so), Charli xcx’s BRAT album was a cultural phenomenon you couldn’t escape and the charts are ruled by pop girlies like Dua Lipa, Sabrina Carpenter and Beyoncé, with women holding number 1s in the chart for 34 weeks of 2024. Given female artists’ success and role in shaping culture, Olivia’s Daisy Chain Fields should feel the norm, and yet female performers are still a rarity on a festival lineup, never mind as the headliners.
Back in 2022 a report found women make up only 13 per cent of UK festival headliners and while there’s been some movement to readdress this balance (Primavera’s 2025 lineup was headlined by all women), there’s still a big gender imbalance when it comes to performers booking the big slots. But why? In 2023, Sky spoke to Eve Horne, producer, singer-songwriter and founder of Peak Music UK, who claimed there was “too much risk” when it came to booking female musicians for the main slots.
It feeds into a wider picture of where the music industry currently stands with its double standards for female vs male performers. Take Coachella festival in April earlier this year. While Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber both performed headline sets, Justin Bieber was praised for his laidback performance, where he simply turned up in jeans and a hoodie and played his hits via YouTube links. Meanwhile Sabrina had costume changes, set alternations, celebrity guests and quite simply doing the most.
Even when a female musician manages to book the head slot, it’s not enough to just simply turn up as her male counterparts do: she must excel in her performance too. It’s something female musicians are feeling across the board, with Chloe Qisha telling Cosmopolitan UK about the double standard female performers must adhere to.
“The bar for pop girlies is unusually high. Especially with the virality of TikTok and how big someone can become overnight these days, there’s no grace for growth. People expect Addison Rae to come out of the gate singing like Beyoncé, but then also dancing like Tate McRae and then also giving 20 years’ worth of experience all packed into one,” she explained. “But then, I feel like a pop boy can go on stage with the same T-shirt and denim jeans they’ve been wearing all tour and just rock out with a guitar and we’re like, ‘Yes, King, give me more.’”
There’s a gradual movement behind the scenes by some in the music industry to change this for fans and artists. Later this year new Scottish festival Summer’s End Angus (14th to 16th August) will feature an all-female lineup, and in Portugal The North Wave Festival (25 July) will also feature only women artists and DJs. And Lily Allen, Raye and Charli xcx are headlining some mainstream festivals this summer but the dial hasn’t shifted enough to reflect where the music industry actually is right now.
Daisy Chain Fields shouldn’t feel as groundbreaking as it does - all these artists should be the top billing of the summer’s biggest festivals. And yet if it takes the festival selling out when tickets go on sale tomorrow to make the music industry sit up and pay attention to the power of female musicians and their fans, then Olivia’s work is done.
