Glastonbury: Christine and the Queens singer Heloise Letissier has a message for organisers
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- Hollie Richardson
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Heloise Letissier also praised fellow female performers Solange, Billie Eilish and Beyoncé in an interview after her Glastonbury set.
It was an iconic year for Glastonbury Festival for so many reasons, including Stormzy’s politically charged performance and Kylie Minogue’s highly-anticipated Legends set.
And yet, we can’t shake off the disappointment over the organiser’s failure to meet the 50/50 male and female artist bookings. Only 42% of the final bill’s acts were women, but it’s worth noting that this is still the best equality margin the event has boasted in its history.
It might be happening at a glacial pace, but at least progress is being made.
Heloise Letissier, who performed at the festival with her band Christine and the Queens on Sunday, has pointed out the importance of the “different representations of femininity” in music right now.
“The pop landscape is filled with different representations of femininity, which I appreciate,” she told BBC Music. “You have Solange, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé. You have many different ways to be a woman in the industry, and I think that’s really cool.”
She then explained what the best next steps are for the industry to properly address the gender disparity.
“I think the next step to take it even further would be to have more women having really technical jobs, like female sound engineers, female producers,” she continued. “That’s the next step to reach at some point.”
To further prove how much sexism is ingrained in the music scene, especially at festivals, Glastonbury has only had two female headliners (Adele and Beyoncé) since 2007.
Commenting on this inequality, Letissier added: “When we see where we’re reaching with equality, we look back and see how we were lacking it before. It’s really interesting that, the more we’re moving forward, the more we’re actually like, ‘Well…’ It makes us realise how much we still have to do and that it’s not a reflex yet, it’s not natural yet.”
Images: Getty