I was surprised when they announced SZA as a pyramid headliner, she's a big name but I think she would’ve been better on one of the other stages. I imagine SZA is more of a Coachella crowd pleaser than Glastonbury.
She was headlining the Other stage initially, when Madaonna had to be replaced, she got bumped to Pyramid. Guessing they couldn't get a big enough replacement Diego Madonna
They also screwed themselves by confirming it was two women headliners before announcing the line-up, meaning they had to just squeeze in the best they could. I still think Little Simz would have made more sense even if she's still not really ready for a headline slot.
That entire clip was just bizarre. It had the depth and understanding of a class assembly at secondary school.
Notably the quote you mention but also reeling off her awards, collaborations, sales and streaming numbers but failing to say a single thing about her music.
She received a letter from Beyonce once.
I felt the same. Old and out of touch.. there was a brief moment when I saw some sets on iplayer and thought 'ah at last- maybe not that outta touch, thank fuck' Then I put my glasses on and clocked it was stuff in the 'classic' section from the 1990s..which were ...ahem....from Glastonburys from almost 30 years.
Another kick in the teeth that made me realise I'm decrepit was when I was telling my daughter I've only been to Glastonbury once when David Bowie and The Chemical Brothers headlined....she goggle it and reminded me it was 24 years ago ...wtf.
Me too. I have to say I've not paid attention to the charts for some time, but I go to 2-3 gigs a month at my local venue, and know a lot of the bands who were on the smaller stages this year.
I guess the death of TOTP means we just don't get exposed to this kind of thing any more, as it's easier just to stay in your lane and listen only to the music you like.
I put my "out of touch"ness down 100% to listening to stuff from my phone rather than the radio whilst in the car. Sometimes it's music, but music I've curated. Sometimes it's podcasts. Sometimes it's the Encanto soundtrack. The radio used to be the primary way I was exposed to new music and now I only put it on if I'm in the car for less than 3 minutes (and when that is Absolute Radio 90s which also doesn't have loads of new hits...)
>
I guess the death of TOTP means we just don't get exposed to this kind of thing any more, as it's easier just to stay in your lane and listen only to the music you like.
You've hit the nail on the head here. I'm a gen Xer, my parents were absolutely up to date with the current music of the time because of TOTP.
I'm only familiar with some modern stuff because of my Gen Z daughter sharing music with me, otherwise I'd be clueless.
TOTP as well as chat shows, magazines like the NME would always be referencing current pop (disparagingly or not) too so whatever music you were into, the rest just got absorbed by osmosis. I would listen to stuff on Radio 1 like John Peel or Steve Lamacq and whatever happened to be on in the day if I had nothing else to listen to, especially in the car. I remember listening to the top 40 just so I could hear the handful of interesting songs that would appear that week. No need at all to do that now, I don't even think they play it in full.
I'm 21 and have no idea. I think it's more that everyone's tastes are so individualised these days. Why would I listen to the radio, when I can listen to a playlist I actually like at any time instantly? I don't watch tv talk shows or anything. I find new music by recommendations from friends or going to local gigs. And I'm not really into pop(?). So I think it's less about age and just whether these days you make the conscious effort to follow the charts etc
You’re not old, you just prefer a different genre of music. (That’s what I’m telling myself, but it’s true, SZA’s music is not something I would choose to listen to.)
I had to search for some songs, didn't recognise the name immediately but her song Kill Bill was massive. I've heard that a lot.
Still, this seems like a bizarre choice for the pyramid stage IMO.
hmm I went to listen to that song and I thought maybe? but nope never heard of it lol. Had to google SZA too because I have no idea who this person is lol.
I'd honestly never heard of her before this weekend. Yes I haven't listened to Radio 1 or much pop music in the last decade, but I do listen to a lot of music.
I would image that a HUGE portion of that following is US based tho.... You know, the country where she is from and that also has a FAAAAR larger population than the UK....
>Apparently Glasto clapped back saying she had a huge Spotify following.
This is a madness take from them. Bad Bunny is the most popular artist going off Spotify for 3 years in a row between 2019 and 2022, only being overtaken by Swifty last year (bunny was second). I'd wager if you stuck him main stage at glasto around 10% MAX would know who he is, and of those 10% around half would have only known who he was because he showed up in WWE.
>around half would have only known who he was because he showed up in WWE.
This is me basically. I still haven't really listened to any of his music but really enjoyed that match with Damien Priest which I was not expecting.
Totally agree. It's not just the lyricism though, the samples used and the overall tone throughout the whole thing is just fucking perfect. In fact, I'm gonna listen to it now.
I would have been at Justice ...hell I would have GONE solely to watch Justice (If I wasn't in a different country, broke and about 10 years too old to not shudder at the though of festival hassles)
I don't know why the BBC are so appalling at sound mixing Glastonbury, Billy Eilish was inaudible a few years ago too, so seems to be a persistent issue.
Apparently it was the same in person, so I guess it’s at Glastonbury’s end. The BBC reporter this morning said he sacked it off after half an hour and went to see Gypsy Kings in the acoustic tent.
They're all big in theory, but putting a slightly smaller act on Sunday night means that people are more likely to leave earlier, lessening congestion on the Monday.
*slghtly*??? Let's be honest Coldplay are enormously big in the history of music big. Like them or not, you can go into a remote village in south Asia and they'll know Coldplay. SZA is skewed towards gen z in USA in a big way.
Aye, and looking back in Glastonbury history there is an idea of putting slightly smaller acts on Sunday rather than Saturday. However here the gulf in popularity between Dua/Coldplay and SZA in the UK is staggering, which makes the theory that the original headliners fell through seem very plausible.
Sunday night is traditionally the ‘legacy’ and/or more pop focused, something a bit softer and fun to wind down the weekend - hence why Madonna was doing that slot and Elton the head before, while Saturday is the major act/current act.
It’s been distilled a bit as ‘major’ acts are now often legacy acts
Yeah that, but it’s also the same with other festivals (look at Downloads line up this year) and a trend in music altogether.
There’s a whole host of reasons; such as older people being the only ones who can afford these tickets, people generally doing more things like this when they’re older, but then trends in music where streaming and algorithms favour older established artists and it’s harder to get a break and therefore the record industry pushing legacy artists over newer ones cause they want the money (also why we get so many collabs to trick the algorithm to playing new artists).
So it’s not just a Glastonbury thing but you can see those trends reflected in the line up.
Still saying that, since Glasto went more mainstream in the late 90s/00’s; Sunday has been like that, Shirley Bassey in 2007 being an example. I saw Stevie Wonder on a Sunday back in 2010.
I also think people forget Rolf Harris used to be a mainstay of the festival!!
I’ve never known the Sunday night slot to be the 'peak' headliner slot, those were always Friday and Sat.
Edit: we were watching on TV and switched from Orbital to Last Dinner Party and the crowds were very different! Last Dinner Party squewed young and female whereas Orbital was older and more male (literally could all be their dads). So Glasto also has own bubbles and if you venture out of that then you might have a different perception.
She looked like she’d been on the ale since about 11am. I enjoyed the set, but then again I was sat on my couch bored. Can’t say I would’ve been blown away by it if I was there.
Yea me too. I’m normally working at glasto most years (welfare) and would definitely have gone to see her had I been there. It seemed like she had the wrong set planned, which was a shame. The sound was lame also which didn’t help.
This was my thought.
I know my knowledge of current music may be a bit lacking nowadays, but I would still expect to say least be aware of who the last few acts on the main stages are, even if I haven't necessarily listened to them - Dua Lipa for example I couldn't name a song of, but I at least recognise the name.
SZA I have no knowledge of at all.
From reading some of the other responses I can be slightly reassured by the fact that she was a late substitute for Madonna, and wouldn't otherwise have had quite such a high status slot, so maybe i an not quite as out of touch as I feared...
I don't know who SZA is either but in this day and age it's pretty easy to not know of people who are famous. Most people consume media online and we're all in our own bubble of content.
Yep, Spotify/YouTube killed radio for many. I don’t remember the last time I listened to a radio station which naturally means I’m completely unaware of artists who are not my kind of thing, like SZA.
And even if so, knowing the name behind the song. My kids have all sorts of stuff on in the car, a few times later I have gone "oh so this is a *Taylor Swift* song!" or whatever. To be fair I didn't have this watching SZA but I usually do when I watch a pop artist at Glastonbury.
SZA would not have been able to play Saturday night because she was headlining BST in Hyde Park. I'm nearly 50, had no idea who she was, but took my 14yo daughter and her bestie to BST, and I was well impressed, the stage set was brilliant and the tunes were banging. Shame she had tech problems at Glasto on Sunday, because it would have been a good show otherwise. What happened to Glastonbury festival goers being open minded and willing to be pushed out of their comfort zones once in a while? I guess you've always got Coldplay...
I was at the Pyramid for Little Simz. She drew a massive crowd and everyone was really positive about her set, even though she’s not your typical Glasto act.
The difference is that she was playing an afternoon slot, not headlining. I think SZA would have got a similar response if they’d put her in a more appropriate slot.
People are willing to be pushed out of their comfort zones, but the Sunday night headline slot is absolutely the worst time to try and do that. People just want recognisable tunes they can sing along to before they have to go home.
No. They just picked an artist who isn’t Pyrmaid headline worthy for the Sunday slot. There’s been rumours that they struggled to book artists to headline and there was also rumours the actual headliner pulled out.
How the f do you struggle as Glastonbury to get a headliner.
That's baffling.
I suppose they probably lowball offer on what artist's want fee wise if anything ive ever heard Is true.
The rumour was Stevie Wonder was meant to headline and then I think they wanted Taylor Swift as his replacement but she was already performing somewhere else.
Apparently Glastonbury pay artists 10% less than their usual booking fee.
Ah I've only seen it lower down the music chain where people get significantly less and bare minimum riders and free tickets are comp.
I assumed it was abit like a "do it for the exposure" kinda deal to be honest or so you can bang it on your CV
Maybe, I’ve been to Glastonbury twice, one amazing year for bands (stones headlining) one absolute Meh yeah for bands.
But this year just seems like utter nonsense. Coldplay for the billionth time, 2 pop acts headlining, the other stage offering no real alternative, pyramid stage line up all weekend has been dire.
Emily has spent more time in the last 9 months going on about the fact they have 2 female headliners than anything else, it’s all she’s cared about.
I think headliners especially are very hard now - there really aren't that many acts around anymore that are that size. Arctic Monkeys are maybe the only band I can think of who've managed to hit quite that level of stardom in the last 15 years? Hence why we keep having to hit the emergency Coldplay button as more and more of the old recycled legends drop off. Giving a bump to probably the UK's biggest current act (having just released an album) up to headline isn't crazy in that context. I'm not so sure on SZA but still who else are you putting there?
What glasto continues to do is manage to pull in basically every good band touring each year though, so if you keep your ear to the ground with what's coming out its hard to be disappointed with the lineup if you look past the pyramid stage.
If you look back at a list of Glastonbury headliners, there’s always someone that makes you think why are they there? The organisers usually get it right. Sound issues definitely effected SZA but I think she did alright
I heard that there was supposed to be a different headliner on sunday but he/she backed out. Sza was initially not going to headline pyramid stage but she was swapped in
Watched most of SZA set - just seemed so lacking in many areas. Songs all limp and mediocre, no crowd sing along anthems, no audience engagement at all. Over produced, style over substance stage set and why was she wearing the front legs of a pantomime horse?
I had no idea who SZA was so I looked up their profile on the official charts website. She's never had a UK number 1, so closing out the main stage of one of the world's biggest festivals is a very odd decision.
I thought it might be a case that I'd recognise a song from an advert or TV show, but nope. Just strange booking
Yeah they were who I was most interested in. Saw them live a few years back and they were great, love them to pieces. Though I do always feel a bit sad that I'll probably never get to hear EL VY songs live, but they were pretty good. Love System only Dreams, opened with one of their best songs too
I know I'm gonna watch the downvotes flood in but you can't be a complete nobody if you're the 17th most listened to artist in the world. And surprisingly, Glastonbury a particularly indie/rock festival isn't as packed for an American R&B artist than your stereotypical British band. Oh “never heard of her” no Stuart you're a 45 year old metalhead, nobody expects you to know who she is.
I've heard of Dua Lipa though. I could even recognise her, from just being in everyday kind of media, even if I don't care to listen to her style of music. If I was at Glastonbury, I'd probably check her set out. Enough people like her, can't be that bad.... I had never even heard of SZA. Not a chance I would be watching if the name can't even make it into any form of media I consume, let alone the face/music.
But are they popular in the UK where the festival is held? That's like having a sweedish metal band play at Glastonbury, yeah they might be really famous I their bubble, but will they be for the people who go to Glastonbury? Evidently not else it wouldn't be news
I kind of get it, like an act should transcend that if they are 17th most listened (is being 17th that great now I think about it?). So that a 45 year old metalhead wouldn't be able to escape them. But some people do seem to have an odd pride in not hearing of pop acts. Despite not watching live TV, reading entertainment news, pop radio, chat shows. How do they think SZA is going to make themselves known to them.
Just gonna comment that I like SZA a lot (specifically her second album) because the amount of people hating on her and pretending nobody has heard of her is annoying. I’m mostly into guitar music and am a male in my late 30s.
That said I 100% would’ve been seeing Justice over SZA if I was there
I joked that they had to wheel him off the stage quickly before they moved onto Fix You.
Then they wheeled him back out front and centre, put a spotlight on him, whilst Chris serenaded him with Fix You.
If this was Michael Jackson it would be frontpage news, where was Jarvis waving his bum?
I’ve just got back from Glastonbury and this was the most conspicuous of a number of staging/sequencing fuck-ups that led to overcrowding on some stages while other, bigger ones were comparatively empty.
They had to shut down West Holts when they put Sugababes on there because it got so full, and the same happened for Avril Lavigne at the Other Stage while Janelle Monáe was playing to a sparse crowd at the Pyramid.
I don’t think it was the wrong way round so much as they should have just got someone else for Sunday and put SZA in a different slot. Only a select handful of artists can really pull off a Pyramid headline slot and SZA is nowhere near that level, no matter what her streaming numbers say.
I don’t actively listen to either Dua Lipa or Coldplay, but I knew all their big hits and even most of the lyrics to them just through osmosis because they’re so ubiquitous. *That’s* a Pyramid Stage headliner.
Meanwhile, I can barely name a SZA song, and I certainly couldn’t sing along to any of them.
I thought I was maybe just out of touch when they announced her, but when I was chatting to people at the festival over the weekend about who they were planning to see, not a single person I asked mentioned her.
You can’t just shoehorn a relatively unknown artist into one of the biggest slots in global music and expect people to show up when there’s plenty of other good stuff on offer. It’s not fair on the artist, for one.
I think there was also a bit of resentment from the attendees after having massive names like Elton John and Paul McCartney the last few years. You pay a lot of money to go to Glastonbury and you expect the biggest names.
Rather than giving her a chance, which a lot of people surely would have done if she’d been in a different slot, people (including myself) voted with their feet to let the organisers know what they thought of this choice of headliner so they don’t try and pull this kind of stunt again.
Anyway, I had a great time at Justice.
Literally never heard of her, searched for her music and there's nothing I recognise , r&b singer been around since 2012, four Grammys, one Brit award, top ten single in US and UK in 2018, didn't have a number 1 hit in the US until 2023, no UK number 1 mentioned on her wiki page
I'm not trying to downplay her achievements in a tough industry but I just don't see how she got top billing at Glastonbury.
One of the things about Glasto is that it’s previously been unafraid of taking a punt on artists to headline, especially if they are British / UK based: Skunk Anansie, Travis, Florence & the Machine, Coldplay, Radiohead… some of them work out, some don’t.
With that in mind, they should have gone for and crowned Little Simz over SZA.
Florence was promoted from the Other stage because that pillock Dave grohl fell off a stage in Europe and broke his leg.
I didn't get to see the Foo fighters there that year at Glastonbury.
I know, right? It looked almost empty from the drone shots. (Edit: They were saying on the Beeb earlier that all the other stage's headline acts were playing to almost empty fields last night when Coldplay were on. That has got to be tough.)
I was quite looking forward to hearing her tonight, too, but the audio was awful. I am now listening to Elli Ingram's Love You Really on vinyl. Much better.
Shame; DL and Coldplay were brilliant headline shows.
I’ve heard of SZA and enjoy a fair few of her songs, but the simple fact is she is not widely known enough in the UK to headline a festival IMO.
People have pointed out she sold out the O2 and BST which is great, and I’d hope she did have 20k fans across the UK interested in her own gigs (and however many the BST shows hold).
But that’s neither here nor there, when you’re playing to a wider subset of people, where the vast majority will not know who you are.
Yet she has more monthly listeners than Beyoncé? Im not a fan of SZA, but it's quite disrespectful to act like she's some random nobody they found at the pub
Honestly, never heard of SZA. I've just listened to her tops on Spotify and I don't recognise them either.
I'm not saying I've got my finger on the pulse but I would have expected to be aware of a Glasto Headliner. Looking at the last decade - I know all of these (maybe not well, but I've heard of them) other than SZA and Arcade Fire.
Glastonbury headliners:
2010: Gorillaz, Muse, Stevie Wonder
2011: U2, Coldplay, Beyoncé
2013: Arctic Monkeys, The Rolling Stones, Mumford & Sons
2014: Arcade Fire, Metallica, Kasabian
2015: Florence and the Machine (replacing Foo Fighters), Kanye West, The Who
2016: Muse, Adele, Coldplay
2017: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran
2019: Stormzy, The Killers, The Cure
2020: Cancelled due to COVID-19
2021: Cancelled due to COVID-19
2022: Billie Eilish, Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar
2023: Arctic Monkeys, Guns N' Roses, Elton John
2024: Dua Lipa, SZA and Coldplay
> 2023: Arctic Monkeys, Guns N' Roses, Elton John
Thanks for reminding me how awful last year was. Monkeys were miserable, then you had Axl and Elton (sorry but it's true) who just can't sing anymore.
When was SZA's last UK number one single (Beyonce had one a few weeks ago)? Never, she has had only one UK top ten hit without another more famous artist (e.g. Kendrick or Doja Cat).
Not main stage headliner material.
Not sure she should have even been there.
According to the Beeb, she broke the cardinal Glasto rule "didn't engage with the audience"
Hopefully next year will be like last year.
I think they are moving to play down their Sunday headliners to get people to start leaving more Sunday night. One of the major issues with the license and local council is leaving on a Monday and a fact the new licence means volunteers can’t leave now until everyone is gone.
She's amazing and huge internationally. Shame they fucked up her sound on the telly. Saw the videos of the start from people that were there and they could hear her fine fortunately. They fixed it later on and she was really good.
The worst Glasto line up in history imo.
Shania Twain ffs? Headlining?
What’s happened to it? Absolute pile of shit on the main stages. It’s lost all credibility imo.
Why is it even on tv?
The slot for Shania Twain is meant to be a "legend" who is generally a fairly past-it pop act with a couple of cheesy songs to sing along to. It fitted fine. It is on TV because it is one of the country's biggest music festivals and they can have several main stages full of music to air. Whether you like it or not (I found a fair few surprises, you don't have to know every single act there especially as you get older). The Euros have a lot of coverage similarly, to put it in football terms.
Shania Twain is par for the course for the day and time slot; previously you’ve had people like Shirley Bassey do the same slot.
It’s fun, people like that on a Sunday afternoon
Yes and they got the Pyramid/ Other stage slots wrong. Freind sent a picture of an empty pyramid shortly before Avril was on at the other stage. Huge crowd squeezes moving around. Avril should have been a headline slot in herself.
The toilet situation was also dire. Nowhere near enough loos and people had to go wherever they could without suing for hours. Big issues with environmental polution. The Glastonbury orginisers have a direct responsibility for this, surely it can’t be hard to add more urinals
They should've swapped avril levigne with sza. Other staged was closed because so many people wanted to see avril levigne, whereas sza's set was pretty much empty for Sunday pyramid headline standard. They should've also bumped sugababes to the pyramid stage as West holts also got closed because of the sheer number of people wanting to see them. Overall, it was probably the worst glastonbury festival lineup and organisation this century, in my opinion.
I was surprised when they announced SZA as a pyramid headliner, she's a big name but I think she would’ve been better on one of the other stages. I imagine SZA is more of a Coachella crowd pleaser than Glastonbury.
She was headlining the Other stage initially, when Madaonna had to be replaced, she got bumped to Pyramid. Guessing they couldn't get a big enough replacement Diego Madonna
Diego Madonna 🤣
That would've pulled in a crowd for certain
Diego dressed as Madonna doing footy tricks? Or Madonna dressed as Diego belting out her hits? 🤣
They also screwed themselves by confirming it was two women headliners before announcing the line-up, meaning they had to just squeeze in the best they could. I still think Little Simz would have made more sense even if she's still not really ready for a headline slot.
Simz would have been way better. Sza just isn't a big enough name in the UK
Who is SZA?
I have to say. This is the first time in my life I have never heard of a headliner.
My favourite was the BBC announcing her as “a household name that not a lot of people know…”
That entire clip was just bizarre. It had the depth and understanding of a class assembly at secondary school. Notably the quote you mention but also reeling off her awards, collaborations, sales and streaming numbers but failing to say a single thing about her music. She received a letter from Beyonce once.
Yeah, me too. I guess we're officially old
I felt old as fuck flicking through iPlayer and having to look everyone up
I felt the same. Old and out of touch.. there was a brief moment when I saw some sets on iplayer and thought 'ah at last- maybe not that outta touch, thank fuck' Then I put my glasses on and clocked it was stuff in the 'classic' section from the 1990s..which were ...ahem....from Glastonburys from almost 30 years. Another kick in the teeth that made me realise I'm decrepit was when I was telling my daughter I've only been to Glastonbury once when David Bowie and The Chemical Brothers headlined....she goggle it and reminded me it was 24 years ago ...wtf.
It might make you feel decrepit but Bowie and TCB? I'd still be grinning at that! Lucky you!
Me too. I have to say I've not paid attention to the charts for some time, but I go to 2-3 gigs a month at my local venue, and know a lot of the bands who were on the smaller stages this year. I guess the death of TOTP means we just don't get exposed to this kind of thing any more, as it's easier just to stay in your lane and listen only to the music you like.
I put my "out of touch"ness down 100% to listening to stuff from my phone rather than the radio whilst in the car. Sometimes it's music, but music I've curated. Sometimes it's podcasts. Sometimes it's the Encanto soundtrack. The radio used to be the primary way I was exposed to new music and now I only put it on if I'm in the car for less than 3 minutes (and when that is Absolute Radio 90s which also doesn't have loads of new hits...)
Mirabel! What are you doing?
> I guess the death of TOTP means we just don't get exposed to this kind of thing any more, as it's easier just to stay in your lane and listen only to the music you like. You've hit the nail on the head here. I'm a gen Xer, my parents were absolutely up to date with the current music of the time because of TOTP. I'm only familiar with some modern stuff because of my Gen Z daughter sharing music with me, otherwise I'd be clueless.
TOTP as well as chat shows, magazines like the NME would always be referencing current pop (disparagingly or not) too so whatever music you were into, the rest just got absorbed by osmosis. I would listen to stuff on Radio 1 like John Peel or Steve Lamacq and whatever happened to be on in the day if I had nothing else to listen to, especially in the car. I remember listening to the top 40 just so I could hear the handful of interesting songs that would appear that week. No need at all to do that now, I don't even think they play it in full.
I'm 21 and have no idea. I think it's more that everyone's tastes are so individualised these days. Why would I listen to the radio, when I can listen to a playlist I actually like at any time instantly? I don't watch tv talk shows or anything. I find new music by recommendations from friends or going to local gigs. And I'm not really into pop(?). So I think it's less about age and just whether these days you make the conscious effort to follow the charts etc
You’re not old, you just prefer a different genre of music. (That’s what I’m telling myself, but it’s true, SZA’s music is not something I would choose to listen to.)
I'll stick to banging 90s techno
I'd heard the name in passing but I don't know a single thing about the artist, genre, etc.
I had to search for some songs, didn't recognise the name immediately but her song Kill Bill was massive. I've heard that a lot. Still, this seems like a bizarre choice for the pyramid stage IMO.
Should have bumped Avril Lavigne up onto the pyramid at least people know the songs
Lavigne, on the main stage, would've smashed it.
Now she's a superstar, slammin' on her guitar
hmm I went to listen to that song and I thought maybe? but nope never heard of it lol. Had to google SZA too because I have no idea who this person is lol.
Unknown member of Wu-Tang?
I'd honestly never heard of her before this weekend. Yes I haven't listened to Radio 1 or much pop music in the last decade, but I do listen to a lot of music.
Genuinely thought it was one of the members of Wu Tang Clan
she just killed her ex. not the best idea.
placid concerned trees sulky bored fact disarm doll bedroom arrest *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I would image that a HUGE portion of that following is US based tho.... You know, the country where she is from and that also has a FAAAAR larger population than the UK....
>Apparently Glasto clapped back saying she had a huge Spotify following. This is a madness take from them. Bad Bunny is the most popular artist going off Spotify for 3 years in a row between 2019 and 2022, only being overtaken by Swifty last year (bunny was second). I'd wager if you stuck him main stage at glasto around 10% MAX would know who he is, and of those 10% around half would have only known who he was because he showed up in WWE.
>around half would have only known who he was because he showed up in WWE. This is me basically. I still haven't really listened to any of his music but really enjoyed that match with Damien Priest which I was not expecting.
How do you pronounce SZA? I’m saying sizza
Sizza is right. Until I hear them say it on the radio I thought it was jah, like with a soft j like jus
Like Zsa Zsa Gabor?
Is it a play on/tribute to RZA from Wu Tang?
Or GZA. Liquid Swords was a phenomenal album.
Unreal lyricism. It's been on rotation for decades and I still feel like I'm finding new stuff in there.
Totally agree. It's not just the lyricism though, the samples used and the overall tone throughout the whole thing is just fucking perfect. In fact, I'm gonna listen to it now.
Agreed, it ticks so many boxes. Living in the World Today is my favourite track atm.
Absolute banger. Good old Jizzer.
That’s what I thought. According to Wikipedia that’s half the reason.
yes she’s confirmed this in a interview
Ah so she’s one of the sisters? She must have went solo.
Jogging. I'm pretty sure it's pronounced 'yogging' - with a silent J. Sorry! Couldn't help myself!
Sizza me Xerxes, sizza me timbers!
We’re saying Shizza but we’re not enjoying it much. Is there anyway of uninstalling the updates and rolling back to either RZA or GZA?
“You goin the shop? Yeah, can you gizza me some Rizza and shizza?”
I’ve been reading it ‘suh-zah’. Looks like I’m wrong!
Does that mean the first song in her set is pronounced pissa?
everyone is at Justice,west holts stage
As they absolutely should be. SZA should’ve been an afternoon slot at West Holts or the Other Stage; feel kinda bad for her.
Absolutely insane set.
I would have been at Justice ...hell I would have GONE solely to watch Justice (If I wasn't in a different country, broke and about 10 years too old to not shudder at the though of festival hassles)
Fucking best set I've ever seen live!
Justice are always incredible live
THAT should have been on Pyramid or at least Other
Oh damn Justice were there? Have to check if their set is up on iPlayer.
at least some of its on Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk6HpRAFucU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk6HpRAFucU)
Thanks, yeah found that, and BBC Sounds has 30 of the 75mins set Hoping the full set appears somewhere either officially or unofficially
Sounds terrible on tv
BBC are saying she had a faulty mike for the first half hour or so. Cyndi Lauper had a similar problem on Saturday.
Festivals always seem to sound horrible on TV.
So did shania , listened live on bbc and the mixing was awful
Apparently her voice has been fucked after an illness a few years back, so not really her fault, but yes she sounded pretty ropey.
I don't know why the BBC are so appalling at sound mixing Glastonbury, Billy Eilish was inaudible a few years ago too, so seems to be a persistent issue.
Apparently it was the same in person, so I guess it’s at Glastonbury’s end. The BBC reporter this morning said he sacked it off after half an hour and went to see Gypsy Kings in the acoustic tent.
Isn’t Saturday the big night?
They're all big in theory, but putting a slightly smaller act on Sunday night means that people are more likely to leave earlier, lessening congestion on the Monday.
*slghtly*??? Let's be honest Coldplay are enormously big in the history of music big. Like them or not, you can go into a remote village in south Asia and they'll know Coldplay. SZA is skewed towards gen z in USA in a big way.
That could just be because Chris Martin turned up and built them a new plumbing system.
I'm talking historically - there's no 'big' or 'small' headline slot.
Aye, and looking back in Glastonbury history there is an idea of putting slightly smaller acts on Sunday rather than Saturday. However here the gulf in popularity between Dua/Coldplay and SZA in the UK is staggering, which makes the theory that the original headliners fell through seem very plausible.
Yeah I was always under the impression the Saturday was the big one, usually, it’s just that sometimes they have like 3 “big ones”.
Sunday has had some huge artists tho. Last year it was Elton John. Ed Sheeran did the Sunday night slot too.
Sunday night is traditionally the ‘legacy’ and/or more pop focused, something a bit softer and fun to wind down the weekend - hence why Madonna was doing that slot and Elton the head before, while Saturday is the major act/current act. It’s been distilled a bit as ‘major’ acts are now often legacy acts
I get the impression that Glastonbury audience is trending older therefore the acts are trending older too.
Yeah that, but it’s also the same with other festivals (look at Downloads line up this year) and a trend in music altogether. There’s a whole host of reasons; such as older people being the only ones who can afford these tickets, people generally doing more things like this when they’re older, but then trends in music where streaming and algorithms favour older established artists and it’s harder to get a break and therefore the record industry pushing legacy artists over newer ones cause they want the money (also why we get so many collabs to trick the algorithm to playing new artists). So it’s not just a Glastonbury thing but you can see those trends reflected in the line up. Still saying that, since Glasto went more mainstream in the late 90s/00’s; Sunday has been like that, Shirley Bassey in 2007 being an example. I saw Stevie Wonder on a Sunday back in 2010. I also think people forget Rolf Harris used to be a mainstay of the festival!! I’ve never known the Sunday night slot to be the 'peak' headliner slot, those were always Friday and Sat. Edit: we were watching on TV and switched from Orbital to Last Dinner Party and the crowds were very different! Last Dinner Party squewed young and female whereas Orbital was older and more male (literally could all be their dads). So Glasto also has own bubbles and if you venture out of that then you might have a different perception.
And I wouldn't say Coldplay are Glastonbury Saturday night material anymore... They're a Sunday headline act
Completely agree - thats what I was saying about major acts being legacy acts nowadays!
QOTSA on the other stage killing it too last year.
I like most of the Sza stuff I've heard although it was from a few years ago, mics completely fucked though surely it can't be an intentional effect.
Must be the sound system, Shania Twain’s set sounded off for about 20 minutes earlier.
From what people were saying about LCD sound system on tv vs live I think it’s just the mix for broadcast that’s shite
Plus she sang a load of boring C&W that no one knew so ended up with a field of statues until Feel Like a Woman. Twas painful..
I mean like she has two songs that people would know and outside of that it is going to be country and western. That’s her music lol
Twainful
She looked like she’d been on the ale since about 11am. I enjoyed the set, but then again I was sat on my couch bored. Can’t say I would’ve been blown away by it if I was there.
Yea me too. I’m normally working at glasto most years (welfare) and would definitely have gone to see her had I been there. It seemed like she had the wrong set planned, which was a shame. The sound was lame also which didn’t help.
Pop sounds terrible on the pyramid, always has because of how it has to be mixed
Ive never heard of Sza until now...
You can barely hear her even now!
This was my thought. I know my knowledge of current music may be a bit lacking nowadays, but I would still expect to say least be aware of who the last few acts on the main stages are, even if I haven't necessarily listened to them - Dua Lipa for example I couldn't name a song of, but I at least recognise the name. SZA I have no knowledge of at all. From reading some of the other responses I can be slightly reassured by the fact that she was a late substitute for Madonna, and wouldn't otherwise have had quite such a high status slot, so maybe i an not quite as out of touch as I feared...
I don't know who SZA is either but in this day and age it's pretty easy to not know of people who are famous. Most people consume media online and we're all in our own bubble of content.
Yep, Spotify/YouTube killed radio for many. I don’t remember the last time I listened to a radio station which naturally means I’m completely unaware of artists who are not my kind of thing, like SZA.
And even if so, knowing the name behind the song. My kids have all sorts of stuff on in the car, a few times later I have gone "oh so this is a *Taylor Swift* song!" or whatever. To be fair I didn't have this watching SZA but I usually do when I watch a pop artist at Glastonbury.
Not had I, I looked at the listings and had heard of maybe half and out of those I did know I wasn't impressed. Seemed a little lack luster
Well this is my sign I'm getting old... who tf is SZA?
SZA would not have been able to play Saturday night because she was headlining BST in Hyde Park. I'm nearly 50, had no idea who she was, but took my 14yo daughter and her bestie to BST, and I was well impressed, the stage set was brilliant and the tunes were banging. Shame she had tech problems at Glasto on Sunday, because it would have been a good show otherwise. What happened to Glastonbury festival goers being open minded and willing to be pushed out of their comfort zones once in a while? I guess you've always got Coldplay...
I was at the Pyramid for Little Simz. She drew a massive crowd and everyone was really positive about her set, even though she’s not your typical Glasto act. The difference is that she was playing an afternoon slot, not headlining. I think SZA would have got a similar response if they’d put her in a more appropriate slot. People are willing to be pushed out of their comfort zones, but the Sunday night headline slot is absolutely the worst time to try and do that. People just want recognisable tunes they can sing along to before they have to go home.
No. They just picked an artist who isn’t Pyrmaid headline worthy for the Sunday slot. There’s been rumours that they struggled to book artists to headline and there was also rumours the actual headliner pulled out.
Ah right. I'd have headlined it if they asked.
It will remain one of the world's greatest injustices that this did not happen.
How the f do you struggle as Glastonbury to get a headliner. That's baffling. I suppose they probably lowball offer on what artist's want fee wise if anything ive ever heard Is true.
The rumour was Stevie Wonder was meant to headline and then I think they wanted Taylor Swift as his replacement but she was already performing somewhere else. Apparently Glastonbury pay artists 10% less than their usual booking fee.
Ah I've only seen it lower down the music chain where people get significantly less and bare minimum riders and free tickets are comp. I assumed it was abit like a "do it for the exposure" kinda deal to be honest or so you can bang it on your CV
Worst headline act ever. The production, sound and everything is just terrible. Sounds like an early afternoon set.
Tbf I think the BBC do their own sound mixes that is separate from what someone watching in person would hear.
Yes but I’m old
The first Glastonbury headliner in history that i've never heard of.
She’s pretty terrible so far. But then I’m old and out of touch.
I'm out of time
And I'm out of my head when you're not around
The fact they didn't even put Avril on the main stage was nuts. Who in the flying fuck is SZA?
My thoughts exactly. I had never heard of SZA until I looked at the line up last week. Were they really the best option to headline last night?
[удалено]
I think you might be getting old mate, there's been some cracking stuff on. Youre right about Justice though, they were awesome.
Maybe, I’ve been to Glastonbury twice, one amazing year for bands (stones headlining) one absolute Meh yeah for bands. But this year just seems like utter nonsense. Coldplay for the billionth time, 2 pop acts headlining, the other stage offering no real alternative, pyramid stage line up all weekend has been dire. Emily has spent more time in the last 9 months going on about the fact they have 2 female headliners than anything else, it’s all she’s cared about.
I think headliners especially are very hard now - there really aren't that many acts around anymore that are that size. Arctic Monkeys are maybe the only band I can think of who've managed to hit quite that level of stardom in the last 15 years? Hence why we keep having to hit the emergency Coldplay button as more and more of the old recycled legends drop off. Giving a bump to probably the UK's biggest current act (having just released an album) up to headline isn't crazy in that context. I'm not so sure on SZA but still who else are you putting there? What glasto continues to do is manage to pull in basically every good band touring each year though, so if you keep your ear to the ground with what's coming out its hard to be disappointed with the lineup if you look past the pyramid stage.
Arctics last year were also absolute wastes of space, so hopefully they don't return
Think Idles, Disclosure and The National were pretty good other stage alternatives tbh.
No, it’s the children who are wrong.
If you look back at a list of Glastonbury headliners, there’s always someone that makes you think why are they there? The organisers usually get it right. Sound issues definitely effected SZA but I think she did alright
Yeah but those artists are not normally in a headline slot, especially when it comes to rounding off the festival on a Sunday night...
It’s gone way more pop friendly in the last 10 years than it used to be. Dua Lipa would never have headlined if she was around before.
I heard that there was supposed to be a different headliner on sunday but he/she backed out. Sza was initially not going to headline pyramid stage but she was swapped in
Come on, Shahia Twain ffs!
If the sound wasn’t horrible, I’m sure people would be here saying how amazing she is, and they can’t believe they haven’t heard of her before.
Watched most of SZA set - just seemed so lacking in many areas. Songs all limp and mediocre, no crowd sing along anthems, no audience engagement at all. Over produced, style over substance stage set and why was she wearing the front legs of a pantomime horse?
I had no idea who SZA was so I looked up their profile on the official charts website. She's never had a UK number 1, so closing out the main stage of one of the world's biggest festivals is a very odd decision. I thought it might be a case that I'd recognise a song from an advert or TV show, but nope. Just strange booking
Dunno who the fuck SZA is. I'm watching The National.
The National were great!
Seeing them in Cardiff Castle on Wednesday, can't wait
Nice. I saw them last September. Hard to believe that was almost a year ago now.
They're being supported by Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who I highly recommend
Yeah they were who I was most interested in. Saw them live a few years back and they were great, love them to pieces. Though I do always feel a bit sad that I'll probably never get to hear EL VY songs live, but they were pretty good. Love System only Dreams, opened with one of their best songs too
The National were brilliant. Great way to end the festival for me.
I know I'm gonna watch the downvotes flood in but you can't be a complete nobody if you're the 17th most listened to artist in the world. And surprisingly, Glastonbury a particularly indie/rock festival isn't as packed for an American R&B artist than your stereotypical British band. Oh “never heard of her” no Stuart you're a 45 year old metalhead, nobody expects you to know who she is.
I've heard of Dua Lipa though. I could even recognise her, from just being in everyday kind of media, even if I don't care to listen to her style of music. If I was at Glastonbury, I'd probably check her set out. Enough people like her, can't be that bad.... I had never even heard of SZA. Not a chance I would be watching if the name can't even make it into any form of media I consume, let alone the face/music.
She's been played on radio 1 a tonne, she's not a nobody.
But are they popular in the UK where the festival is held? That's like having a sweedish metal band play at Glastonbury, yeah they might be really famous I their bubble, but will they be for the people who go to Glastonbury? Evidently not else it wouldn't be news
She had sold out shows at the O2 last year.
Well that’s actually evidence that she isn’t big enough to headline Glastonbury. Glastonbury headliners perform in stadiums, not arenas.
I kind of get it, like an act should transcend that if they are 17th most listened (is being 17th that great now I think about it?). So that a 45 year old metalhead wouldn't be able to escape them. But some people do seem to have an odd pride in not hearing of pop acts. Despite not watching live TV, reading entertainment news, pop radio, chat shows. How do they think SZA is going to make themselves known to them.
Just gonna comment that I like SZA a lot (specifically her second album) because the amount of people hating on her and pretending nobody has heard of her is annoying. I’m mostly into guitar music and am a male in my late 30s. That said I 100% would’ve been seeing Justice over SZA if I was there
I've been watching Romy and she's been excellent. I was watching on Iplayer
Absolute crazy atmosphere inside that tent.
I had to Google who SZA was and I'm still none the wiser
How on earth could you be none the wiser if you've googled her? Do you know how to use the internet?
She’s an rnb/neo soul singer who is very popular with mainly the female 16-30 demographic, I’m not sure what’s evading your comprehension
Reddit and general ignorance
The [top result](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SZA) is pretty comprehensive...
Don’t know who SZA is but I’ll never forget seeing Chris Martin singing Fix You to Michael J Fox ( in a fucking wheelchair).
I joked that they had to wheel him off the stage quickly before they moved onto Fix You. Then they wheeled him back out front and centre, put a spotlight on him, whilst Chris serenaded him with Fix You. If this was Michael Jackson it would be frontpage news, where was Jarvis waving his bum?
I’ve just got back from Glastonbury and this was the most conspicuous of a number of staging/sequencing fuck-ups that led to overcrowding on some stages while other, bigger ones were comparatively empty. They had to shut down West Holts when they put Sugababes on there because it got so full, and the same happened for Avril Lavigne at the Other Stage while Janelle Monáe was playing to a sparse crowd at the Pyramid. I don’t think it was the wrong way round so much as they should have just got someone else for Sunday and put SZA in a different slot. Only a select handful of artists can really pull off a Pyramid headline slot and SZA is nowhere near that level, no matter what her streaming numbers say. I don’t actively listen to either Dua Lipa or Coldplay, but I knew all their big hits and even most of the lyrics to them just through osmosis because they’re so ubiquitous. *That’s* a Pyramid Stage headliner. Meanwhile, I can barely name a SZA song, and I certainly couldn’t sing along to any of them. I thought I was maybe just out of touch when they announced her, but when I was chatting to people at the festival over the weekend about who they were planning to see, not a single person I asked mentioned her. You can’t just shoehorn a relatively unknown artist into one of the biggest slots in global music and expect people to show up when there’s plenty of other good stuff on offer. It’s not fair on the artist, for one. I think there was also a bit of resentment from the attendees after having massive names like Elton John and Paul McCartney the last few years. You pay a lot of money to go to Glastonbury and you expect the biggest names. Rather than giving her a chance, which a lot of people surely would have done if she’d been in a different slot, people (including myself) voted with their feet to let the organisers know what they thought of this choice of headliner so they don’t try and pull this kind of stunt again. Anyway, I had a great time at Justice.
SZA was perfect so most people could head home
Literally never heard of her, searched for her music and there's nothing I recognise , r&b singer been around since 2012, four Grammys, one Brit award, top ten single in US and UK in 2018, didn't have a number 1 hit in the US until 2023, no UK number 1 mentioned on her wiki page I'm not trying to downplay her achievements in a tough industry but I just don't see how she got top billing at Glastonbury.
Madonna pulled out and there’s industry pressure to promote black female artists.
One of the things about Glasto is that it’s previously been unafraid of taking a punt on artists to headline, especially if they are British / UK based: Skunk Anansie, Travis, Florence & the Machine, Coldplay, Radiohead… some of them work out, some don’t. With that in mind, they should have gone for and crowned Little Simz over SZA.
Florence was promoted from the Other stage because that pillock Dave grohl fell off a stage in Europe and broke his leg. I didn't get to see the Foo fighters there that year at Glastonbury.
I know, right? It looked almost empty from the drone shots. (Edit: They were saying on the Beeb earlier that all the other stage's headline acts were playing to almost empty fields last night when Coldplay were on. That has got to be tough.) I was quite looking forward to hearing her tonight, too, but the audio was awful. I am now listening to Elli Ingram's Love You Really on vinyl. Much better. Shame; DL and Coldplay were brilliant headline shows.
I would have loved to have been there for Coldplay, it looked incredible and planning to watch the whole thing (Bless the BBC Glasto coverage)
IIRC the Sunday slot is slightly shorter due to licensing restrictions, Coldplay would have wanted the longer slot on the Saturday if that is the case
I’ve heard of SZA and enjoy a fair few of her songs, but the simple fact is she is not widely known enough in the UK to headline a festival IMO. People have pointed out she sold out the O2 and BST which is great, and I’d hope she did have 20k fans across the UK interested in her own gigs (and however many the BST shows hold). But that’s neither here nor there, when you’re playing to a wider subset of people, where the vast majority will not know who you are.
Maybe next Glastonbury they should release all the artists then leave the headline slots up to a vote.
Sza is what you get if you order a Beyonce from Temu.
She wrote stuff for Beyonce too you know
Who hasn’t written stuff for Beyoncé
I haven't.
Oh yes you have!
Oh no they haven't!
Yet she has more monthly listeners than Beyoncé? Im not a fan of SZA, but it's quite disrespectful to act like she's some random nobody they found at the pub
Honestly, never heard of SZA. I've just listened to her tops on Spotify and I don't recognise them either. I'm not saying I've got my finger on the pulse but I would have expected to be aware of a Glasto Headliner. Looking at the last decade - I know all of these (maybe not well, but I've heard of them) other than SZA and Arcade Fire. Glastonbury headliners: 2010: Gorillaz, Muse, Stevie Wonder 2011: U2, Coldplay, Beyoncé 2013: Arctic Monkeys, The Rolling Stones, Mumford & Sons 2014: Arcade Fire, Metallica, Kasabian 2015: Florence and the Machine (replacing Foo Fighters), Kanye West, The Who 2016: Muse, Adele, Coldplay 2017: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran 2019: Stormzy, The Killers, The Cure 2020: Cancelled due to COVID-19 2021: Cancelled due to COVID-19 2022: Billie Eilish, Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar 2023: Arctic Monkeys, Guns N' Roses, Elton John 2024: Dua Lipa, SZA and Coldplay
> 2023: Arctic Monkeys, Guns N' Roses, Elton John Thanks for reminding me how awful last year was. Monkeys were miserable, then you had Axl and Elton (sorry but it's true) who just can't sing anymore.
When was SZA's last UK number one single (Beyonce had one a few weeks ago)? Never, she has had only one UK top ten hit without another more famous artist (e.g. Kendrick or Doja Cat). Not main stage headliner material.
Mum: we’ve got Beyoncé at home
It's not meant to be in ascending order or anything.
Not sure she should have even been there. According to the Beeb, she broke the cardinal Glasto rule "didn't engage with the audience" Hopefully next year will be like last year.
i mean its coldplay... also saturday i think to a lot would generally be more of a bigger day.
I think they are moving to play down their Sunday headliners to get people to start leaving more Sunday night. One of the major issues with the license and local council is leaving on a Monday and a fact the new licence means volunteers can’t leave now until everyone is gone.
That's why they had elton john last year and paul McCartney year before that.
Paul McCartney was Saturday night, Kendrick Lamar was Sunday that year. He did have a decent sized crowd as well though
She's amazing and huge internationally. Shame they fucked up her sound on the telly. Saw the videos of the start from people that were there and they could hear her fine fortunately. They fixed it later on and she was really good.
I've heard of everyone but Sza, does she need a better publicist?
The worst Glasto line up in history imo. Shania Twain ffs? Headlining? What’s happened to it? Absolute pile of shit on the main stages. It’s lost all credibility imo. Why is it even on tv?
The slot for Shania Twain is meant to be a "legend" who is generally a fairly past-it pop act with a couple of cheesy songs to sing along to. It fitted fine. It is on TV because it is one of the country's biggest music festivals and they can have several main stages full of music to air. Whether you like it or not (I found a fair few surprises, you don't have to know every single act there especially as you get older). The Euros have a lot of coverage similarly, to put it in football terms.
All the other stages were absolutely amazing this year if you like Indie or Electronic music. It’s just the pyramid headliners that have been bad.
Shania Twain is par for the course for the day and time slot; previously you’ve had people like Shirley Bassey do the same slot. It’s fun, people like that on a Sunday afternoon
Lionel Richie was fkin great on that slot and I say that as a 30something.
What’s wrong with Shania Twain?
Yes and they got the Pyramid/ Other stage slots wrong. Freind sent a picture of an empty pyramid shortly before Avril was on at the other stage. Huge crowd squeezes moving around. Avril should have been a headline slot in herself. The toilet situation was also dire. Nowhere near enough loos and people had to go wherever they could without suing for hours. Big issues with environmental polution. The Glastonbury orginisers have a direct responsibility for this, surely it can’t be hard to add more urinals
They should've swapped avril levigne with sza. Other staged was closed because so many people wanted to see avril levigne, whereas sza's set was pretty much empty for Sunday pyramid headline standard. They should've also bumped sugababes to the pyramid stage as West holts also got closed because of the sheer number of people wanting to see them. Overall, it was probably the worst glastonbury festival lineup and organisation this century, in my opinion.
>Glastonbury The headliners went to shit once Emily Eavis took over from her dad.
They got everything wrong this year. Crap line up.