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2021 Headliners


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25 minutes ago, aj6658 said:

I'm 26 but sure, if you're old and a male your point moot....

Shes got one album that while isnt for me, does sound quite samey 

Saw her 19 set yeah it was fine, nothing to write home about but yeah, lets give her top billing

Shes not in the same league as Coldplay or AM debut as much as you like her

Edit: Also rapid rises are noteworthy but doesnt mean it makes a dent. You can catch fire but you need to burn brightly for years not a spark. Her rise is just as much down to brilliant branding. Yothe way she dresses, the attitude, the no fucks given. She plays to that culture. Look to what her songs - idontwannabeyouanymore, !!!! -teens like that.  

 

LIke i mention before, is her debut up there with AM, The Strokes, Interpol, The Killers, Dizzie Rascal. Will people go back to her Debut as they do for others?

If there is one thing I would give Billies debut is that it doesn't sound that samey (especially compare to the other debuts that you have mentioned there...). Her vocal delivery is pretty consistent, but production wise there are lots of different ideas thrown around.

The reason I bring up the older guy is that *in general* her music appeals more to teenagers, and I had assumed that maybe a reason you don't understand how successful her debut was because you maybe don't listen to radio 1 much or have your finger on the pulse of what the "kids like". I guarantee most people aged below 20 will be going back to that album a lot more than Interpol/The Strokes....

And I don't particularly like her, I didn't see her in 19 and depending on who else was on probably wouldn't see her if she headlined, so thats kind of a moot point too!

And regarding your edit, isn't that a reason enough to headline, you said cultural impact was enough for Stormzy but not Billie? Or if the "youths" like her does that automatically rule her out of everything...

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2 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Fixed.

According to Spotify, Adele had 36 songs when she headlined. Billie currently has 32 (and one would hope a new album by the next time she came back). EDIT: And looking at it, Billies album has a similar number of streams to adeles latest (though it came out 4 years earlier, not sure who that benefits though)

Admittedly, Adele probably had more hits when she played (Hello, Rolling In The Deep, Skyfall), but at the same time Adele was a huge headliner for the fest, so being smaller than Adele isnt the worst thing.

Edited by Mattymooz
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13 minutes ago, Mattymooz said:

If there is one thing I would give Billies debut is that it doesn't sound that samey (especially compare to the other debuts that you have mentioned there...). Her vocal delivery is pretty consistent, but production wise there are lots of different ideas thrown around.

The reason I bring up the older guy is that *in general* her music appeals more to teenagers, and I had assumed that maybe a reason you don't understand how successful her debut was because you maybe don't listen to radio 1 much or have your finger on the pulse of what the "kids like". I guarantee most people aged below 20 will be going back to that album a lot more than Interpol/The Strokes....

And I don't particularly like her, I didn't see her in 19 and depending on who else was on probably wouldn't see her if she headlined, so thats kind of a moot point too!

And regarding your edit, isn't that a reason enough to headline, you said cultural impact was enough for Stormzy but not Billie? Or if the "youths" like her does that automatically rule her out of everything...

Really don't think teens will come back to it. I dont think the album will transcend generations. People will gravitate to " is this it "or AM debut like my generation did for Fleetwood Mac and Pet Shop boys because truly great  albums transcended their era. With Billies debut, people will see as a good successful album but never on the albums i mentioned. 

You're seriously not really comparing Stormzy - A black British Artist who came from little, who is representing the grime as the first to headline glastonbury to Billie Ellish - a well off White teen who's parents had connections in the music industry. Please....

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2 hours ago, Mattymooz said:

I mean, I can't remember a rise as quick as Billie's since Gaga tbh, if thats not noteworthy then I don't know what is...

Justin Bieber was (just) after Gaga, and at one point arguably got bigger than Billie is now, and did it about as fast. I don't think that should be a factor.

Regarding the comparisons of Billie and Stormzy being early in their careers, I think one aspect that gets overlooked is future considerations.

With Stormzy you get the impression that he's likely to maintain an ongoing relationship with the festival, and so there's a reasonable chance we get to see him play again after another few albums. Maybe 5 or 6 years time, maybe a bit longer, but I reckon there's a better than 50% chance it happens again.

Whereas by contrast, I think it's very likely that when Billie Eilish does actually headline it'll be a one time thing. It's very rare that the big American acts come back to top the Pyramid for a second time. I think nearly everyone accepts that she wasn't great when she played last year, so I understand her advocates wanting to see a redemption of sorts. It makes more sense to me to wait a few years until she's got some more tunes and stagecraft under her belt - and the eventual performance will be all the better for it.

A (not great) example of this would be Beyonce - I've seen people suggest that with hindsight she played too early and that it's a shame that we're unlikely to ever see her newer material on the Pyramid - and that's someone who was 4 albums into her solo career at the time she played and absolutely nailed it. Just imagine how much you'd ultimately miss out on if Billie played her one and only Pyramid headline set 1 (or by next year probably 2) albums into her career.

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1 hour ago, nikkic said:

In terms of first time headliners, who have been given a “leg up” to headliner status, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Stormzy etc....


Has there ever been a non-British act in this position? 

Kings of Leon? I know they were just about to release album #3 at the time but they were still seen as something of a niche band at that stage.

(Sex on Fire, which made them huge, wouldn’t arrive for another year)

Killers headlined around album #2 too IIRC.

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20 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Kings of Leon? I know they were just about to release album #3 at the time but they were still seen as something of a niche band at that stage.

(Sex on Fire, which made them huge, wouldn’t arrive for another year)

Killers headlined around album #2 too IIRC.

They were about to release album #4, and had already had their fair share of UK success and had been subbing several festivals for a good few years - Glastonbury just got in there before the explosion that same year.

Killers I'll give you. It seemed the Eavi were really taken with them and saw the star power immediately, bumping them from a jam packed mid-JP slot to Pyramid sub on just their first album in a year and then headlining the next festival two years later.

edit: actually I seem to remember The Killers being a late fill in (again) for somebody else dropping out, or at least recall an interview with Brandon and how the Eavi had to really beg him to take the headline slot for some reason.

Other than that, I think it's largely/exclusively been British acts who get that favourable treatment. Not to say it couldn't change, but Glastonbury does seem to favour homegrown acts in that respect, as big US acts get that treatment from Coachella/elsewhere so really don't need the helping hand.

Edited by FloorFiller
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2 hours ago, nikkic said:

In terms of first time headliners, who have been given a “leg up” to headliner status, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Stormzy etc....


Has there ever been a non-British act in this position? 

I was trying to think of other artists other than AM and Stormzy that had got the gig on just one album and I couldn’t think of anyone else.

I think all those artists, apart from all being British also captured a moment at that time.

Billy is big, no doubt, but Glastonbury are in the enviable position that they don’t need to book artists based purely on how popular they are just to shift tickets. A festival like I don’t know, Reading might try and book her purely for her popularity because it would help shift tickets, but Glastonbury don’t need to do that.

They don’t have to chase what’s popular, so the only other reason they might go out of the way to book her would be that she is a woman, which of you ask me defeats the purpose of doing it. Somebody mentioned Bieber, similar sort of initial popularity but I didn’t remember anyone suggesting he should headline because of it, or the festival actively pursuing him.

If it’s a question of wanting a female to headline them they should go after gaga well before billy, not least because she smashed her other stage performance so if nothing else has earned it. Something you can also say about Stormzy from the year before he headlined as well. Booking someone just because they’re really big right now is wrong imo.

Edited by Deaf Nobby Burton
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Just now, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

They don’t have to chase what’s popular, so the only other reason they might go out of the way to book her would be that she is a woman, which of you ask me defeats the purpose of doing it. 

Yeah that's the ONLY reason why Glastonbury Festival would want to book Billie Eilish 🤦‍♂️

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12 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Only OTHER reason

Thanks for selectivity editing my post 

If they don't have to book acts that are popular, for what reason do they book acts? 

I find it problematic that she is being reduced to being touted as a headliner just because she is popular and or a female. Isn't every headliner touted because they are popular in some way shape or form? 

I think there is a lot of ignoring what she's done as an artist and a lot of reductive language being used to describe her by people purely based on their own lack of interest.

Edited by jyoung
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12 minutes ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

👑 🐝 

Been there. Smashed it. Probably won't happen again.

Gaga is the obvious option if they feel a female headliner is necessary in Taylor's absence (or, hopefully, if she was already lined up to headline 2021), but if she's not up to it then I'm sure they'll just go for whoever's available and suitable rather than just going down the line of female acts. 

3 minutes ago, jyoung said:

I find it problematic that she is being reduced to being touted as a headliner just because she is popular and or a female. Isn't every headliner touted because they are popular in some way shape or form? 

I think there is a lot of ignoring what she's done as an artist and a lot of reductive language being used to describe her by people purely based on their own lack of interest.

On the flip side, I think a lot of her fans on here are reducing her to 'the replacement female' if Taylor is out. I get that she's a huge deal at the moment and that a lot of festivals seem to be keen to strike whilst the irons hot and get her headlining, but those festivals have also tended to be either festivals that have multiple headliners each night which she is one of, or slightly smaller festivals . The idea that Glastonbury would go for her, one album in, amidst a sea of hype, after she's already played the festival touring that same album, is a pretty wild train of thought to me.

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7 minutes ago, FloorFiller said:

The idea that Glastonbury would go for her, one album in, amidst a sea of hype, after she's already played the festival touring that same album, is a pretty wild train of thought to me.

They did with Stormzy so maybe it's not that wild?

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13 minutes ago, jyoung said:

If they don't have to book acts that are popular, for what reason do they book acts? 

I find it problematic that she is being reduced to being touted as a headliner just because she is popular and or a female. Isn't every headliner touted because they are popular in some way shape or form? 

I think there is a lot of ignoring what she's done as an artist and a lot of reductive language being used to describe her by people purely based on their own lack of interest.

I get your point, but it's an inevitable part of the conversation when the festival have said that they want to do more to get a strong gender balance across the festival, including at headliner level.  Of course they're only going to put people up there who are talented and have the material and all the rest of it, but at the same time that goal to have greater female representation inevitably means that it's got to be considered as part of the decision, surely?

And that's not a bad thing in my mind; it's a conscious change to make women at the top of the bill more normalised, which it absolutely should be.

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22 minutes ago, jyoung said:

If they don't have to book acts that are popular, for what reason do they book acts? 

I find it problematic that she is being reduced to being touted as a headliner just because she is popular and or a female. Isn't every headliner touted because they are popular in some way shape or form? 

I think there is a lot of ignoring what she's done as an artist and a lot of reductive language being used to describe her by people purely based on their own lack of interest.

I struggle to think of any young, male, American acts who have burst onto the scene and there has been a clamour for them to headline off their first album, so like it or not the female element comes into it. The festival themselves have expressed a desire to book more woman.

Edited by Deaf Nobby Burton
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7 minutes ago, jyoung said:

They did with Stormzy so maybe it's not that wild?

100% was supposed to have a new album out by then, British, cultural moment, smashed his OS sub slot, politically aligned with the festival... the list goes on.

Not to say Billie couldn't have a new album out between now and the festival, but just had a google of it and it doesn't seem like she's in a rush to get it out, and why should she? She's still very much riding the wave of her first album and she was booked to headline these few festivals off the back of it, so no rush at all for her. I'm sure Glastonbury would rather get her later with more material under her belt so that she can really knock it out of the park with an all timer, rather than a 'well she ain't Taylor but here's her 2019 set + a Bond song and some EP tracks' kind of deal, 'cause if she plays next year then I doubt she's gonna get another stab at it.

Edited by FloorFiller
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I agree with the above comments. Billie is the "it" artist at the moment and fair play, shes made a connection But Dont see why theres this rush to thrust her onto top billing.  

Whatever happens there needs to be at least one female artist topping the billing. Thoughts on a Florence and Haim Headline and undercard? 

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Billie Eilish:

  • Has tapped in to something and is speaking to young people more than any other act for years
  • Already has more bigger singles than many past headliners
  • Album was critically and commercially a huge hit
  • Swept up at the Grammys
  • Has already played Glastonbury to a huge crowd
  • Is already booked as a festival headliner across Europe and sold out a run of shows here in the UK in half an hour
  • Has an album and a 9 track EP, plus two singles released already since When We All Fall Asleep. More than enough material to headline with
  • "Music is too downbeat for a headliner" - I think we've been there before when talking about headliners? I was guilty of that with Adele and had all the egg on my face. I've learned my lesson there. Plus, Billie's quieter stuff still tends to go off live
  • I don't tend to put too much stock in Spotify, but fwiw she's the 18th most listened to act in the world 
  • Will likely have at least some new material by 2021 festival, if not a full album

I think she'd fucking smash it headlining the Pyramid. She isn't a flash in the pan artist, or someone who just has a lot of hype around her now - she's already amassing a Taylor Swift style rabid fanbase that will be there to stay. I think she's a no brainer.

Annoyingly this won't embed, but Billie Eilish circle pits on the Pyramid? Sign me up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg_vBQWGyhM

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