Wireless: Ivorian Doll ‘not shocked’ at lack of women
- Published
Wireless Festival should have "plenty more women" performing according to Ivorian Doll, who's one of just four female performers on the line-up announced this year.
"There are so many songs females have done that have been popping on Tik Tok. Why couldn't they get the chance to perform it?" the Queen of Drill told BBC 1Xtra podcast If You Don't Know.
"I get why girls would feel a type of way because it feels like you're dropping music but what are you doing it for if you're not going to get the recognition?"
Of the 46 performers on the Wireless poster, four (9%) are women.
Wireless Festival has not yet responded to our request for comment.
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The 23-year-old says she's never been aware of the controversy around Wireless festivals line-ups, which have been criticised over the past few years for not featuring many women.
Following a big reaction in 2018, the festival ended up hosting an all-female stage.
"I never went to Wireless, I'm not a festival type of girl."
But despite not knowing the festival's history, the rapper's not surprised at how few women are on this year's line-up.
"I'm not shocked really, I'm not shocked at all."
"We should have more females but it's just like, music is male-dominated anyway.
"I realised when I first came in. I said, 'this is really a male-dominated field. Males are always gonna be the priority'."
Before the pandemic, the issue of achieving gender-balanced festivals was high on the industry's agenda through various schemes, such as Keychange, external, which aims for a 50/50 split across all line-ups.
Maxie Gedge, UK project manager, is disappointed because she saw the return of the live sector as a "moment where gender equality should be considered more than ever before".
She says the pandemic's been a "bit of a reset" for everyone but the feeling among many in the music business is the problem of poor gender representation is industry-wide.
"The music industry - traditionally - is a boys' club," says Maxie.
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Appearances at Wireless, Reading & Leeds and Parklife this summer will be Ivorian Doll's first ever solo performances.
Her breakout year - after switching lanes from creating content on YouTube - came in the middle of the pandemic.
She admits she's "practising to be confident because I suffer with anxiety sometimes" - but says she's "itching" to perform.
"I can't wait to see the people support me... I'm just excited to see how they're going to react because I'm just gonna perform like I'm in my room."
Her advice for artists who feel they're being overlooked is to just "keep going man".
"If it's not Wireless it will be something else."
Listen to 1Xtra's brand new podcast If You Don't Know, hosted by De-Graft Mensah and Roshan Roberts, on BBC Sounds.
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