By Maya Liquigan and Sofía Oyarzún

August 1, 2024

The Lollapalooza music festival kicked off in Grant Park on Thursday, Aug. 1, with multiple uprising queer artists set to perform this four-day-long event near Columbia’s campus.

The 33rd year of the annual music festival features over 170 artists and groups over four days. This year, more recognizable queer artists are performing that have also taken over mainstream music platforms.

Fans excited to see artists such as Chappell Roan, The Japanese House and Kesha performing today look forward to other queer and LGBTQ+ identifying artists who will be performing over the next three days.

Brandon Pham from Ohio waited at the T-Mobile stage for Chappell Roan and said “having more queer artists here makes it feel like a more comfortable environment.” He was excited to see queer artists at a popular music festival like Lollapalooza.

Tianna Mendez from Michigan was pleasantly surprised to find more of her favorite artists on the lineup than in previous years, including Chappell Roan, Laufey, Conan Gray and more.

“When we saw who the lineup was, it was very obvious that they were switching it up this year,” Mendez said. “I feel like usually, they have rappers and the really big artists. And they’re cool, but this [year] has a lot of the smaller artists that you just don’t get to see very often, because they don’t get as much attention as everyone else.”

Pham said that being at a big festival gives more exposure to queer artists, especially for Chappell Roan as a queer woman.

Earlier in the day pop artist METTE performed on the T-Mobile stage and played uprising lesbian artist Chappell Roan’s viral song “HOTTOGO.” A crowd of attendees dressed in pink threw their hands in the air with synched-up choreography nearly four hours before Roan’s set started.

The 26-year-old singer released the hit album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” in September 2023 which grew popular after fans discovered her newest single “Good Luck, Babe!” in April this year. Roan’s newfound popularity has reached every inch of mainstream media and music platforms. 

As more queer artists become popular in mainstream media, attendees explained how it is changing the pop music scene. 

“It changes pop by bringing more audiences to them and giving them a chance to actually relate to it because most mainstream pop is about straight couples,” Alyssa Burke from Ohio said. 

Lillian Scarbrorough, from Michigan was excited to see the festival bring back bands like Blink-182 and The Killers, as well as more modern artists, such as Megan Thee Stallion, SZA and Chappell Roan. 

Describing her music to be “like poetry”, Scarborough has been following Roan’s shows at several other festivals since finding her music in 2020, for her ability to tell stories through her songs with vivid imagery, and a style that celebrates the older music Scarborough is drawn to.

“It’s just amazing,” she said. “She has an ‘80s style voice and hits different vocals that you don’t get a lot of anymore; you get a lot of autotune [and] music behind EDM.”

Brayden Wilkinson, from Michigan finds himself connected to and “obsessed” with Roan’s music, which he finds specifically celebrated here in Chicago after describing a culture he doesn’t find much of in his hometown.

“She tells such a story in all of her songs. It’s just amazing to feel so represented. Chappell Roan has given such an identity to so many people and I just love seeing such a culture here.”

Kaila Peeples from Florida came to the festival to see Chappell Roan, Reneé Rapp, Victoria Monét and The Japanese House. She explained how important it was for her to see queer artists out in the open, especially coming from a religious background. It is important to feel seen and “see other people living their truth.” 

Peeples said seeing queer artists on mainstream media was part of the reason she came out as lesbian. She previously identified as bisexual but found comfort in being a lesbian after seeing Chappell Roan and Reneé Rapp be confidently queer on stage.

“For a long time, being queer wasn’t something you did out loud,” Peeples said. “Especially as women, there’s not a lot of songs about woman-loving-woman. That’s totally changed, especially in a popular sense.”

“I think now is the best time for queer artists. As a queer person. It’s amazing to see everyone.”

El primer día del festival de Lollapalooza empezó el primero de Agosto en Grant Park, cerca del campus de Columbia College. Con más de 170 artistas, se espera que el evento de cuatro días atraiga 400,000 personas en total. Muchas de ellas se identifican con los artistas que representan a la comunidad LGBTQ+, como Chappell Roan, Reneé Rapp, The Japanese House y más.