celeb news Headliner SZA performs to an empty field at Glastonbury

[Popboi.]

Glasto crowd isn't exactly her audience so it's not that surprising, pair that with The National (who fit more the demographic) and football match at the same time and you get a disaster. She does have a bigger audience than some here think though, just look at her performing in Hyde Park (where her actual fans flocked to see her).

[Cain]

I love SZA but she is absolutely not a household name in Europe, as in, my parents' generation mostly have no clue who she is. We stan radio hits here, and she has very little of those

[Sexyzinger]

22 hours ago, MilanY said:

What the f"ck is SZA?

Are we in the Twilight Zone?!

 

I had no idea she was so local.

[MatiRod]

18 hours ago, Gossip_Boy said:

The idea that she's not popular here is stupid. You're not selling out several nights at the O2 on a fluke. Nor shifting 60k+ tickets at Hyde Park either.

 

The problem is there's a big gap between her audience and that of of the festival's. This as well as the massive underestimation of Avril Lavigne makes me think the organisers of have a problem grasping what their audience wants.

 

SZA's set was a bit unfortunate in general. Knowing how insecure she tends to be, I hope she doesn't take it too hard.
 

I think Glasto's core audience is now millennials in their 30s, so Avril nostalgia makes sense. 'Let Go' was a lot of millennial girl's first album. SZA's audience skews a bit younger than that. The UK is in shambles with skyrocketing rents and your average 22 year old probably can't afford to go anymore. But your millennial couple who bought a house pre pandemic and are now in management can afford it. At least that's what I gather from people I know there who've gone lol

Edited Tuesday at 08:11 AM by MatiRod

[TheRealGâteau]

On 7/1/2024 at 1:12 AM, popstickle said:

I saw SZA at Primavera and she had a big crowd there but Primavera does pull in a younger, LGBT+, online focused audience so that makes sense.

It was empty, though? Disclosure, Lana and Troy all drew a much bigger crowd at that stage. 

[popstickle]

1 minute ago, TheRealGâteau said:

It was empty, though? Disclosure, Lana and Troy all drew a much bigger crowd at that stage. 

I don't disagree with you. Lana definitely had the biggest crowd there. I'd say Troye only had a big crowd because he was before Lana (most people around us in the crowd weren't focusing on Troye at all). I saw Disclosure and their audience size was a lot smaller than Lana/Troye. It was sparse towards the back. I never said SZA had the biggest crowds at Primavera, but she didn't have a disappointing turnout either. 

[britxbrit]

Meh. Sza sold out a bunch of arena shows in London with her latest tour. She'll be ok.

[killer_rose]

Who thought SZA has the fanbase to headline freaking GLASTONBURY? 

[prézli]

On 7/1/2024 at 12:14 AM, PoisonedIvy said:

Hmm. Dua doesn't FEEL much bigger than SZA but I guess if I'm being honest Dua has way more hits and they're all huge global smashes so it checks out I suppose. 

Dua is from the UK, she's bigger by default.

[AvadaKedavra]

Hmm shocked. I thought she was really big in anglo countries

Edited Tuesday at 11:48 PM by AvadaKedavra

[IMadeYouReadThis]

On 6/30/2024 at 11:10 PM, Lightbringer007 said:

how is it twitter vibes when SOS was one of the biggest albums of the last decade ... be fr

I was there - none of my friends I went with or randos we met there had any interest in seeing SZA. Massive misstep from the organisers

[IMadeYouReadThis]

On 6/30/2024 at 11:19 PM, liquiddiamonds said:

Kill Bill is her only top 10 in the UK. Yeah she sells albums there, but one has to wonder if her R&B audience would pay the whole of Glastonbury just to catch SZA. How many other R&B artists were in the bill today? Usually festivals put similar acts in the same day so they can attract genre fans

 

edit: i saw they kinda tried with Burna Boy and Janelle Monae performing before her from 5pm onwards. Although i must notice it was kinda abrupt coming from Shania Twain and others that performed earlier lol How was it the attendance for those two acts? I saw they put Avril at the same time as Janelle was headlining the Pyramid stage

Glasto tickets are sold before the line up comes out 

[IMadeYouReadThis]

On 6/30/2024 at 11:19 PM, liquiddiamonds said:

Kill Bill is her only top 10 in the UK. Yeah she sells albums there, but one has to wonder if her R&B audience would pay the whole of Glastonbury just to catch SZA. How many other R&B artists were in the bill today? Usually festivals put similar acts in the same day so they can attract genre fans

 

edit: i saw they kinda tried with Burna Boy and Janelle Monae performing before her from 5pm onwards. Although i must notice it was kinda abrupt coming from Shania Twain and others that performed earlier lol How was it the attendance for those two acts? I saw they put Avril at the same time as Janelle was headlining the Pyramid stage

Glasto tickets are sold before the line up comes out 

[IMadeYouReadThis]

On 6/30/2024 at 11:19 PM, liquiddiamonds said:

Kill Bill is her only top 10 in the UK. Yeah she sells albums there, but one has to wonder if her R&B audience would pay the whole of Glastonbury just to catch SZA. How many other R&B artists were in the bill today? Usually festivals put similar acts in the same day so they can attract genre fans

 

edit: i saw they kinda tried with Burna Boy and Janelle Monae performing before her from 5pm onwards. Although i must notice it was kinda abrupt coming from Shania Twain and others that performed earlier lol How was it the attendance for those two acts? I saw they put Avril at the same time as Janelle was headlining the Pyramid stage

Glasto tickets are sold before the line up comes out 

[Vermouth]

On 7/1/2024 at 7:17 AM, 305 said:

Isn't she big in the UK? I thought she was huge there 

Not really.  
 

That said to be fair Glastonbury has much more guitar based rocky/indie/ hippy roots and that vibe is still in its DNA.  The crowd is very late twenties /thirty somethings and not very urban, so it was always going to be a stretch. There was even some initial sucking of teeth at Dua headlining when first announced, but she came through positively in the end.

 

Football can only have been a secondary factor. The England game finished a couple of hours before, though it's quite possible the locals were drunk out of their minds after the game, or still lying in a dark room trying to regain some form of equilibrium after the desperate last seconds snatching victory from the jaws of defeat nature of the match, and the utterly useless tactics of the coach!

 

That said in all seriousness said Glastonbury can surprise too: Jay Z was a groundbreaker years ago, and Stormzy ( Londoner of course) was a big success as far as I remember a few years back.

 

So tough gig, not an impossible one, but not an easy crowd for her or circumstances.

[liquiddiamonds]

2 hours ago, IMadeYouReadThis said:

Glasto tickets are sold before the line up comes out 

 

2 hours ago, IMadeYouReadThis said:

Glasto tickets are sold before the line up comes out 

 

2 hours ago, IMadeYouReadThis said:

Glasto tickets are sold before the line up comes out 

Got it. Thanks

 

didn't know it was a blind item

[IMadeYouReadThis]

1 minute ago, liquiddiamonds said:

 

 

Got it. Thanks

 

didn't know it was a blind item

Ffff im at work and didnt realise this happened

 

but yeah, the line up tends to be the least consequential bit of getting glasto tix, there could be zero acts i like and i'd still have the best time

[IMadeYouReadThis]

1 hour ago, Vermouth said:

Not really.  
 

That said to be fair Glastonbury has much more guitar based rocky/indie/ hippy roots and that vibe is still in its DNA.  The crowd is very late twenties /thirty somethings and not very urban, so it was always going to be a stretch. There was even some initial sucking of teeth at Dua headlining when first announced, but she came through positively in the end.

 

Football can only have been a secondary factor. The England game finished a couple of hours before, though it's quite possible the locals were drunk out of their minds after the game, or still lying in a dark room trying to regain some form of equilibrium after the desperate last seconds snatching victory from the jaws of defeat nature of the match, and the utterly useless tactics of the coach!

 

That said in all seriousness said Glastonbury can surprise too: Jay Z was a groundbreaker years ago, and Stormzy ( Londoner of course) was a big success as far as I remember a few years back.

 

So tough gig, not an impossible one, but not an easy crowd for her or circumstances.

In my experience of going to Glasto for the last several years (mid to late 20s) with friends younger AND older, I mean it when I say all of us were thrilled about Dua headlining but no one gave a flying rat's ass about SZA. Having spoken to others at the festival, the sentiments were the same. Even in day to day life, when I named SZA as a headliner, colleagues said 'who?' And 'is that a male or female?' - these are educated young people. It's nice that SZA has a dedicated fanbase that buys tickets to her tour but the general young brit is fully disinterested. The football wasn't even shown at Glasto. We found out about the score  after  the fact, cheered and moved on. Two door cinema club, London Grammar, and other acts on Sunday night had huge crowds. there's no need to make excuses. 

[OrgVisual]

Went to SZA's concert recently and I was SHOOKED at how many middle-school / high-schoolers are there  

 

While I think Glastonbury's main demographic is 25+ 

[Superbitch]

What are szas numbers in the uk? Asking cuz she's huge in the us but if she's not in the uk then this is not surprising. Has she gotten back to back hits like here?

[J Legend X]

Watch Leigh-Anne's documentary and you'll have your answer 

[kataraqueen]

On 7/1/2024 at 12:26 AM, PoisonedIvy said:

That's fair, I am in America so I knew my perception of her popularity wouldn't be globally accurate. If she wants to expand her global reach she'll probably have to dabble in more pop/dance tracks, kind of like Rihanna. 

... Rihanna is a purely pop / dance artist though? Or what do you mean with that

[PoisonedIvy]

1 hour ago, kataraqueen said:

... Rihanna is a purely pop / dance artist though? Or what do you mean with that

She started with a lot of reggae / r&b tracks early on in her career and then pivoted to undeniably pure dance pop with GGGB imo 

[TMRA]

Wow thats crazy and embarassing FOR THEM. Imagine not wanting to see SZA concert, cant relate. They dont deserve her

[Miley Cyrus]

Deserved. This is what happens when you release the same song over and over again.