Lykke Li’s Yola Fest Has An All-Female Lineup That Features Charli XCX, Cat Power, And More

In recent years, music festivals have been accused by many of not including enough female performers in their lineups, and while some festivals plan to do something about it by 2022, Lykke Li is making her own change right now. The musician just announced that the inaugural Yola Fest will be held this year, on June 8 at LA Historic Park. Li wrote of the event on Twitter, “IT’S HAPPENING. I wanted to create a special day to celebrate women, culture, and the arts. So I got together with some of my closest friends, and organized a festival to do just that.”

The festival is presented by Yola Mezcal, the company Li runs alongside Yola Jimenez and Gina Correll Aglietti that produces the agave-based alcoholic drink mezcal. The full lineup hasn’t been announced yet, but so far, it features Li, Charli XCX, Cat Power, Cupcakke, Megan Thee Stallion, and Ambar Lucid. Proceeds from every ticket sold will benefit the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles, which “women experiencing homelessness and formerly homeless women.”

In an interview from a few months ago, Li spoke about the role of women in music and in society more broadly, saying, “The biggest names on stage are female, let’s take Beyonce or Rihanna. Behind the scenes there are indeed a lot of men. But the hard thing is how society in general uses women, how they get judged. That is the most f*cked up thing. And how women view themselves. Not only in the music industry, even in a coffee shop or everywhere else. Ideas of beauty and sex are always connected with each other.”

Learn more about Yola Fest and get tickets here.

Lykke Li and Charli XCX are Warner Music artists. .