Latest news with #LadyLand
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Return of Ryn Weaver: ‘I've Waited So Long Now – I'm Ready to Do the Damn Thing'
'I look back at that time, and it was so romantic,' Ryn Weaver tells Billboard, 'and I was so young, and so brave, and so scared, and kind of staying high so I didn't have to come down.' Weaver needs every adjective she can find to describe the personal and professional whirlwind that she experienced a decade ago. In June 2014, the singer-songwriter born Aryn Wüthrich made her debut with 'OctaHate,' a sleek, lightly swaying synth-pop gem with effervescent verses and a hammered-down hook; she uploaded the track onto Soundcloud, and it rapidly took off with pre-TikTok social media shares and critical approval. More from Billboard Don Was Remembers Brian Wilson's 'Mystical' Genius: 'He Explored Creative Territory Where No Musicians Had Gone Before' How LadyLand, the Scrappy Festival That Could, Is Shaping Queer Culture & Live Music In NYC Shooter Jennings Reveals Three Albums of Unreleased Waylon Jennings Songs Are On the Way Pop Twitter noted the song's pedigree — not only did 'OctaHate' boast a co-writing credit from a then-red-hot Charli XCX with Weaver, but Benny Blanco, Passion Pit leader Michael Angelakos and Norwegian polymath Cashmere Cat all helped pen and produce the song. But more immediate were 21-year-old Weaver's dynamic voice and theatrical delivery, adding dramatic heft to each of the song's finely crafted melodies. Combined with the news that 'OctaHate' preceded a debut album that Blanco and Angelakos would co-helm, and that Blanco would release through his Interscope imprint Friends Keep Secrets, Weaver appeared to have the skills and industry buy-in to become an alt-pop star. Weaver's debut, 2015's The Fool, brimmed with promise and personality, debuting at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 and prompting a headlining tour and festival dates over the following year. None of the follow-up singles built upon the commercial success of 'OctaHate,' though, and a follow-up album never materialized. 'It was also very sad, and very heartbreaking,' Weaver says today, 'and I was very lost, even though I was just charging into the night.' In the years since, Weaver's name would pop up as a co-writer on songs like 2019's 'Dream Glow' by BTS and Charli XCX, and 2021's 'Just For Me' by SAINT JHN and SZA; 'Pierre,' the anthemic fan favorite from The Fool, has also been a perennial TikTok favorite, inspiring multiple trends beginning in 2021 and racking up even more U.S. on-demand streams at this point than 'OctaHate' (111.7 million to 63.4 million, according to Luminate). Yet Weaver, whose wit and sincerity once made her a must-follow on Twitter and Instagram, mostly vanished from social media, and years passed between updates on in-the-works music. On Monday (June 16) — the 10-year anniversary of The Fool — that wait finally ended. 'Odin St' may be Weaver's first official single in a decade, created with a darker tone (courtesy of co-producers Benjamin Greenspan and Constantine Anastasakis) and a more mature perspective. But longtime fans will recognize the idiosyncratic wordplay, loping syllables and ornate hooks that bend toward a major chorus, all as magnetic today as when Weaver barreled into view a decade ago. Now 32 and without a label — she's no longer working with Blanco but describes their parting as amicable, and says that she still keeps in touch with Angelakos — Weaver says that 'Odin St' will lead into the sophomore act that she always knew she had inside of her, but which required time to germinate. 'I went through a very singular, and yet kind of clichéd, experience,' Weaver explains of her early stardom, 'where I didn't feel like I could fully communicate it yet. It was, like, above my pay grade, the language to discuss what was going on. I needed some space from certain experiences to actually be able to write from a place of clarity.' Ahead of the release of 'Odin St,' Weaver discussed where she's been, and where she finally hopes to go next. (Ed. note: this interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.) Where did 'Odin St' come from? Chronologically, the song is where The Fool ended. [The album's final song, 'New Constellations'] ends, 'You can run, if you want to.' I think it's pretty clear that I left my label — I asked to be released — and so I moved to L.A., across the country, and my manager picked out a place for me to stay. It was on Odin Street in Los Angeles, and I didn't know the lore of Odin at that time, but it was this safe haven, bunker, Grey Gardens situation. I hid there, I guess, and waited for some dust to settle. And then later, thinking about the lore of Odin, I just love that he's the god of wisdom, and he represents people who are willing to give up everything on their journey for their acquisition of wisdom. I felt like that was such a poem in and of itself — being on Odin Street, and knowing that was my journey, but it's a very long journey to actually acquiring wisdom. It was also the inverse — I was making the first step, but in reality, I was partying, and hiding, and I was with someone I shouldn't have been with. And so it was kind of this house down the road from wisdom. When did you start piecing the actual song together? I think I started an idea for it like three years later, and then I scrapped that. And then I went in with [producer-songwriter] Active Child, and we started something – but it was almost too joyful in a way, too romantic. I started the verse there, and then we didn't see each other through COVID. And then I was writing with a guy named Constantine, whose artist project is Blonder, and we were writing for a young artist that my friend was managing, in the desert. We got on very well, and we got back home and were talking about working together. He has this very interesting dark guitar tone. We hung out all night, and I think it was 7:00 AM when we started writing it. Funny enough, the song is in the key that it's in because of my throat — I was like, 'It's 7:00 AM, this is where I can sing this song.' And we even tried to change it a couple times, but key characteristics are so important. We lifted it a half [key], and then it sounded like a jingle. I was like, 'We're keeping it where it is, because it's dark, and it's gritty.' 'Odin St' has been rumored to come out for a few years now. Why was now the right time? For my fans, I love the idea of putting something out on the 10-year for The Fool. We never did a re-pressing — we did one pressing, and people constantly ask me, 'Can I get a record?' I don't have any! But this song is literally where I left you, and it's a darker color palette. I like that it's lower — I wasn't really encouraged to sing in a lower register on the first record. So this is also kind of a break-free moment, of I can do whatever I want. And I also just think it's a foray into a darker new chapter, while still being light enough. How close was this moment to happening in the past? Were there starts and stops? There were so many starts and stops. There have been three separate times I was getting ready, and there were different songs, too. There was one that I was like, 'I feel like that's the wrong story to start with.' I would get close, and then pull back. I've had to get to a point of regaining a lot of self-trust, because working with super-producers and then leaving — you have a splash like that, and then you're coming back, and there's this feeling like, 'This is different.' So I think I was scared. I was never lying to anyone. I always thought I would release something, but then the logistics of it come into play. It costs money. I don't want to give away my power and immediately sign somewhere. Maintaining autonomy was also important to me. I think, at this moment in time, I am able to do that. Was co-writing for other artists, or serving as a guest vocalist, ever a lane you considered? I've written for other people — I wrote for SAINt JHN and SZA, and I did something for BTS. I've had a lot of random, lucky cuts. If you take this much time off — I'm not connected in the industry through family, I don't have a giant trust fund or anything. I felt like the universe was protecting me, being like, 'Here's this Head and the Heart song, you can keep going.' That was also a really nice way to pull back and de-center myself, especially while I was pulling back the arrow and deciding what this new chapter would look like. I turned down a couple really big features at the time, but I think it was because I wanted to establish myself as an artist with my voice. The music industry has changed, but at the time, I felt there was a bit of a trap in being a features artist. I really wanted for my first big feature for everyone to be like, 'Oh, damn, they're working together!,' not, 'Who the f–k is that?' I was pretty stubborn about wanting to continue to develop my own voice to where it feels like, that is a worthy collaboration, instead of being thrown onto something. I was maybe a little cagey, but I stand by that decision. Around the release of , you were all over social media and constantly online. And then you took a step back for a long time. Well at the time, I wasn't releasing — I don't know how many selfies or how much content the world really needs. But also, I started seeing someone who's wonderful, and who doesn't have social media. And I was like, 'Wow, I want to do that for a minute.' It was like, what am I trying to get here? Am I going to post a snippet? Am I going to react or bandwagon? I was like, 'They don't need me right now. Open up the stage for the people they need right now.' I've been onstage my whole life, since I was four, and was a bit of an overachiever in that sense. I was performing professionally at events, and singing for sports games, and then I was the lead in plays, and I was in bands, and then I got into [NYU], and then I dropped out of school, and then I met Benny, and everything was just like, good, good, good, good. And I didn't understand myself outside of the context of other people, and my value was heavily tied to my ability to entertain or perform. I think the time off has been really transformative, in the sense that you really do have to find what your intrinsic value is. That was a very painful process. And this is the longest I've not been onstage in my life, but it was so crucial to my general development. So I think you have a couple of little ego deaths in there, where you don't need to fight for attention. So what were your areas of interest while you were detached? Did you pick up new hobbies? I traveled a bit. I've gone on weird hiking road trips. I got a sewing machine. I got back into painting. I hung out with my friends and my family a lot. I was a good cat mom. I go dancing, I exercise, I swim in the sea. I was living my life! I do have to acknowledge screens — it's a very depressing truth that we all binge more than we want to, and we all are on our phones more than we want to be, and I'm trying not to do that, but sometimes my nights are that. I was a bartender for a second. I've been in therapy. I'm doing what anybody else is doing. Did you ever consider leaving music altogether? I did, but I didn't. You can talk yourself in and out of everything — I was like, 'Maybe I'll go to school and study semiotics! I'll go write a book!' Or I was like, 'Maybe the industry is too toxic!' I was in a very different industry, pre-MeToo, and women were pitted against each other in different ways. There was a little bit of seeing how the sausage was made, and being there, the industry felt strange. More for the drama of it, I was like, 'Maybe I'll leave.' And I had enough reasons to, and most people would have. But I think I always had that thing that was like, 'It'll be next year.' It was more prolonging the [return], and never like I was actually going to pivot. When you did check in with the rest of the world, how meaningful was it to read fan messages asking about a comeback or hoping you were working on new music? Super meaningful, and also heartbreaking. You take this much time off, some of it is trying to find your next perfect-match collaborator. You'll do some of the speed dating, and someone will want to do 'OctaHate 2.0,' when you're trying to transform. So sometimes I'd get those messages, and especially when I felt so far away from releasing, I was like, 'I want to be there too. I'm figuring it out.' But it also kept me going, knowing that I had such a strong fan base and people that really love me. I also kept in touch with so many of them. I had isolated for a long time, and became sort of hermetic. I like that side of myself, but I also need people. It's like in the Peter Pan play, where Tinker Bell starts dying and needs everyone in the audience to say, 'I do believe in fairies, I do, I do,' to survive. When you're out of the public eye, and you don't know how necessary what you have to say is at all — having people being like, 'We believe, we care, we'll listen,' that matters. How does it feel to be on the precipice of releasing new music? I feel really calm, in a way. I think I was so frantic with 'OctaHate' — it was one of those releases where it was like, 'We're just gonna put this out today!' 'Oh, we are?' It was horrifying. I threw up that day. I was like, 'Oh God, this is happening.' But I've waited so long now that I feel ready to go. We have a couple more songs coming down the pipeline, and then I think we're going to do an announcement for… other stuff. But as of now, I just want to focus on this. I'm also actively in EMDR, which is really cool. I'm really preparing myself to come back to the industry from every angle, and feel really like secure and stable coming back. So it's like, a nice summer, getting me ready to to do the damn thing. Are you thinking about playing shows? Oh, yeah. I mean, that's kind of my favorite part of it. I love writing, but being onstage in that communal heartbeat thing — where someone can be attached to the work for a completely different reason [than someone else], but everyone's singing it at each other — it's just this electricity. I remember before I first went on tour, I was doing radio promo and all this stuff that made me feel disconnected from what I was doing. And as soon as I went on tour, I was like, 'Oh my God, this is it — I'm a road dog, I am a sailor.' I grew up doing theater, show after show, and it's always different. And getting to interact with people, hanging with them after the show — I had people coming on the bus and doing shots with me, and it was just so fun and free. I will be a better girl this time! I mean, you can only pull that off at 22. But, yeah, that's the best part of it, to me. What do you expect to feel when you return to the stage and start performing songs from ? I mean, hopefully no one is the same person as they were a decade ago. I want to say something in defense of The Fool, though. I feel there was a while where I couldn't listen to it — almost like, 'What was that? Oh, my God.' There's a lot of things that I was embarrassed about when I was younger, like doing theater and this and that. But to me, they're like, these beautiful baby pictures. And I was just so brave and young, and there was no thought about anything, other than 'I only have this many days to write an album, so I'm gonna do it.' And it was high-pressure, high-stakes. I was living a very exciting life. And I just have so much love for that album. I'm sure we'll reimagine some of the instrumentation, but for some of them, we won't. It's a chapter that literally gave me the ability to be talking to you right now, and gave me the ability to have fans and have opportunities. I re-listen to it now, and not to toot our horn, but with Benny and Michael and me, it was a sound that's got legs, and it feels timeless. The songs are strange, but still big. And I feel like that is the way I write. I do feel like these two albums are going to be companion pieces — the first one is very bold and bright, and there's a lot of darkness in what I wrote, even if the energy isn't. And the newer stuff is a bit of a photo negative. Different colors, but it's not like I'm not a romantic, theatrical, intense person still. I've just matured. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Britney Spears' Youngest Son Jayden Looks All Grown Up in Rare Selfie With His Mom
Britney Spears has been spending time with her youngest son, Jayden. In an Instagram photo posted by the singer on Sunday (June 15), she and the 18-year-old pose together in front of a mirror. Jayden — who holds the phone as his famous mom models a summery pink dress — towers over the pop star. More from Billboard Britney Spears Speaks Out After Lighting Cigarette Mid-Flight on Airplane Don Was Remembers Brian Wilson's 'Mystical' Genius: 'He Explored Creative Territory Where No Musicians Had Gone Before' How LadyLand, the Scrappy Festival That Could, Is Shaping Queer Culture & Live Music In NYC Spears also shared a quick video that the pair snapped in the same spot, showing Jayden smiling and shaking his head as the performer flips her hair. 'Went to church today !!! Sang and praised !!!' she wrote in the caption. The icon shares Jayden, as well as 19-year-old son Sean Preston, with ex-husband Kevin Federline. The former couple wed in 2004 and finalized their divorce almost three years later in 2007; in 2023, their sons moved to Hawaii with Federline, who received custody of them after his split from Spears. The pop star's latest posts with Jayden come after she and her youngest child reunited toward the end of 2024, with Spears sharing videos with him on Christmas Day and writing on Instagram, 'Best Christmas of my life !!! I haven't seen my boys in 2 years !!!' 'Tears of joy and literally in shock everyday koo koo crazy so in love and blessed !!!' she'd added at the time. 'I'm speechless thank you Jesus !!!' Since then, Spears has shared a few more peeks into her bond with Jayden on social media, including a sweet moment in March in which he played piano for his mom, as captured in videos posted to Instagram. Earlier in June, Spears shared a clip of her second born driving her around in a convertible, writing: 'He is 6'3 and his hands are so big now !!! How long am I going to be in shock ??? It's so incredibly crazy, it's not even funny !!! I'm blessed !!! Just please be careful with my heart too !!!' See Spears' posts with Jayden below. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How LadyLand, the Scrappy Festival That Could, Is Shaping Queer Culture & Live Music In NYC
'The first thing we do when we book: we type in your name, and we write 'homophobic,'' says nightlife promoter and producer Rayne Baron of finding acts for her annual festival, LadyLand. If nothing incriminating shows up, the artist has 'passed the first test.' Next up: Has the musician in question wished fans 'happy Pride'; have they collaborated with LGBTQ artists before; have they ever just flat-out said, 'I love gay people'? Sitting in Greenpoint's quaint McGolrick Park as a light rainstorm hovers above, Baron — better known to New York City music venues and party people as Ladyfag — is telling Billboard how she and her tiny team go about booking acts for her LGBTQ music festival, which debuted in 2018. Baron is laughing, but she's entirely serious: LadyLand is a very queer and very Brooklyn affair that takes place during Pride Month — a time when the last thing any self-respecting LGBTQ person wants to do is watch a hater, or even a lukewarm ally, onstage. More from Billboard Madonna Hits LadyLand 2024 to Celebrate NYC Pride Don Was Remembers Brian Wilson's 'Mystical' Genius: 'He Explored Creative Territory Where No Musicians Had Gone Before' Shooter Jennings Reveals Three Albums of Unreleased Waylon Jennings Songs Are On the Way Over the course of seven years (during which it took a pandemic breather), LadyLand has grown from a 5,000-strong party at Bushwick's Brooklyn Mirage to one with 10,000 revelers at Greenpoint's Under the K Bridge Park, the fest's home since 2023; this year, LadyLand is expected to draw some 20,000 to the official-but-DIY-coded outdoor space on June 27-28, with Cardi B and FKA Twigs headlining. 'It's not a party with problems,' she muses of the event, which takes her three-person team all year to plan. 'It is a problem, and you keep solving them until you have a festival.' 2025 marks her second year working with Bowery Presents on LadyLand, which they co-produce. 'It was a struggle from the start to find investors,' she admits. 'People said the numbers don't work, there's a reason it doesn't exist.' But Baron — who by the time LadyLand launched in 2018 was an NYC nightlife legend thanks to seamlessly executed ongoing parties like Holy Mountain and Battle Hymn — was undeterred, intuitively sensing that queer New Yorkers, Brooklyn residents in particular, could use something that was 'part party, part concert, part festival, part gay Pride.' LadyLand has been called 'gay Coachella,' a label that Baron embraces while noting that it doesn't quite give the full scope of the experience. ('But that's fine, because people need something to reference,' she says.) While Coachella brings to mind influencers snapping selfies in the desert, LadyLand is an inner-city gathering for LGBTQ people whose very identity reshapes culture — not merely reposting or recreating it after it's made the rounds. 'In Brooklyn, we are still the heart of queer counterculture. We still write the prophecies for fashion, our DJs are playing the tracks with the ripple effect and the slang we use is a solid three years ahead of Hollywood,' says Charlene, a local performer and writer who's become a mainstay of Brooklyn's queer scene over the last decade (she recently took over summer Sunday BBQs at long-running gay bar Metropolitan from 'Mother of Brooklyn Drag' Merrie Cherry.) 'LadyLand is the only festival in New York that happily places our club fixtures and family alongside acts that are frankly too big for the club.' 'What makes LadyLand stand apart is how it celebrates the full spectrum of queer creativity — New York DJs, underground legends, dancers, fashion kids — it's all there,' says dance music and ball culture legend Kevin Aviance, who made a surprise appearance in 2019 and returns this year. 'Ladyfag curates with such intention, and it shows. Unlike circuit parties, this isn't just about a beat — it's about art, community and freedom.' As for what to expect from his DJ set, he adds, 'Get ready, because I'm bringing the heat. Beats will be served, and the dolls will dance.' That club-meets-festival vibe means that despite LadyLand's big headcount, it doesn't feel like a sprawling, isolating affair. 'If it's 10,000 people, 5,000 of them know the other 5,000; if they don't know them, they might want to sleep with them. So you have to make it feel more familiar,' Baron says of pulling together the three-stage festival every year. 'It's a really strange concept to explain [to investors].' Baron says Bowery Presents (which owns and operates many NYC venues) has been an open-minded co-producer. 'It's nice to feel supported,' she says. 'They're concert people, they know.' She also hails 12-year partner Red Bull: 'They don't do bullsh-t. They have never tried to do things that would affect the integrity of LadyLand.' This year, the energy drink brand helped her create a new stage that will bring Paul's Dolls, a weekly party in Manhattan celebrating trans artistry, to the fest. 'It's a club, and you cannot have a gay club without dolls. We need them they need us. Gay culture is an ecosystem,' Baron explains. 'In general, gays to the front. You don't have to be gay to be here, but it helps.' Ladyfag took her signature festival (including those giant inflatable green forearms with blazing red nails) from the Brooklyn Mirage to Under the K Bridge in 2023 for a simple reason. 'Mirage kicked me out because I didn't make enough money,' she frankly admits. When she started looking around her own neighborhood of Greenpoint, she was struck by the fact that the freshly built state park (where folks sometimes held illegal raves during the pandemic) reminded her of an electronic music festival in London which takes place in a park under a bridge. 'I was always obsessed with Junction 2 Festival — my wife is English,' she says. After connecting with the parks department, she pulled everything together ('shoutout to my little team, Veronica and Carlos') in just three months, putting on the first big event of any kind at the Under the K Bridge Park: 'There was no template.' Since then, the state park has hosted numerous live music events, with the inaugural CBGB Festival set to take place there on Sept. 27. To appeal to an extremely discerning nightlife crowd ('people can be c-nty,' she sighs) and live music lovers in a city that has no shortage of concerts, Baron goes through a high-wire balancing act every year while booking the lineup. Her team needs to nab headliners who sell tickets, but not book so many A-listers that it turns into a gathering of Stan armies. 'I don't want mega fandom,' she says. 'We don't want people standing in front of stage for 20 minutes waiting for the next performer, ruining the vibe.' She mixes in LGBTQ legends with up-and-coming artists, and spotlights local talent while also bringing in names who rarely make it to NYC. Plus, there are radius clauses with other NYC events and scheduling conflicts — oddly enough, Glastonbury has proved to be some of her biggest competition simply because it often goes down the same weekend and can pay more to performers than her scrappy little fest can. 'We are a small festival, as far as fests go,' she acknowledges. 'Agents' jobs are to make their artists money and there have been a lot of kindnesses shown my way.' Her long history in NYC nightlife has helped in that area, too — including for this year's day-one headliner. Prior to Cardi B's meteoric rise, when she was just another reality star (Love & Hip Hop) trying to break into music, Ladyfag booked her to play her monthly party Holy Mountain in February 2017. 'She got very excited about being with the gays,' Baron recalls, her lips curving and eyes twinkling. 'She was only supposed to do a few songs, but she wouldn't stop. Within a few months, she became one of the biggest stars in the world — and she always remembered it.' With that shared history, Baron was able to get the hip-hop superstar for less than what Cardi B would get from Madison Square Garden. 'Was it free? F–k no,' she laughs. 'Was it $4,000 that she put in her bra back in the day? No, we have all evolved from that.' This year's day-two headliner, FKA Twigs, is someone Baron knows 'outside of her agent,' too. LadyLand's 2018 headliner Eve came from a similar situation ('We met at a party') and she notes that while the inaugural edition 'didn't make any money, we didn't lose money.' The following year, her nightlife background helped her nab Pabllo Vittar to pinch hit at LadyLand when headliner Gossip dropped out the last minute. 'We jumped in blind not really knowing what to expect, but I was completely blown away,' says the Brazilian drag juggernaut, who returns to play the fest this year. 'It was amazing! The community, the energy, the artists, the vibe. I am so honored she asked me to play again this year officially, it feels very full circle with her.' Despite that extensive Rolodex, LadyLand now books dozens of acts each year — meaning long gone are the days when everyone on the bill is a pal or acquaintance. To fill out the lineup — and bring in artists outside the NYC nightlife realm — Baron and her team spend months sending each other clips of singers, DJs and rappers, debating their musical merits and keeping an eye on who's buzzing on queer socials. Oftentimes, that means she can book rising artists before they become big names and demand higher price tags. One such case was 070 Shake, who blew up after signing on for the inaugural LadyLand but before the festival made its bow; this year, she sees 19-year-old rapper Cortisa Star in that vein. But intuition without dollars only goes so far. With palpable remorse, she talks about the year where she almost booked a pre-fame Megan Thee Stallion but wasn't able to afford the private plane that would have been required to take the rapper from point A to point B. Miley Cyrus has been a white whale for LadyLand; she says they've tried to get Ethel Cain every year; Grace Jones is on her wish list; and once she almost had Charli xcx locked, but her stage setup was too large for LadyLand's then-home at Brooklyn Mirage. 'Those are the things that happen that people don't understand,' Baron says ruefully. But with each passing year, she checks another name off her wish list. For 2025, that 'bucket list' booking was New York dance legend Danny Tenaglia, who plays Friday, the same day as Cobrah and Sukihana. Plus, there are leftfield surprises that seem to fall into her lap thanks to LadyLand's reputation as an experience that is queerer, edgier and more communal than most Pride Month events. 'I appreciate those people who don't need me and did it anyways. Madonna doesn't need me, she had just done Brazil — the biggest concert she'd ever done — and then she came to my festival,' Baron shares of the 2024 edition, where the Queen of Pop popped by to help judge a ball. 'She wanted to make a moment for gay people, and she did.' Her careful, intuitive curation has brought everyone from SOPHIE to Honey Dijon to Pussy Riot to Christina Aguilera to the LadyLand lineup. 'For a lot of people, it was the only time they ever got to see SOPHIE,' Baron says. One of those in attendance at the late electronic pioneer's 2018 set was indie singer-songwriter Liam Benzvi, who is on this year's bill. 'The BQE is an institution of noise, and I'm proud to call it a friend and a bandmate,' says Benzvi of delivering his synth-pop gems at a state park that is literally under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. 'Being from Brooklyn, I expect to see quality live music while surrounded by cool people, and cool is usually LGBTQ, so it's a win-win for me.' Bringing thousands of people to a state park entails 'so much more work,' Baron chuckles as the raincloud above us finally burst open, forcing us to move the interview indoors to her apartment. 'It's a neighborhood. People live here — I live here — and you can't have people partying after until 7 a.m. We need to make sure there's enough bathrooms so that people aren't pissing everywhere…. These are things that people don't think about, nor should they have to.' Plus, there's 'boring festival stuff with agents and managers, arguing about the run of the show, the size of the name on the poster.' To ensure each day's lineup has an organic flow and isn't solely based on least-to-most Instagram followers, there's oftentimes an extended back-and-forth with artist reps, who care less about sonic juxtaposition and more about optics. 'Sometimes agents do win and it's a pisser,' she says. 'I'm usually right on vibes.' As anyone who has spent a moment at LadyLand (or any of her ongoing parties) can attest, Ladyfag does indeed know vibes — arguably, she's become the premier connoisseur of queer nightlife vibes in NYC over the last decade. And in doing so, she's not only spotlighting queer culture, but changing it. 'Ladyfag has created the pinnacle opportunity for us to show off the cultural engine we are,' Charlene says, 'and in doing so has reshaped my relationship to the word 'Pride.'' 'It feels like church for the children, honey,' says Aviance. 'A safe, fierce space where you're seen, heard and celebrated. I've been to a lot of parties in my time, but LadyLand is truly one of the best.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cardi B and FKA twigs to Headline 2025 LadyLand Festival
Cardi B, FKA twigs (Getty Images) Cardi B and FKA twigs are headlining the 2025 edition of the LadyLand music festival. The two-day event takes place on Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28, at Under the K Bridge Park in Brooklyn, New York. Other artists slated to perform include Sofia Kourtesis, Sukihana, Uniiqu3, Boris, Pabllo Vittar, Eartheater, Isabella Lovestory, Chippy Nonstop, and Cortisa Star. See the full LadyLand lineup in the poster below. LadyLand is produced by Ladyfag and the Bowery Presents. The Pride Month festival's 2024 edition featured Tinashe, Kim Petras, Arca, Tokischa, Julia Fox, and others. FKA twigs was recently forced to cancel her Coachella performances due to visa issues. She is planning to be ready to play North American shows, in support of Eusexua, by June. Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
