The successful female pop stars have been popping up like mushrooms in recent years. They come in all flavors and coexist successfully without real rivalry. Pinkpop is responding to this with friends Olivia Rodrigo and Tate McRae on stage.
The Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona hit the jackpot this year: they got Sabrina Carpenter, Charli xcx, and Chappell Roan to Spain. The singers are also called the Power Pop Girls (as a reference to the animation figures Powerpuff Girls). The organization of the festival celebrated her headliners with an image of the trio as the action figures on the festival grounds (as seen below).
Carpenter, Roan, and Charli xcx have been among the most streamed pop artists in the world since last year. They are part of an even larger movement of successful female artists who speak highly of each other.
The times when pop singers were constantly portrayed as arch-enemies in the media, as happened in the 1990s and 2000s with Britney Spears versus Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey versus Jennifer Lopez, are behind us.
In the early 2000s, Avril Lavigne and P!nk, with a more punk and rebellious image, were marketed as counterparts to the pop of Spears and Aguilera. For example, in her hit Don’t Let Me Get Me from 2001, P!nk sings about how tired she is of being compared to “the pretty girl” Spears. In the era of streaming, there seems to be more room for women to achieve success alongside each other.
Headbanging at Rodrigo and her swaying at McRae
Admittedly, even now stars like Rodrigo and Carpenter are sometimes pitted against each other because they would have had the same ex and therefore wrote songs about each other. Furthermore, it is mainly the fans on Twitter who try to create rivalry, but not the artists themselves. And if there is a conflict, such as between Charli xcx and singer Lorde, this is resolved with a collaboration like Girl, so confusing.
McRae and Rodrigo, who were on Pinkpop on Friday and Saturday (Rodrigo even as headliner), are both on a different side of the pop spectrum, as is evident on stage in Landgraaf. Rodrigo, known for hits like good 4 u, drivers license and vampire, is accompanied by a band with multiple guitars at her pop-rock numbers. She also regularly takes one in her hands. Rock fans headbang here and there carefully, if they don’t have their daughter on their neck. A headliner for the whole family.
McRae is of a completely different order. The singer, who scored hits with greedy, Sports car and you broke me first, brings contemporary, light electronic pop. She does this assisted by an army of dancers. The show is tight, nothing is left to chance. Neither is her singing, because a lot of it is on tape. That is also necessary due to the intensive choreographies in which she whips her hair considerably. The performance is more than once reminiscent of the heyday of Britney Spears, in the early 2000s.
McRae starts the performance smiling seductively, but it is clear that the festival audience at Pinkpop reacts differently than her own fans a month earlier in the Ziggo Dome. The 21-year-old Canadian is not impressed and encourages the crowded meadow to cheer more. “Guys, what the fuck?” she says while playfully rolling her eyes when it remains too quiet for her. Her dancing locks continue to work overtime until the last note of number 1 hit Greedy, with which she concludes.
‘People invent quarrels and we find it hilarious’
Although the singers put on very different shows, they admire each other. McRae appeared in the music video for Rodrigo’s song bad idea right?. McRae calls her colleague and friend “fantastic” and says she is grateful to know her. “We are all ambitious and that is inspiring,” she tells ET Canada.
If there are rumors of a fight between the two, McRae immediately nipped that in the bud. “We all support each other. We visit each other’s concerts and listen to each other’s music. People invent things that are not true at all and we find that hilarious,” she tells US Weekly.
Rodrigo is in turn also inspired by McRae’s performances. “She is such a fantastic dancer and great singer and songwriter. Seeing her concert made me want to perform again,” she told People.
Interviews like Mariah Carey gave in the early 2000s, in which she nonchalantly says she has no idea who Jennifer Lopez is, we should not expect from this generation of pop stars.