THE POP QUEENS ARE THE NEW ROCK GODS

Today's biggest stars are creating a new stadium-rock paradigm.

- By Rob Sheffield

Olivia Rodrigo is riding high in her festival era. She's setting a new record by headlining 18 music festivals in one year — and she's doing it with a full-on rock show. To celebrate the fifth consecutive Summer of Liv, O-Rod's making the rounds from Lollapalooza in Chicago to Bonnaroo in Tennessee to Governors Ball in New York. But she's not alone. Female headliners are seizing center stage at the big summer fests, whether it's Gracie Abrams at Outside Lands or Charli XCX headlining Glastonbury. Chappell Roan's Lollapalooza triumph last year was just the beginning. We're living in an age when the pop queens have taken over as the new rock gods.

When Lollapalooza first announced that Olivia and Sabrina Carpenter were headlining this summer (along with Tyler, the Creator and Rüfüs Du Soul), with Abrams also in a top slot, there was the predictable gnashing of teeth that Lollapalooza is abandoning its precious rock heritage. Duuuude, what are all the pop girls doing here? But Olivia, Sabrina, Chappell, Gracie, so many more — they're just creating a new world-beating stadium-rock paradigm, guitars and all, going for the crowd-flattening mania that old-school rock stars seemed to give up on years ago.

Olivia introduced the world to her new mojo at her South American shows this spring, streamlining her Guts show into a headbanger rock blast. She headlined at the Lollapalooza festivals in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil, facing the largest crowds of her career. This girl has always reveled in her rock moves.