Ellie Goulding has recently opened up about how she feels about the lack of women playing major music festivals, naming Glastonbury as an example (via Digital Spy). The lack of female headliners at festivals has been an underlying issue for many years in the music industry and the iconic female pop singer has spoken out about her frustration. In 2014, a study found that only 3.5 per cent of acts at UK festivals including Glastonbury, Reading and Wireless, were all-female bands in comparison to a whopping 43 per cent all-male bands. Another statistic showed only 15 per cent of the line-up consisted of female solo artists compared to 24 per cent solo male artists, furthermore, out of this 15 per cent, hardly any female artists would be headlining.

Goulding stated her annoyance that such an iconic and massive festival like Glastonbury were very male-dominated when it came to bookings, especially since they have a vast amount of control over who they pick.

“I got annoyed when Glastonbury had so many men on the line-up,” Goulding recently told Cosmopolitan in the latest issue of their magazine.

However don’t fret! The Hertfordshire singer-songwriter did add that there is a positive sign since Florence + The Machine got a Glastonbury 2015 headline slot: “Then Florence headlined. Things are changing, you know? And I love it.”

Goulding went on to say that sexism is a problem across the entire music industry, not just festivals. “I get annoyed when men write degrading songs about women,” she said. “But women are starting to speak out.”

This is something that has become noticeable in the music industry, whilst some male artists are wrongly degrading women in songs, female artists have become something that some people objectify rather than respect and appreciate for their musical talent. Other iconic female artists such as Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift have also locked onto this problem.

Speaking of ‘Bad Blood’ singer, in the same interview, Goulding described her nerves at first meeting fellow pop star and friend Taylor Swift.

“I was really nervous, because she’s such a legend, and I remember thinking, ‘Please don’t act like a twat, Ellie; don’t say anything stupid’,” Goulding said.
She mentioned how Swift broke the ice by quoting one of Gouldings lyrics: “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s cool. Taylor’s a badass!'”

Ellie Goulding will release her third album ‘Delirium’ on November 6 so make sure you get it if you’re Goulddigger!