Another GRLS Festival began yesterday, which organizes a line-up composed only of female singers for International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8th. On stage, big names in music greeted thousands of women present at the celebration. However, as in the first edition, the audience was mostly male, which may surprise the unwary.
Those who circulated around the Tietê Sports Center had no doubts: there were more men than women. And this estrangement made splash seek to understand what so many men went to do at a festival designed for women.
To understand movement, it is necessary to go back to the past. In 2020, GRLS was marked as the last major social event before the most severe measures against crowds used to face covid-19.
As main attractions were the Australian singer Kylie Minogue and the British girl band Little Mix, key elements to understand the presence of part of the male audience, given the strong appeal of the divas among the LGBTQIAP+ audience, which helped to fill the Memorial of America Latin at the time. The presence was so massive that a popular joke suggested changing the name of the festival from GRLS to GAYS, taking advantage of the similar spelling.
With homage to Brazil, Kylie Minogue performs at the festive GRLS!
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With clothes honoring Brazil, Kylie Minogue performs at the GRLS festival!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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With clothes honoring Brazil, Kylie Minogue performs at the GRLS festival!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Audience follows Kylie Minogue’s concert at the GRLS festival!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL 
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Kylie Minogue performs at GRLS!, in São Paulo
Iwi Onodera/UOL
Duda Beat and Jojo repeated the phenomenon. Yesterday, on the first day of the 2023 edition, there were notably more gay men than women at the Tietê Sports Center. The day’s line-up featured names like Lexa, Margareth Menezes, Duda Beat, Jojo and Sandy, received by an audience full of non-heterosexual fans.
The vessel coordinator Marcel Augusto, 25, debuted at GRLS to watch Jojo’s show (American singer famous for the hit “Too Little Too Late”).
For him, the festival is an opportunity to give visibility to successful women in different niches of music. “Here you see a variety, which shows that women can follow different paths and do not need to have a specific profile to attract the attention of the LGBTQIAP + public or other women,” he said.
Marcel was accompanied by his friend Alexandre Leal, 33, who works with human rights and went mainly to see Duda Beat, from Pernambuco. he confided to splash that most of the artists he listens to are women, so it makes sense for him to go to a festival like GRLS.
“A festival with an all-female line-up recognizes and gives space to women, because they move culture and music. It’s not just representation, it’s a reflection of reality”, commented Alexandre.
Accountant Tales Campos Fransciso, 29, went to GRLS to accompany his wife
Image: Flávio Ismerim/UOL
Inclusive festival welcomes thousands of women and also straight men. Accountant Tales Campos Francisco, 29, for example, was one of those present who said he had gone to GRLS to accompany his girlfriend, who really wanted to see Sandy’s show.
“I liked Sandy and Júnior more. Sandy, specifically, I don’t know much. I came more to accompany her, I don’t know much about some artists”, he confessed, adding that the lack of knowledge did not prevent him from enjoying the energy of the event. “The idea is really good, the food, the environment, the people. The vibe is really cool”, he explains.
