I opened Instagram today to be unpleasantly surprised by the Lollapalooza lineup drop. Miraculously, I had checked 16 minutes after it had been posted. However, after scanning the headliners, there was one name clearly missing, Cardi B. This is truly, *Cue the Kim Kardashian gif* tragic. For anyone who follows pop culture, you would know that Cardi B canceled all performances in 2018 after giving birth to her daughter, Kulture. This included going on tour with Bruno Mars. That being said, her suspected guest appearance at last year's Lollapalooza was canceled. This was disappointing but what made up for this was the INCREDIBLE lineup that Lollapalooza had last year. This included big names such as Travis Scott, The Weeknd, and Post Malone. However, this year is kind of another letdown.
This year's lineup includes mostly performers that bombard the radio but don't necessarily have a huge following. There are some perks though. You will definitely see me out there embarrassing myself, busting a groove to every single one of Ariana Grande's songs.
This is not a shady post in regards to this year's lineup but more of a question for Cardi b herself. Why? Why aren't you performing at one of the most popular music festivals in the world? I think it is really amazing that she took the time for her family and prioritized things that needed to be at the time. However, she has made it clear that she is back and has even released new music since her hiatus.
As a huge fan, I want nothing more than to see her live in Grant Park and to scream-sing every one of her lyrics. That being said, there are still many opportunities for her to come out at this year's Lollapalooza as a guest performer. For example, 21 Savage will be performing and he has collaborated with her for "Bartier Cardi". However, I mostly have my suspicions about the choosing of J Balvin as a headliner. I am not sure how big his following is in other countries or if I'm just extremely uninformed but he only has a few songs that are popular and they are all collaborations with other artists. One of those songs being, "I Like It" featuring Cardi herself. Now for him to be big enough to be considered a headliner, not just a performer, he must be pretty popular so I'm hoping that she shows up and that is his special surprise. If not, I will have to wait until she goes on tour and see her at some regular arena that'll never be compared to the atmosphere of a music festival.
Overall, Lollapalooza I'm not impressed and Cardi B, I'm a little hurt but that's okay because we still have about 5 months and there's still time for a quick switcharoo. Other than that, I am really happy for all the other performers and hope to have a great time at this year's festival. Regardless if she shows up or not, I know it'll be a great weekend.