On May 30, the Lakefill is going to get “fancy.”
Pop star Charli XCX has been confirmed as the first artist for this year’s Dillo Day lineup. While the rest of the schedule has not been locked down, Medill senior and Mayfest co-chair Ian Robinson said the 22-year-old will be “a pretty prominent part” of the day, although she will not be the nighttime headliner.
“She was one of the artists that we were all mutually excited about and very excited to get going on,” said School of Communication senior Justin Wolf, Mayfest’s other co-chair. “It was an easy choice for us from early on.”
Charli XCX rose to prominence after writing and being featured on Icona Pop’s smash hit “I Love It,” which peaked at #1 on the UK charts in 2012. She also sings the hook for Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” and scored a top ten hit of her own in “Boom Clap.” Rolling Stone listed her second studio album, Sucker, as the best pop album of 2014.
“She’s without a doubt the biggest pop musician we’ve ever been able to bring and Mayfest is proud to have her in our 2015 lineup,” said Mayfest Director of Concerts Michael Bass in a press release. “This year we’re paying particular attention to the quality and energy of every artist’s live show and we absolutely cannot wait for wait for her performance on Dillo Day.”
Mayfest first teased the artist on the Dillo Day website Sunday night, playing a sound bite from “Boom Clap” on the homepage. The tactic echoed announcements from 2014, when they posted Ryan Hemsworth’s album art and teased a sound bite of Chance the Rapper’s “igh” ad-lib the day before each artist was announced.
“We like doing the teasers because it rewards people who are fans of the artists,” said Robinson. “They’ll recognize something immediately. With Chance last year, people heard his voice, and were like, ‘oh wow.’ We love doing stuff like that.”
Apart from the announcement, Mayfest confirmed that the second stage will return and will be sponsored by WNUR, and that the main lineup will consist of five artists, as per usual. They are also working on their wristband policy and will have an announcement soon.
“There will be a couple changes that students are going to be interested in,” said Robinson.