August Monthly Essay
Olivia Rodrigo gathers the pop girls through Daisy Chain Fields to support non-profit organizations for women
Olivia Rodrigo is elevating the course of pop music by giving a voice to non-profit organizations for women. Daisy Chain Fields is a women-focused festival founded by Olivia Rodrigo, whose lineup features over 15 female musicians across genres, including herself. The festival was created to collect charity funds, which will be 100% distributed to non-profit organizations that are dedicated to advancing and advocating for women and girls.
“The festival celebrates the voices, artistry, and contributions of women in music, fostering an inclusive environment in which all are welcome."
— Olivia Rodrigo
While the festival sounds like a fresh and blooming idea to the newer generations, the daisy actually stems from a deeper root! Daisy Chain Fields is a new shade of the previous all-women lineup festival from 1997 to 1999, as it channels the legacy of Lilith Fair, founded by Sarah McLachlan, who will also be appearing on Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields as a special guest. Lilith Fair managed to gross over $10 million for women’s charity in its first three-year run, providing a space for both female musicians and women’s safety and health in general through donations for non-profit women’s organizations. Acknowledging the rapid movements and big demand from fans that sold out the tickets in 30 minutes, Daisy Chain Fields might be the next big thing that carries Lilith Fair’s legacy after all.
One of the reasons why it was impossible for the fans to look away from the festival might lie in the phenomenal all-women lineup, as well as in its mission and objectives in creating a space for women. Daisy Chain Fields’ stage will be taken over by 14 female musicians, alongside 3 special guests, including Chappell Roan, Mitski, KATSEYE, Doechii, Stevie Nicks, and so much more on August 29, 2026.
Daisy Chain Fields is also partnering with 10 non-profit organizations for women and girls, including Baby2Baby, Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA, Inc.), Center for Reproductive Rights, FreeForm, Jhpiego, John Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Institute for Reproductive Health, National Women’s Law Center, and Planned Parenthood.
These organizations are focusing on different matters in the growth of women and girls across the world, including providing needs for children, giving resources for Black Mamas to flourish during and after pregnancy, advocating reproductive rights and health care worldwide, ending gender-based violence, supporting healthier and stronger Indigenous communities globally, building access and care for domestic workers, protecting the rights and freedom of women and girls and the LGBTQ+ community, and providing a sexual and reproductive health care across the United States.
Approaching the festival date, Olivia Rodrigo also dropped a new single titled “serena joy.” The single explores the hypocrisy of privileged women who support and uphold the system built to oppress women by believing the system to be their protector, only to eventually face the truth of the oppression themselves. The title of the song refers to a character in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Serena Joy, who was a conservative activist who believed in traditional and patriarchal values, which eventually had her own rights and voice stripped away from her.
The song focuses on criticising ignorant women who are contributing to the growth of the system through its lyrics: “if they do it to them, they’ll do it to you,” which portrays how the roof of their privilege will not hold up forever. It mirrors the significance of female oppression, and how its discrimination knows no bounds. Olivia Rodrigo uses this single to advocate for the importance of speaking up against the system, and how turning a blind eye was never an option.
Olivia Rodrigo is one amongst many other female pop artists who use their platform and influence to encourage people to care and fight for women’s place in society. She is redefining what it takes to fight the system by giving a voice to all women through a joyful community full of artistry and creativity, celebrating an intersectional womanhood for all women and girls across the world. Daisy Chain Fields is just the beginning for her.