'Me and Chappell belong together!': Beth McCarthy on Leeds Festival debut and championing queer pop

From sneaking a peek at Bramham Park’s line-up from down the road in York to stepping out onto The Grid main stage, Beth McCarthy described her Leeds Festival debut on Saturday as a literal "dream come true."

Opening the stage at 12:30pm yesterday (Saturday), McCarthy treated the early crowd to a high-energy set that included the live premiere of her upcoming single, ‘Pretty Villain,’ alongside a crowd-pleasing nod to pop sensation Chappell Roan.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post backstage immediately following her performance, McCarthy couldn't hide her excitement over the milestone moment.

"Oh, it was amazing! Honestly, like, dream come true," McCarthy said. "I’ve wanted to play this festival since I started music. It was up the road - I'm from York - it was up the road, and I never went because I was like, 'I’m going to play that one day.' I did expect it to be sooner than it has been, so the fact that I’ve never been to Leeds Fest is kind of insane and embarrassing.

“However... breaking through with a main stage performance, I’ll take it!"

Testing out new material on a major festival crowd can be a gamble, but McCarthy revealed that debuting ‘Pretty Villain’ - which officially releases this Friday - delivered the exact shift in energy she was aiming for.

"It was always a bit nerve-wracking to know how that was, because it's such a switch," Beth explained. "I kind of deliberately wanted it to feel like a takeover, like the 'pretty villain' has arrived and Beth McCarthy is somewhere backstage still, I don't know, fighting for her life or something! So, I really wanted to have that energy shift and feel it. And I really feel like I got that back from the crowd.

“It felt like they really... they really were gassing me up."

That spirit of celebration extended into her setlist choices, including a cover of Chappell Roan, who graced the very same stage at Bramham Park last year.

"I hope they haven't, like, wiped her sweat off that stage so I can say I've, like, been next to Chappell's sweat!" McCarthy joked. "It's pretty cool. Obviously amazing, I love Chappell. Doing a cover in a set, it always feels nice to kind of amp people up, but then finding the space for it... and because I'd written a very queer song that also had fine and cool in it, I was like, 'This... they belong together!'

“Me and Chappell belong together! If you're watching!"

Beyond the stage thrills, McCarthy spoke passionately about the evolving landscape for LGBTQ+ artists in mainstream pop, highlighting how figures like René Rapp and Chappell Roan have helped spark a wider cultural movement.

However, she emphasised that true progress means looking past tokenising labels.

"I think we're at the point now where we're really championing queer people in music, and, you know, the lesbian renaissance happened with René Rapp and Chappell Roan, and it's really starting to happen," she said. "And I think now is the moment where I think being able to uplift queer artists, but not just be like, 'They're a queer artist,' they can be an artist who is queer. And we treat them the same, and we give them the same support."

Beth added: "Because I think we've fallen into this habit a little bit now of being like, 'Right, we've got this category of artist, and then a category of queer artist.' In the same way as it's like, we have a category of female artist, but like, no one ever says male artist, do they? So I feel like just clubbing us all together and bringing the queerness into who that person is, but it not being the only thing that identifies them as an artist, I think that's the next step.

“And the only way we can do that is by continuing to put them on the stages and give them the platform that we deserve!"

As for when Leeds fans can catch her next, McCarthy teased that her return to the city will be sooner than expected.

"I will be back. When? I don't know, but I will be back sooner,” Beth muses, before answering, “sooner than you think. And yeah, I guess, you know, the ‘Pretty Villain’ era has begun.

“The villain has begun, and ‘Pretty Villain’ comes out on Friday! And I'm so excited for you to meet her, 'cause here she is! New era!"