SZA became the latest star at this year’s Glastonbury Festival to be hit by sound issues, as she took to the stage as the third and final headline act on Sunday.
The US hitmaker, 34, performed on Worthy Farm’s iconic Pyramid Stage, but the show sparked complaints from viewers, who slammed her ‘awful’ mic problems.
SZA’s show also struggled to draw in the huge crowds that were on display during Coldplay‘s headline slot the previous evening, as thousands of fans abandoned the show after tuning into England’s Euro 2024 match.
Footage from the festival showed a significantly smaller audience than had been in attendance on Saturday.
As SZA kicked off her headline slot, viewers were quick to complain about her sound problems, with some claiming it sounded like she was ‘singing into a fan.’
SZA became the latest star at this year’s Glastonbury Festival to be hit by sound issues, as she took to the stage as the third and final headline act on Sunday
The US hitmaker performed on Worthy Farm’s iconic Pyramid Stage, but the show sparked complaints from viewers who slammed her ‘awful’ mic problems
SZA’s show also struggled to draw in the huge crowds that were on display during Coldplay ‘s headline slot the previous evening, with the small numbers noticeable in BBC’s coverage
Posts on X included: ‘Why are the backing singers crystal clear and SZA sounds like she’s singing through one of these???’
‘Me after hyping SZA up to my mum and dad for months and then her sounding like she’s singing into a fan;’
‘Fix SZA’s mic RIGHT NOW;’
‘Is something wrong with SZA’s mic? I can’t understand a word she’s saying rn;’
‘Who the hell is sabotaging SZA’s mic at Glastonbury????;’
The smaller crowd could also be seen during BBC’s coverage of SZA’s show, with one viewer tweeting: ‘That SZA crowd is one of the lowest I’ve ever seen for a Pyramid headliner. Wow.’
Many fans had opted to join Louis Tomlinson and his sister Lottie to watch England’s Euro 2024 victory over Slovakia earlier in the evening, after Glastonbury organisers confirmed they would not be screening the match.
Speaking to the BBC, Louis admitted that fans had branded him ‘the god of the festival’ adding it was ‘a little bit touch and go at times’ due to the TV’s glitchy signal.
The hip hop star admitted to the crowd that she was ‘so nervous’ ahead of her performance, and ended her show by saying: ‘Glastonbury, I was so nervous to be here with you today’
‘I’m so grateful, you have my deepest love and my deepest respect. I love you always, god bless you. Get home safely, my name is SZA, good night,’ she added
Despite her technical problems, SZA still commanded the stage in a sexy metallic leotard as she brought the Glastonbury Festival to a close
As SZA kicked off her headline slot, viewers were quick to complain about her sound problems, with some claiming it sounded like she was ‘singing into a fan’
Fans were quick to slam the sound issues that plagued SZA’s show, as she became the latest star at this year’s festival to be hit by technical woes
However, despite this, some fans praised SZA’s performance, with tweets including: ‘@sza your Glastonbury performance was amazing!! Me & my best friends danced around the living room singing every work. 3/3 of us cried and wow you killed it;’
‘Sza at Glastonbury has changed my life.’
The hip hop star admitted to the crowd that she was ‘so nervous’ ahead of her performance, and ended her show by saying: ‘Glastonbury, I was so nervous to be here with you today.
‘I’m so grateful, you have my deepest love and my deepest respect. I love you always, god bless you. Get home safely, my name is SZA, good night.’
SZA was far from the only star to be affected by sound issues during the festival, with Shania Twain hit by similar woes during her much-anticipated Legends show earlier in the day.
Some fans still praised SZA’s performance, with one gushing they were singing ‘every single word’ of her songs
The iconic singer could be seen struggling with her ear piece as she seemed to have trouble with her pitch and timing.
Shania made a very dramatic entrance alongside drag queens and dancers, before quickly finding herself beset with problems.
Horrified fans rushed to X, formerly Twitter, to slam the behind the scenes crew as they felt nothing but sympathy for Shania’s moment being ruined.
They wrote: ‘Utterly horrific sound mix on Shania!’: ‘The sound at Glastonbury has been terrible on BBC, Cyndi yesterday and now Shania? Maybe BBC just hates gay icons’: ‘Sound is pretty rubbish for Shania’: ”Looks like Shania knows something is wrong with the sound’.
‘Sorry why does Shania Twain sound awful at Glaso?’: ‘Can someone please rescue Shania. Clearly having bad sound issues and it ain’t helping’: ‘What is going on with the sound for Shania Twain?! She’s really struggling. This is absolutely dreadful’.
Many fans had opted to join Louis and his sister Lottie to watch England’s Euro 2024 victory over Slovakia, after Glastonbury organisers confirmed they would not be screening the match.
The One Direction star was branded a ‘hero’ by fans after setting up a TV at his campsite to watch the Three Lions thrilling victory over Slovakia
SZA was far from the only star to be affected by sound issues during the festival, with Shania Twain hit by similar woes during her much-anticipated Legends show earlier in the day
It comes after fans have accused more artists of miming at Glastonbury after Dua Lipa hit back at critics over her headline performance.
After the show, pop star Dua Lipa defiantly shut down accusations of miming after some fans accused her of lip-syncing during her Glastonbury set.
‘I don’t mime,’ said the Grammy Award-winner as she toasted her headline success with her actor boyfriend Callum Turner, 34, in an exclusive bar at the Worthy Farm festival site.
Plenty more, including Coldplay and Camilla Cabello, have come under fire for allegedly miming the words to their own tracks, as fans rushed to social media to share their theories.
At Coldplay‘s record breaking set on Saturday night, frontman Chris Martin wowed crowds after he brought on an old friend to perform with them.
Michael J. Fox arrived on stage in his wheelchair to play the guitar during Fix You and Humankind.
It was a milestone moment for the band, who made history by becoming the first group to headline Glastonbury five times, with Chris Martin, 47, crediting Michael for being the ‘main reason’ they are in a group.
The British band made their debut at the iconic festival in the New Bands Tent in 1999, before headlining in 2002, 2005, 2011, and 2016, and have now made the record for having headlined the festival five times.
However, while some went wild for the surprise historic musical moment, some more cynical viewers have suggested that Chris Martin may have been miming the words to his songs, rather than singing.
One wrote: ‘Tons of miming and backing tracks being used in this Coldplay performance. Bass player in danger of being made redundant.’
A second said: ‘There’s a fair amount of blagging and miming going on here… Loads of tracks running in the background.’
While a third commented: ‘The people who were giving off about Taylor Swift’s band miming or using backing tracks would get a big surprise if they saw Coldplay’s input list.’
Another to have come under the scrutiny of eagle eyed fans is Camila Cabello, who put on a racy performance at her set on Saturday.
The singer, 27, who rose to prominence as a member of the pop girl group Fifth Harmony, sent temperatures soaring as she took to the stage in a busty top and hot pants.
While viewers’ eyes popped out their sockets at the steamy performance, some couldn’t help but notice something off, accusing the singer of miming her songs.
One person posted on X: ‘Camila Cabello miming her way through her set, nice #Glastonbury #Glastonbury2024’.
A second wrote: ‘You were s**te you lip syncing fake – Camilla Cabello’.
It comes amid other complaints about the quality of the sound, with Cyndi Lauper‘s performance on Saturday beset by problems.
Festival goers were left struggling to hear the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun singer’s vocals as her voice was drowned out by rumbling bass.
After a few songs, Cyndi, 71, performed Rocking Chair and she seemed to struggle with her pitch and timing.
The sound issues appeared to have been resolved by the time she got to her hit I Drove All Night.
Chris Martin has been accused of ‘blagging’ and miming as acts at Glastonbury have been blighted by sound issues across the board
Dua Lipa was the first to be accused of lip-syncing by those watching coverage of the festival on the BBC on Friday night, but she has since hit back at the claims
But Cyndi faltered again on her 1984 track Time After Time as she lagged behind the band – suggesting she was having trouble with her in-ear monitors.
Dua Lipa was the first to be accused of lip-syncing by those watching coverage of the festival on the BBC on Friday night.
One watcher wrote on X: ‘Imagine paying all that money to go Glastonbury to stand there and watch Dua Lipa mime the song and not even sing it. How bad.’
Another wrote online: ‘Dua Lipa delivering a Top of the Pops mime set’.
A third said: ‘Dua Lipa has some decent catchy tunes, but I’m fairly sure she’s lip syncing. Sounds like a live vocal, but just not convinced she’s singing it live ‘right now’.’
However, she set the record straight after her set and insisted miming is not something she ever does.