The 2022 edition of the Outloud Festival took place Saturday night and delivered a high-energy event filled with love and positivity. The sixth iteration of the festival celebrated LGBTQI+ artists while showing support for the community’s equality, and took place at the Main Event parking lot near Nissan Stadium.
The Loud Stage was joined by a second stage for the first time in festival history. The smaller Out Stage highlighted some of the up and coming Nashville based queer artists. Alternative R&B singer, songwriter, producer Ysa kicked off the festival and welcomed the Out Stage to Outloud with her hauntingly beautiful style of R&B. Ysa’s set included her latest single “Pride” as well as some of the songs she has had featured on The Kardashians, Selling Sunset, and Selling the OC. As Ysa’s stock continues to rise in Nashville and beyond you can currently find her on the new Fox show Monarch.
It’s not uncommon for there to be timing issues at music festivals with either last minute schedule changes, cancellations and even weather. The timing bug hit the main stage of Outloud as the first performer was pushed back a little over an hour for whatever reason. This delay allowed all of the attention to remain on the Out Stage. Washington, DC native Rosemary Joaquin delivered her indie-pop sounds next. The sultry voiced pop singer moved to Tennessee in 2018 in hopes of establishing herself in the Nashville music scene. Joaquin has built a loyal fan base and they came out in full force to cheer her on. It’s not every day you catch a new pop singer who is accompanied only by a drummer and saxophone player on stage but what an exciting change of style Rosemary brought to Outloud.
All around Nashville badass Hallie brought her guitar driven sound to Outloud and closed out the live music portion of the Out Stage. Hallie turned the stage over to the hosts of the Out Stage, drag performers Cya Inhale and Vidalia Anne Gentry, who introduced the Silent Disco. Festival goers were able to don headphones that allowed them to be the only ones at the stage that could hear what the DJ was playing while not be distracted by the sounds emitting from the Loud Stage. Drag performers Jiggly Caliente and Pandora Boxx closed the Out Stage with their unique performances a piece.






The festival grounds were filled with unique vendors catering to the LGBTQI+ community including Hey Bub, Bear2Bare, Music City Prep Clinic among others. There was also plenty of food and drink options including Nashville festival favorite Daddy’s Dogs as well as Riptide Acai and Sweet Junie’s Funnel Cakes. One vendor in particular had a close connection with a featured artist.
Outloud Festival vendor Glitter Bitch and Loud Stage performer Mad Welsley worked hand in hand together and supplied no shortage of glitter for the festival. The Tennessee native was easily one of the standouts of the festival as she shined as bright as the sun heating the pavement below our feet giving even more reason to dance outside of the infectious pop songs Welsley performed. Mad Welsley was busting at the seems with energy throughout out her time on stage while still being able to take the moment in and enjoy what a special moment the festival meant for her. Outloud marked her first performance at a festival and the way she commanded attention would leave one to believe she was a seasoned vet despite her obvious young age. Welsley left her mark on the Outloud Festival stage and showed she is a hard act to follow.






Brooklyn duo Daisy the Great took the Loud Stage next. The indie rock group consisting of Kelly Nicole Dugan on keyboards and Mina Walker on guitar and bass brought a more head swaying vibe to the festival with their undeniably infectious grooves. Kelly and Mina each spent time on lead vocals as well as displaying the true strength to their tandem their blended vocal harmonies. The highlight came from their performance of “Record Player” which is their biggest hit to date that thanks to the production and collaboration from AJR and the number of times the song was used in Tik Tok videos. Daisy the Great returns to Nashville when they play Basement East on December 11 in support of The Happy Fits.
A birthday was celebrated on the Loud Stage next. Dance pop singer Slayyyter turned things way up when she stormed the festival stage. Clad in a short green and red plaid skirt and top that could only be brought to perfection by the black cowboy hat she donned, Slayyyter injected the crowd with a double dose of adrenaline. The birthday girl, who was performing in Nashville for the first time ever, declared it was about time to get naked and damn near lived up to the declaration when she experienced a wardrobe malfunction early in her set. The “Daddy AF” singer didn’t miss a beat and continued on without a care. The sun began to set during Slayyyter’s time on stage as the day darkened things became brighter with Slayyyter’s high-energy set.







Slayyyter and the next two artists to play the Loud Stage kept the up-tempo flow going in the build up to Chvrches. Alternative singer-songwriter Lauren Sanderson cranked things way up with her cover of Pink’s “Get the Party Started” and did not let up to the end. Sanderson is out in support of her newly released album Death of a Fantasy and pleased the crowd with selections from it as well as her two previous albums including “GAY 4 ME” her duet with G Flip. The temperature had begun to drop as the night had risen but that did not save any faces from being melted when Sanderson closed her set with the high octane in your face “THERAPY!”
The surprisingly hysterical and entertaining Betty Who took her turn destroying what was left of the crowd that Lauren Sanderson had obliterated. The Aussie-American singer had the crowd singing along to every song while continuously keeping smiles on all of their faces with her genuine sense of humor. Betty Who is a celebrity who seems to completely understand that it is 100% ok to not take yourself so seriously all of the time. The co-star of Conjuring Kesha was joined on-stage by her band and two backup dancers Joshua and Daddy Ricky. She instructed the crowd to let them know if they saw something they liked by screaming “Yes, Daddy Ricky,” “Yes, Joshua,” or “Yes Betty.” Not that there was an official count tallied but word on the street was that Daddy Ricky had the most things the crowd liked seeing. Win or lose in the unofficial official contest everyone was a winner watching Betty Who and company perform.







The packed crowd came to feverous pitch when the members of the Scottish pop band Chvrches entered the stage to close out the festival. Lead singer Lauren Mayberry who draws inspiration from early Madonna took to the stage wearing what looked like a pink puffy pastry while singing “He Said She Said” from their 2021 release Screen Violence. “Forever” from the Dave Stewart produced Love Is Dead followed and was one of two songs performed from the record. Chvrches kept the hits coming with their biggest charting song to date “Leave a Trace.” Nearly have of their set was filled with songs from Screen Violence including “Asking for a Friend,” “California,” and “Good Girls” to name a few. Chvrches closed Outloud with a fist pumping rendition of “Clearest Blue” sending everyone home ready to set a calendar reminder for when Outloud Festival 2023 tickets go on sale.
Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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