Sarah McLachlan Reflects on Lilith Fair’s Legacy, Sexism She Confronted (Exclusive)
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Sarah McLachlan Looks Back on Lilith Fair’s Legacy and the Sexism She Confronted: ‘Why Do You Hate Men?’ (Exclusive)
The documentary ‘Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story’ is out on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ Sept. 21
By
Ilana Kaplan
Ilana Kaplan
Ilana Kaplan is a Staff Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2023. Her work has previously appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Vogue and more.
People Editorial Guidelines
Published on September 21, 2025 10:00AM EDT
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Sarah McLachlan in February 2025; Sarah McLachlan in Wantagh, N.Y. in July 1998.
Credit : Kharen Hill; Ebet Roberts/Redferns
NEED TO KNOW
Sarah McLachlan reflects on the sexism she experienced amid Lilith Fair”There’s men everywhere, but we’re celebrating women here. And you know what? Men can celebrate women, too,” the singer-songwriter tells PEOPLE of the festivalThe documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story is out on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ Sept. 21
Beyond her prolific music career, Sarah McLachlan’s legacy has been shaped by helming the groundbreaking, all-female music festival Lilith Fair.
Founded in 1997, the touring music event, which was created in order to combat industry sexism, ran until 1999 before it was revived briefly in 2010.
“There was an instant connection and an instant camaraderie,” the “Fallen” musician PEOPLE tells PEOPLE. “That community didn’t go away.”
During its run, McLachlan, now 57, hosted press conferences, where she often had to endure misogynistic questions from male disc jockeys.
In fact, she says that one of the most-asked questions was “Why do you hate men?”
“I’m like, ‘What in the world does celebrating women have to do with hating women or hating men?’ That says way more about you than anything else. There was a lot of bating,” she says.
McLachlan recalls she would get accused of leaving men out of Lilith Fair.
“I’m like, ‘I haven’t excluded men. There’s men everywhere, but we’re celebrating women here. And you know what? Men can celebrate women, too. Why are you being an ass?” she says.
Sarah McLachlan in July 1997.
Ebet Roberts/Redferns
According to McLachlan, she also would field “dumb questions” like “what do you girls do backstage” and “do you share lipstick tips?”
“I was quite young and green at the time, and I rarely snapped back. It was mostly just trying to deflect and move on to topics that were more interesting,” the “Angel” hitmaker recalls of how she handled the situation.
At one point, the touring music event even endured bomb threats due to its pro-choice stance and Planned Parenthood booths.
“It was scary,” McLachlan recalls. “I remember being very afraid the day of, especially with the bomb threats. But guys came in, they swept everything with their dogs.”
She recalls having to decide whether the festival would continue.
“For me, I’m like, ‘I don’t want them to win. I don’t want to be intimidated by this.’ So we pushed on. I think about if we were doing something like this today in today’s climate, it’d be 10 times worse,” says McLachlan.
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Tracy Chapman, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, and Suzanne Vega at Lilith Fair in 1997.
Merri Cyr
Now, Lilith Fair is the subject of the Ally Pankiw-directed documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story, which details the untold story of the music festival.
Included in the documentary are interviews from original Lilith Fair artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, Paula Cole, Jewel, Mýa, Natalie Merchant, Indigo Girls, and Emmylou Harris, as well as contemporary artists like Brandi Carlile and Olivia Rodrigo, who have been inspired by them.
In the documentary and with PEOPLE, McLachlan reflects on the criticism Lilith Fair received for not being diverse enough at the time.
“There was not enough diversity, especially at the beginning,” she tells PEOPLE. “We were a start-up, a fledgling that nobody had heard of before, and we asked everybody from all different genres of music, and we got who said ‘yes.'”
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In retrospect, McLachlan says that the inaugural year of the festival “wasn’t as diverse as we would’ve liked.” But she thinks its initial success landed her credibility with other artists.
“Managers would look at the festival and go, ‘Well, where does my artist fit in? My artist is different than this.” I’m like, ‘Well, that’s the point. I don’t listen to one kind of music. I listen to all different kinds of music and so do a lot of my fans, so do a lot of music fans. So, why are we limiting what we’re hearing?'” she recalls.
McLachlan noted that while she and the team behind Lilith Fair faced their fair share of criticisms, they were “doing the best we could and tried to put on a really great festival that showcased a lot of different kinds of music.”
Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story is out on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ Sunday, Sept. 21.
For more from Sarah McLachlan, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere now.
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Sarah McLachlan Looks Back on Lilith Fair’s Legacy and the Sexism She Confronted: ‘Why Do You Hate Men?’ (Exclusive)
The documentary ‘Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story’ is out on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ Sept. 21
By
Ilana Kaplan
Ilana Kaplan
Ilana Kaplan is a Staff Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2023. Her work has previously appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Vogue and more.
People Editorial Guidelines
Published on September 21, 2025 10:00AM EDT
Leave a Comment
Sarah McLachlan Looks Back on Lilith Fair’s Legacy and the Sexism She Confronted: ‘Why Do You Hate Men?’ (Exclusive)
The documentary ‘Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story’ is out on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ Sept. 21
By
Ilana Kaplan
Ilana Kaplan
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