Coachella 2018 had a diverse group of talented artists performing, but the lineup has brought about unnecessary comparisons, especially when it comes to female artists. The media obsessed over whether Cardi B was going to upstage Beyonce’s performance and steal her “crown.”

An E! News article begins by saying, “Cardi B ain’t sorry she’s coming for Beyonce’s throne.” The title of the article itself states: “Be Careful, Beyonce!”

The media is pitting these women against each other for some lucrative gain and to incite celebrity drama. All this does is perpetuate competition between women when they should be supporting each other.

This comparison stems from when Cardi B broke Beyonce’s record for the most simultaneous Billboard U.S. Hot 100 entries by a female.

Cardi B has increased her media presence recently to promote her new album, “Invasion of Privacy.” Coupled with the announcement of her pregnancy, the amount of headlines relating to her have skyrocketed. She is living her own life and promoting her own image, not trying to take down another woman’s music career.

Beyonce and Cardi B have different styles of music, different images and are at different points in their careers. Beyonce has been in the music business since the late ’90s, while Cardi B is just getting started.

So why bother with this irrelevant comparison? The pop culture news outlets need something controversial to talk about to entice audiences to tune in.  A “crown-stealing” situation provokes people’s interests. They are also playing upon the so-called reputation women have for being “catty” and competitive toward one another.

Lynn Margolies, a psychologist and former Harvard Medical School faculty member, states, “Women are actually less competitive than men out in the world and less comfortable being competitive.” Female competitiveness is not reality, according to Margolies.

Female artists like Beyonce, Rihanna, Adele and Cardi B can all be powerful and successful in their own right and are probably not plotting the takedown of each other’s careers. As time goes on, artists will break others’ records and become increasingly successful — it is inevitable.

Creating this woman-on-woman competition instills a negative notion that women need to be better than other women. This is displayed all the time in our society through the media with articles about which woman “wore it” better. This phenomena causes women to compare themselves in their everyday lives because it is a norm set by the media. The average woman is equally as responsible and needs to stop doing it just as much as the media.

We can celebrate all female artists without the talk of competition.

Jaime is a sophomore in LAS.

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