Macdonald’s gigs have grown considerably larger since her early days. Last year she sold out two nights at the OVO Hydro, something she says was forced on her by her manager as Macdonald herself doubted she would sell enough tickets.
This year she will be second top on the last day of TRNSMT at Glasgow Green, behind headliner Lewis Capaldi.
In doing so she’ll be as close to topping the bill at the summer festival as any female act has been. The event has been regularly criticised for never booking a woman to headline.
Macdonald feels it’s more complex than blaming organisers, though.
“It’s always targeted at festival organisers and I don’t think that’s fair, because this is a bigger issue,” she says.
“It’s all tied to radio support, TV support, streaming support and women artists are still massively disadvantaged in those categories. In the last year there’s been a lot of great acts breaking through like Olivia Dean and Lola Young, but we tend to see festival headliners as being more like bands.
“Radio stations that focus on that music can be very male orientated and turn their nose up at female-fronted bands. I’ve been directly told by certain stations that my music won’t get played as ‘male artists work better’ for them.
“Ultimately, they’re looking at stats and listeners though, so it’s about making the whole system work better and I think we are getting there – just everything happens at a snail’s pace.”