A rep from LiveNation – the biggest concert promoter in the world by far – talks about how the company came close to booking seven or eight female DJs for a high profile annual show in Toronto. In the same breath, she says “but there aren’t enough women out there who have made a big enough name for themselves”. This is before we cut to her saying “At the end of the day, we’re a business and we need to sell tickets, right?”

Welcome to the gatekeeping of EDM in 2020.

UNDERPLAYED is director Stacey Lee’s look into the world of EDM (electronic music or those of you out of the know). Like so many things in the world, EDM is a boys’ club. A recent ranking of the top 100 DJs in the world named a paltry five women to a list full of dudes. That’s not to say that there aren’t women in EDM – not even to suggest that there aren’t talented women in EDM. It’s just another avenue in the modern world where women are fighting to (literally) be heard. UNDERPLAYED is their story.

Women like REZZ, Alison Wonderland, Tygapaw, Sherelle, and others express what this art form means to them. It’s never about trying to prove something or trying to seem cool. Instead, we hear about ways the music empowers them and the way it allows them to express themselves. Sometimes, the artform even provides channels for listeners to find expression and empowerment in ways they don’t find elsewhere in the medium.

UNDERPLAYED allows these women time to get into the emotional price of trying to climb up the concert billing. We are granted stories of the emotional toll the grind can take on them – not just from the scene itself (which is exhausting), but also the backlash they get online when anonymous men gatekeep and suggest they aren’t good enough for the gig…or sometimes, not good enough to live.

The shame of the situation is that every woman who succeeds in this arena opens the door for exponentially more women. UNDERPLAYED makes it clear that it’s not just a matter of moving women up the ranks (though, to be clear, it is), but the net effect that has on the world at large. The premise is clear: These women are immensely talented, but success by way of their talent will foster their industry and others with more talented women.

Several years ago, one of the top DJs in the world used to perform wearing a giant metal mouse head. The audience couldn’t really tell if this artist was male, female, or even if the person standing there was the person advertised on the bill. He wasn’t the first to cloak his identity, and he won’t be the last.

The point, though, is identity shouldn’t matter in EDM…and yet it still clearly does. UNDERPLAYED is a call for a moment in time where gender and identity no longer matter.