Kelly Clarkson to Co-Headline Brandi Carlile's Girls Just Wanna Weekend

Kelly Clarkson will co-headline the eighth annual Girls Just Wanna Weekend alongside Brandi Carlile in Mexico on Jan. 14-18, 2027, the festival announced Tuesday.

The announcement lands during a week of intense attention on Clarkson, but it stands on its own terms. She joins a bill that includes Sierra Ferrell, the Beaches, CMAT, Allison Russell, Brandy Clark and Lucius. The setting is the Barcelo Maya Resort on Mexico's Caribbean coast.

Carlile built the festival as a female-centric gathering, and it has grown into one of the most reliable fixtures of the winter destination-festival circuit. Last January's edition co-headlined the Chicks and Sam Smith, the festival's first nonbinary headliner. Shania Twain, Muna, Sarah McLachlan, Janelle Monae and Sara Bareilles have all appeared in past years.

Who else is on the bill?

The lineup runs deeper than the headliners. The announced names include:

• Sierra Ferrell, Allison Russell, Brandy Clark, CMAT, the Beaches and Lucius on the main stage
• Titans of Americana, the round-robin songwriter segment, with lineup to be announced
• Arroba Nat, Tish Melton, SistaStrings, Autumn Nicholas, the Carlile Family Band and the Marshgrass Mamas
• Comedian Kristin Key

One booking breaks with festival practice. The event does not usually put artists on the main stage two years running, but it is making an exception for CMAT, who proved the breakout surprise for many attendees this past January.

Clarkson's role carries extra weight beyond her own headlining set. The festival closes each edition with a jam of all-1990s covers, and Clarkson — a karaoke veteran of her daytime talk show — is the obvious magnet for that tradition. There is also speculation, the source notes, that the night could shift to an all-2000s program so the other artists could perform Clarkson's own songs.

What does this change for Clarkson and Carlile?

For Clarkson, the booking extends a busy stretch. Most of her post-talk-show performances this year have formed part of her residency at Caesars Palace, alongside isolated concert appearances. She currently serves as a coach on season 30 of "The Voice" and released her most recent single, "I'd Be Lyin'," in July. A festival co-headlining slot with Carlile puts her in a curated, artist-driven setting rather than a solo residency format.

For Carlile, the announcement caps a run of momentum. She recently finished the U.S. leg of her "Human" arena tour, which continues in the U.K. early next year, with a short all-request tour of smaller theaters set for November. On Monday night she performed at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, interviewed on stage by Cameron Crowe to mark the one-year anniversary of her album "Returning to Myself," which is in contention for the 2027 Grammys.

The pairing of a mainstream pop powerhouse with Carlile's Americana-rooted roster signals how far the festival's reach now extends beyond its singer-songwriter origins. With a Grammy-contending host, a daytime-television star and a returning breakout act, the January 2027 edition may be the event's most commercially visible line to date. Ticketing for all-inclusive resort and festival passes is available at girlsjustwannaweekend.com.

By Marcus Bennett