Pink stars adorned the curtains draped over the Bowery Ballroom stage, where seven acts took the stage for the record-breaking, third installment of the Girl Noise music festival on Sunday, Oct. 4.
One of the artists was Girl Noise founder Simone Lipkin, a 21-year-old musician born and raised in New York City. She’s been writing songs and performing since she was 10 years old, but in the last two years, she has added music festival organizer and political activist to her resume.
The idea, which only lived in Simone’s head for years, has grown into a political movement of its own. Inspired by ‘90s feminist movements like Riot Grrrl, Lilith Fair and Rock For Choice, Simone felt that this generation needed a space for girls, made by girls.
With a mission in mind and a gentle push from her friends to get the idea off the ground, Simone struggled with the final piece — creating the perfect name. She wasn’t shy to say that many “corny” names crossed her mind, like Ladies Night.
“Ew,” she said immediately after sharing the name.
But she finally landed on Girl Noise.
“I just think it resembles the mission … not even just music, but just in general. Women using their voices to speak up about things that matter, women being angry, women using their emotions,” Simone said. “It inherently feels political, which I think is really powerful.”
Simone said she wanted to create a platform like Girl Noise for women to gather — whether that reason was apparent or not.
“I just love the idea of it being more than the shows, and it really being an everlasting community of girls that felt like they had each other’s back, even if there wasn’t like a tragedy happening,” Simone said. “When something big happens in our country, and there’s a moment where everyone comes together, that’s obviously so awesome and so powerful, but it also feels like we should be doing that no matter what.”
The timing of this Girl Noise festival was unique in that it concluded a long week of news coming out of Cornell University, where a former student accused seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of sexual assault in a lawsuit. In her welcoming speech at Sunday’s show, Simone said she was “horrified” by the news.
“There is no other way to put it but a total disregard for female autonomy and complete violation of a woman’s humanity,” she said onstage. “But how can we be surprised that boys in a fraternity treat us this way when this is exactly how our government and our president treat us too?”
One of the many intentional parts of the festival, Simone shared, was the timing before the midterm elections in November. She said a big catalyst for creating Girl Noise in the first place was the 2024 election, and this election cycle would be no different.
“Girl Noise is about using your voice to be loud and big and unignorable,” Simone said in her welcoming speech. “Just like voting, it’s about using your voice to create change. We have to keep fighting, and we have to keep showing up. To all the girls here tonight, you are safe, you are believed, you are important and your voice matters.”
Sabrina Song was one of the many artists who took a moment out of their performance to address the situation at Cornell. She intentionally performed “Rage,” a song she said she only performs in the right setting. She called it her “Girl Noise song” and delivered a gut-wrenching performance.
The somber moments, however, were few and far between the joy felt throughout the Bowery Ballroom. The crowd was headbanging, dancing, waving their hands and, at times, making the floor shake.
For concertgoer Jani Braham, Girl Noise was an opportunity to enjoy music and express herself through her fashion. She was rocking knee-high platform boots, a corset, fishnet tights, a studded captain hat and acrylic nails to match.
“I always want to bring my energy so that I can inspire other people,” Braham said. “That’s why I dressed up today because it’s a part of my energy and that’s my noise.”
While the show was specifically curated with girls in mind, Simone’s goal was to bring all types of people together. There was a mix of ages, genders and backgrounds at the show.
“Anyone can be a part of this movement if you support the cause,” Simone said.
Hamza Sayed-Ali, one of the several men at the show, was reciting every word of Sabrina Song’s lyrics back to her during the set. Sayed-Ali tries to catch any Sabrina Song show he can, and that’s how he found out about Girl Noise. The festival was an opportunity for Sayed-Ali to see his “GOAT,” Sabrina Song, and get exposed to new artists and Girl Noise’s mission.
“I’m a boy, but I think Girl Noise means confidence, self-expression and community,” he said. “I was like 50/50 if I should come to Girl Noise, but I would recommend everybody to come to Girl Noise because it’s such a sick show.”
Intentionality remains a central focus of Girl Noise
For each Girl Noise festival, Simone handpicks the lineup and cause to support. All proceeds from the October show went to The Brave House, a nonprofit supporting young immigrant women and gender-expansive youth.
“The work they do is so incredibly important, especially now when we’re seeing active attacks on immigrants in this country, women in this country,” Simone said. “That was a real priority for me going into the show of how we can amplify immigrant women because I’ve just been really disgusted by the treatment of immigrants in this country, and I think it was really important for me to be able to support that cause in any way, shape or form. They were truly the perfect organization, and I’m just a fan.”
Joy Dumas, a mental health advocate at The Brave House, said donations from the Girl Noise show will support all of the organization’s programs. These programs range from free legal assistance, free mental health services, professional development and collecting essential items like food, skincare and more for women in New York.
“[Girl Noise and The Brave House are] really aligned in the ideas of sisterhood, siblinghood, community, girls making art together, standing together, having a good time together,” Dumas said. “At The Brave House, we do a lot of serious work, but we’re also a really joyful community, and that’s really infused into so much of our work.”
As a perpetual fangirl, Simone also intentionally selects the artists for each festival. For this show, Kid Lake, fesssi k., Sabrina Song, Double Standard, Screenager, Simone and headliner girlpuppy took the stage.
Simone said she looks for people who value their artistry, individuality and live performances. fesssi k. traveled all the way from Florida for the festival.
“I genuinely don’t know how Simone found out about us, but shoutout to her digging skills,” fesssi k. said on stage in between songs.
Simone has the unique experience of not only organizing Girl Noise but also performing a set.
“I’m very lucky I get to play the shows alongside all these artists that I’m just such a fan of,” Simone told me. “I’m very lucky to have great girls helping out behind the scenes to make sure the show runs smoothly and help me not be super stressed and freak out. It’s very helpful.”
With her guitar in hand, she played all unreleased music, most of which was created while establishing and planning Girl Noise.
“It was all very intertwined and fueled each other,” she said. “I’ve loved playing these songs live.”
Girl Noise growth
The first two installments of Girl Noise were at the Sultan Room in Brooklyn, but the festival was slowly outgrowing that space. Sunday’s show, which was at the Bowery Ballroom, saw a record 500 in ticket sales. Simone said the first show in June 2025 sold 140 tickets, and the second show in March 2026 sold 280 tickets.
“Everything is a step above, and it’s all just putting it in perspective of getting bigger every time, growing every time,” she said. “I do that in my own artist projects too, of just remembering that little milestones are still milestones, and it’s all just a part of the process.”
Despite the growth, Simone wants to be 100% involved in the process of picking the artists, selecting the vendors and partners and curating the show.
“I’m super passionate about it, but I also don’t want to relinquish any of those jobs,” Simone said. “When I have the help, obviously, it’s really helpful.”
For the first time, Simone tapped Instagram to form a team of interns to help with October’s show. Girl Noise really leveraged the festival’s social media account to reach new people and build its own community. Concertgoers had a chance to win a Pink Heartbreaker Daisy Rock Guitar, submit song suggestions and even get outfit inspiration from the Girl Noise team.
“I think having fun is contagious,” Simone said. “I think people can tell when you’re really passionate about something, and so I think that’s another reason why maybe this has resonated with people.”
Simone said the Girl Noise Instagram page didn’t even have 2,000 followers during the last show in March. Now, the page has generated over 9,500 followers ahead of the October show.
“It just goes to show that this is important to do, and I think that girls want spaces like this,” she said. “It’s so cool to see that it resonates with people. Obviously, it’s just such a joy to get it introduced to more people.”
She even used Instagram to ask fans — from both near and far — to help create Girl Noise’s very first zine for the show, a creation that was inspired by predecessors like Riot Grrrl. Of the roughly 100 submissions, Simone said art, poems, photos, essays and more were featured from 25 girls.
The seven-page zine doubled as a poster, with the artists sharing what Girl Noise means to them. After the show, concertgoers could also fill in what it means to them.
For those who I spoke to at the show, Girl Noise meant a lot of things, like a single song or its message as a form of self-expression. But there was one consensus: it’s not uniform. Just like all the girls (and boys) in the crowd were their own unique person, each one sees Girl Noise in their own way.
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