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By Maya Mackey
Despite lower than usual sales, the first weekend of the Coachella Music Festival went off with a bang! From the wild and weird, like Will Smith coming out during J. Balvin’s set to the Wonderful like Victoria Monet pleading for a ceasefire in Palestine, during her performance of Stop (Askin me 4 shyt), Coachella is unlikely to lose its prestige anytime soon.
What I noticed above all, however, was just how Black this year’s slate was. 44 Black artists were fortunate enough to be invited to play to a crowd of up to 200,000 people per weekend. By comparison, 2023’s Coachella Festival only saw 17 Black Artists scheduled to perform.
Spanning genres from R&B to House and Electronic Dance Music, AfroBeats, Hip-Hop and Experimental Rock, the lineup at Coachella continues to get ore and more diverse as post Beychella (aka the year Beyonce became the first Black woman to be a headliner at the music festival.) Her impact continues to create lanes for other Black artists to succeed in mainstream spaces. For that, we should all be thankful.
Highlights included:
Chloe Bailey, arguably, Beyonce’s successor reclaimed the Coachella stage, but this time as a solo act. Chloe and Halle made music as a sister act, but have been on a group hiatus since 2021.
Doja Cat was the belle of the ball, with 6 outfit changes and constant theatrics. Ludmilla, an Afro- Brazilian born vocalist fused African dance and hip-hop moves while singing in Portuguese. Slauson’s own Jhene Aiko made her Coachella debut bringing guests Saweetie along to sprinkle the desert with that unique Bay Area sound as well as Big Sean and Omarion to help perform some of her most beloved collabs, Post To Be and Beware respectively. Tyler, the Creator, another LA Native, born and raised in Hawthorne, returned for a third time and finally as an official Headliner
First Timers, Victoria Monet, an R&B songstress who rose to fame writing songs for Ariana Grande; Brittany Howard, a rock star, and Jon Batiste, a classically trained singer, writer and compose,all have this milestone accomplishment to celebrate as they climb higher in their careers.
Coachella featured Black Djs this year, including Honey Dijon, Anika Kai and Starrza is a noticeable change to the usual white contenders seen every year like Calvin Harris and Zed. Ice Spice and Coi Leroy held it down for the Gen Z rap girls and girl group FLO served nostalgic Destiny’s Child vibes. As Destiny’s Child was not invited to the festival while still performing, it was dope to see a new incarnation of Black girl groups welcomed and embraced on the world’s largest stage.
Kudos to Goldenvoice and AEG Live, producers of the Coachella Music Festival for bringing more diversity, in both race and nationality to the stage. I look forward to even more this time next year.
