A Recap Of Coachella Weekend One
By Seiana Spencer-Kendrick
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, popularly known as Coachella, kicked off its first of two weekends on April 12 to 14, exceeding everyone’s expectations.
With the lack of buzz around last year's festival, people were beginning to consider Coachella's popularity to have gone down. Yet this year's star-studded lineup brought so many exciting performances on the first weekend, that social media is still buzzing about it.
The jam-packed weekend was filled with tons of anticipated performances, it also featured on-stage guest surprises by the biggest stars in the music industry.
As one of the headliners of the festival, Lana Del Rey set the tone for weekend one. Fans camped out at her set and were not disappointed. Her anticipated performance came with a thrilling intro to her set and a surprise duet with Billie Eilish. The pair sang Eilish's breakout hit, “Ocean Eyes” and Lana Del Reys' “Video Games.”
Billie Eilish was not just Del Ray’s surprise guest during weekend one. The next night she shocked fans even more. During a surprise party with The Do LaB on Saturday she played three songs from her upcoming album Hit Me Hard and Soft
Night two, Tyler, the Creator brought out several musical guests—Donald Glover, A$AP Rocky, Charlie Wilson and Kali Uchis—throughout his headline performance. Glover, also known as Childish Gambino, was one of the more shocking guest performers during Tyler's set. They performed a rendition of “RUNNING OUT OF TIME” from Tyler's hit album Igor.
The surprise guests continued as rapper, A$AP Rocky joined on stage to perform “Potato Salad” and “Who Dat Boy.” Tyler was then joined by R&B and hip-hop singer-songwriter, Charlie Wilson, with a piano version of “EARFQUAKE,” before a short appearance by Kali Uchis who performed the chorus of her and Tyler’s hit collaboration “See You Again.”
To close out the festival, Doja Cat made history as the first female rapper to headline Coachella and the second Black woman to ever headline, after Beyonce’s iconic headline performance in 2018.
During her iconic headline performance where she not only dressed in a long blonde wig but had skilled choreography to go with every song. A$AP Rocky made another guest appearance as they performed “URRRGE!!!!!!!!!!” from her recent album, Scarlet 2 CLAUDE. The rapper, 21 Savage also joined Doja Cat to perform “n.h.i.e” off his latest album american dream. As well as, Teezo Touchdown who joined Doja Cat on stage to perform a live debut of their song “MASC.”
The headliners were not the only artists with shocking and iconic surprise guests.
Saturday night, during No Doubts reunion, Olivia Rodrigo hit the stage as a guest performer singing “Bathwater” alongside the band's lead singer Gwen Stefani.
During her set on Sunday, singer Tems was joined by Wizkid and Justin Bieber to perform their viral hit “Essence.”
Singer-songwriter Renee Rapp was introduced by the cast of The L Word and later brought up Kesha. The singers performed Kesha's iconic hit “Tik Tok,” where they created a viral moment as they changed the lyrics to the first line of the song, "wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy."
Will Smith made a surprise appearance on J Balvins set as his iconic character, Agent J, from the movie Men in Black, during a performance of the 1997, “Men in Black” theme song.
With all this excitement, staying hydrated and comfortable are the biggest necessities of Coachella. Remember this for next year if you plan to attend either in person or from the comfort of your couch.