Over the weekend, all sides of the music industry came together for the 22nd annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, which was full of many surprises and setbacks. With headliners Bad Bunny, BLACKPINK and Frank Ocean, each day also had a vast array of talent to watch, exciting music lovers in the deadly heat of the desert.
Now on a five-day hiatus until this weekend, here’s everything that happened at weekend one of Coachella:
Charli XCX brought out Troye Sivan for their song ‘1999’
On day two of Coachella, Charli XCX was already wowing fans with her hit songs such as “Vroom Vroom” and “Track 10” when she decided to bring out a special guest. The special guest in question was longtime collaborator Troye Sivan, sporting an all-black leather jumpsuit to sing their duet “1999” from the singer’s self-titled 2019 album “Charli.” It was by far one of the best moments in XCX’s set, as both singers jumped around on stage, picking up the energy in the crowd, which is usually slow and lacking energy before the night’s bigger headliners.
Rosalía dominated the stage, covering ‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd
There was no doubt that Rosalía was one of the most highly anticipated acts of the weekend, especially after breaking language and sonic barriers with her 2022 album “MOTOMAMI.” Starting at around 8 p.m, the Hispanic singer opened with “SAOKO,” transitioning into her TikTok viral hit “BIZCOCHITO.” Yet, one of the more surprising aspects of her performance was when she settled down to cover an acoustic rendition of The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights.” With only a white spotlight on her, Rosalía was able to captivate the crowd, proving to be one of Coachella’s best acts of the weekend.
Frank Ocean cut his set short due to curfew and added a rave intermission
On Sunday, Frank Ocean was the act everyone had been waiting for since the gates opened at noon, but this proved to backfire on fans when the singer did not come on stage at his start time, appearing an hour later than he was supposed to. Thus, this caused Ocean to cut his set short due to California’s curfew laws, disappointing many fans who have been waiting for this performance since 2017. Additionally, fans were confused when the singer included a rave intermission in his set, which featured DJ Crystalmess playing remixes of his songs such as “Slide” and “Pyramids.”
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello were spotted together one year after their split
Besides the major musical acts of the weekend, there were also obviously a lot of musicians present in the crowds, including singers Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello. Shocking fans all over Twitter after Pop Base posted a video of the two kissing and dancing together. Their appearance together came shortly after the one-year anniversary of their split and amid rumors that Mendes was seeing pop singer Sabrina Carpenter. All in all, it was definitely an unexpected moment during the festival, with neither of the singers acknowledging the footage.
Post Malone joined Bad Bunny on stage to sing ‘La Canción’
This year, Bad Bunny became the first Latino headliner at Coachella, making history during his set as he honored his Puerto Rican roots and upbringing. Besides bringing out guests such as Jhayco, Ñengo Flow and Jowell & Randy, the rapper also surprised his audience with Post Malone, the two singing “La Canción.” Although their duet had a lot of technical errors with Malone’s microphone, it still was a heartfelt moment to see the rapper play guitar for Bad Bunny, making it quite a memorable experience.
boygenius joined MUNA for a rendition of ‘Silk Chiffon’
After owing much of its rise to fame for its song “Silk Chiffon (feat. Phoebe Bridgers),” alternative group MUNA took advantage of one of its biggest performances by bringing out Bridgers and the rest of her band boygenius, members Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, to sing the iconic song for fans. As the crowd screamed and cheered for both artists, MUNA brought the energy and representation that Coachella has always needed, and it was by far one of the festival’s most talked-about sets of the weekend.
