This year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival reportedly broke several records, including headlining its first Colombian pop star and becoming the fastest-selling festival in its 25-year history, according to National Today. While Coachella may not be as popular within the LCDS community, many students still followed the event and discussed it online.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, founded in 1999, is a popular music festival for musicians of all kinds. Many well-known artists such as Beyonce, Daft Punk, and Prince have performed there over the years. As time has gone on, the festival has featured more notable performances and gained more influence in popular culture.
A total of 32 out of the 61 upper school students polled, or 52.5%, said they did not watch Coachella this year. However, many students who did not watch the festival were still familiar with the festival.
Out of the 29 poll participants who did watch the festival, the majority said they enjoyed Sabrina Carpenter’s and Justin Bieber’s performances the most. Both artists received roughly 23% of the vote, aligning with the viewing statistics of the actual concert.
Justin Bieber’s performance reportedly garnered over 143 million views during the festival’s first weekend, breaking the festival’s record for the most-viewed production. During the performance, Bieber sang along to old YouTube videos of himself, creating a nostalgic feeling for many viewers.
“My favorite part was him looking up videos on Youtube because it was really unexpected,” junior Simone L. said.
While many people watched Bieber’s performance, not everyone enjoyed it. Freshman Citizen G. said, “He just did not really perform at all… It was very underwhelming.”
Some students’ criticism seemed to come from the minimalist style of the performance, which included Bieber sitting at a desk with a computer for part of the set.
The festival, which is known for featuring over 150 acts, also has plenty of lesser-known artists enjoyed in the school community. English singer-songwriter Blood Orange received three votes in the poll, making him the third most-selected artist amongst LCDS students.
According to Spotify, Blood Orange has roughly 10 million monthly listeners, while Justin Bieber and Sabrina Carpenter both have around 100 million monthly listeners.
For many students who didn’t watch the festival, their exposure to Coachella stems mainly from social media.
“I’ve seen a lot of clips on TikTok especially,” sophomore Anthony S. said
Anthony also mentioned that he saw clips of Justin Bieber’s performance more frequently than any other performance from the festival.
