Kiiara
This 21 year old singer songwriter blew up within two years after releasing her single “Gold,” which boasts more than 300,000,000 plays on Spotify. Her music is unlike anything made before because she combines her beautiful vocals with electronic and groovy beats. Her voice is piercing yet can make you melt with its soft demeanor. The catchiness of her music also has the ability to get stuck in your head for the entire day (I’m speaking from experience). If you’re looking to take a break from EDM or Hip Hop, you should definetly check out Kiiara because she is easy on the ears yet funky enough to dance to. If you want to get a sense of her music before checking seeing her, listen to her song “Feels.”
Mura Masa
This 20 year old DJ and electronic music producer is playing at Coachella while the rest of us 20 year olds are struggling to get our lives together and pass our classes. Despite his songs revolving around love and heartbreak, they are uplifting and remarkably unique. The sounds he comes up with are so different that they work in a strange yet beautiful way. His style closely resembles other popular EDM artists like Cashmere Cat and Louis the Child. His music can range from mellow and soothing to songs that most importantly, make you want makes you want to dance! Why else would you go to a music festival? He made a name for himself off of his popular single “Lotus Eater,” but if you want to see if you should see him, check out my favorite song of all time: “Firefly.” I could listen to this song after the worst day of my life and it would still be able put me in a good mood.
Oh Wonder
This alternative pop duo released one song a month for a year starting in September 2014 and combined them onto a debut album in September 2015. One half of Oh Wonder, Josephine Vander Gucht has the voice of an angel, which has the ability to make you feel like you’re floating on a cloud in any song she sings. Some types of chill music are nod-your-head-while-you-sing worthy, but Oh Wonder’s music takes it up a notch because you can sway your body side to side as you listen to them. The lyrics of their songs are also meaningful and real because they are relatable. You might’ve heard a few of their most popular songs “Technicolour Beat” and “Drive” but if you want to see if you should fit them into your Coachella schedule, check out the less popular, but equally wonderful (get it) songs “Shark” and “Body Gold.”
Tory Lanez
This 24 year old hip hop artist hailing from none other than Canada, (Drake vibes) started posting full mixtapes on soundcloud since 2013 and has consecutively posted a playlist every year since then, naming them “Chixtapes.” He is different from other artists like Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q, also playing at Coachella, because his music leans towards R&B rather than straight rap. He sings his words rather than speaks, and that makes for slow but equally catchy music. I first discovered him on his collaboration with EDM duo, Snakehips, in “Dimelo.” From then his groovy melodies and clever lyrics kept me listening. If you want to enjoy hip hop but hear something different from the bigger rap artists at Coachella, check out Tory Lanez. You might’ve heard of his hit single “Say it.” But his coolest songs by far are “Slow Grind” and “T.L.C” in which he transforms the classics Grind on Me, and No Scrubs by TLC to fit his own musical style.
What So Not
This producer and EDM DJ was once an EDM duo consisting of Emoh Instead and Flume, before Flume left the group in 2015. This wasn’t before they already established a name for themselves by creating hits like “Jaguar,” “High You Are” and their trap single with RL Grime, “Tell Me.” Flume continued to be a successful sensation on his own, and Whatsonot (Emoh Instead) proved that he could also thrive as a single act. Whatsonot’s music can take you on a journey with uplifting and happy sounds like in “High You Are,” to head banging bass in “Waiting,” his collaboration with Skrillex and RL Grime. If you want to go on a musical roller coaster that’s caught up in your feels one moment, then dancing with every part of your body another moment, you wont be disappointed with a Whatsonot DJ set. What to listen to to get the best sense of his music: “Touched.”