If you missed it, last weekend was the first weekend of the very popular music festival, Coachella. Two headliners were Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber, both incredible if I might add. But, there were definitely differences in the way the two decided to perform, leaving talk on social media.Â
I think the majority of viewers loved both performances, including myself. But to give context, Sabrina had a full-blown, choreographed, insane set up performance- truly all the bells and whistles. It was amazing. She sang some of her songs she hasn’t had the chance to perform yet since her album release, as well as some from her previous album. She had costume changes, backup dancers, guest performers, prefilmed videos specific to the performance and her finale was her and her carseat floating in the air, water cascading around her and her dancers… yeah, amazing. I heard that she had been practicing for 7 months after the announcement she was headlining.Â
Now onto Justin. Oh my goodness, I loved his performance too. It was simply just him, his computer and YouTube. Oh, and a performance with The Kid Laroi. But it might be crazy to say it was just as satisfying. He played some of his throwbacks, which is exactly what we were wanting. But, I think most importantly, fans loved seeing him perform and him being happy to do it. I don’t think anyone was expecting a crazy performance out of him, but just simply hoping he would actually show up.Â
I have heard some rumblings on social media stating that if it were the other way around, Sabrina would have faced immense backlash for underperforming. Which my feminist roots do agree with. In the words of Taylor Swift, “female artists have to reinvent themselves so many more times than male artists, or else you’re out of a job”, which I think of every time I see any female perform with costume changes and extravagant dances, and then a male in a white tank top strumming a guitar. I do think that it is expected of female performers to constantly put on a show, to look good, and to truly perform. While for male artists, there are no expectations because they are not women.Â
But I do think you can enjoy both performances without leaving with an analysis of the way our world works. Because like I said, I loved both performances, and didn’t mind their differences. I also don’t think it is a bad idea to reevaluate your thinking process the next time you’re watching a female artist- give them a break!