Walking into Coachella Weekend 1, I had big expectations for the food, the music, and most of all the fashion. What I didn’t expect was to see the amount of female empowerment that I did throughout the festival. Coachella 2019 was a big year for female artists so I’m going to share some of my favorite sets.
(Photo Courtesy of Pinterest)
Billie Eilish unfortunately faced some technical difficulties at the festival and we had to wait almost 40 minutes for her crew to set up. Even with the technical setback and her forgetting the words to one of her songs, it’s still important to note that at the age of 17 her album hit No. 1 and she played for a crowd of almost 100,000 people. The entire crowd seemed to know every word to every song she played.
(Photo Courtesy of Kevin Winter)
Janelle Monae was hands down the best performer I saw all weekend. Her energy and stage presence were incredibly vibrant, and her lyrics matched her confident attitude. In her song “Django Jane” she raps, “black girl magic, y’all can’t stand it, y’all can’t ban it.” She’s openly spoken out about being queer and a black woman and her performance definitely meant a lot to her fans. She also brought Lizzo out for a twerk off and the crowd went wild!
(Photo Courtesy of Rich Fury)
Lizzo was another one of my favorite performers because her set was so fun. She made sure to let everyone in the crowd know that she was all about body positivity and self-love. Her dancers were all shapes, sizes, and colors. Her positive attitude was infectious on everyone watching her perform. One of my favorite Coachella moments was seeing Janelle Monae in Lizzo’s crowd cheering her on.
(Photo Courtesy of Kevin Mazur)
While I didn’t stay for the end of Ariana Grande’s set, I did get to see her bring out Nicki Minaj. Even though they also had technical difficulties, their friendship is strong for being in the music industry, where women are constantly pitted against each other. Ariana Grande was also breaking barriers for women by being the youngest woman to ever headline Coachella.
I definitely went into Coachella excited about the fashion but came out with great admiration for all of the strong female performers who killed their sets. They supported each other and pushed through technical problems like true professionals. I can’t wait to see who will perform next year!