Artist Representation at Coachella

Lara Elbedour

This year at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, Coachella, an annual music and arts festival, brought diverse headliners to the desert. These diverse sets of artists have made history for their cultures with their headlining acts and performances.

First, the South Korean girl group Blackpink made history as the first K-pop act after first performing at the US festival. The Korean group consists of four members: Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, who took the stage on Saturday night and gave an energetic performance of their hit songs in a blend of English and Korean. Rosé spoke to the band’s previous appearance at the festival, pointing back to the Sahara tent where they performed. “This is a dream come true for us; thank you so much,” said Rose.

Furthermore, history was also made the night before Blackpink’s performance, when Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny became the first Latin artist to headline Coachella. This is huge because artists like Bad Bunny are showcasing and representing the Latin culture that is being embraced by his fans. He kicked off his two-hour-long set with a video, which played before he arrived on stage. Speaking entirely in Spanish, the artist emphasized that whatever happens during the next 120 minutes of the show doesn’t matter, but that being on stage is what’s important. Before he started his show, Bad Bunny also stated that “the sun and the moon have witnessed epic moments and magical nights. Artists have found their purpose, their inspiration, and the answer to all their questions, which perhaps weren’t questions in the first place. Here, history has been made thousands of times. My head is spinning. It’s incredible to see the list of all the other artists that have performed on this stage. So many of them, but no one like me,” he said entirely in Spanish. “It’s the first time Benito closes the festival. It may be the first time, but perhaps not the last time.”

Alongside the Puerto Rican artist and K-pop group Blackpink, Palestinian-Chilean pop star Elyanna also made history at Coachella on Saturday, as the singer was the first to perform a full set in Arabic at the festival. Her performance is both compelling and highly remarkable, placing Elyanna at the vanguard of a new generation of artists who seem poised to take Arabic music to new international heights as the singer added, “I’m beyond excited. Like everybody knows Coachella Since I was back home, I knew what Coachella was, so the fact that I’m performing this year is crazy,” Elyanna told ABC News Live Prime in an exclusive interview during her rehearsal ahead of the festival. “It’s a big responsibility. I’m representing my culture, but I’m really working very hard,” she added.