Coachella 2018 felt like a significant and purposeful shift in music festival lineups. Bookers cleared the bill almost entirely of EDM and rock acts, instead heralding in a new generation of R&B, hip-hop and pop stars. Beyoncé, The Weeknd and Eminem as headliners was immediate proof of that. It's the first time ever that a band hasn't filled at least one headline slot and the first time ever that two black solo artists have headlined, one of those being the third woman to ever headline the festival. While those are disappointing stats, Coachella 2018 showed us more than ever that music is changing for the better.
Here are the artists we saw at Coachella 2018 that made us most excited about the direction of music.
BEYONCé
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It would've been more groundbreaking to hear that Beyoncé was bad rather than good but we can't report any such thing. Bey's set was one for the history books. It celebrated her huge array of hits while maintaining a social and political backbone that carried huge power. The hype surrounding the performance promised the greatest show on earth and she gave us nothing but.
Arriving with an entrance fit for a queen she launched into Crazy In Love with flaring brass. That same brass continued throughout the set as she danced with Solange to Get Me Bodied, harmonised with Destiny's Child to Lose My Breath and climbed octaves during Love On Top.
Nothing about it was safe just as nothing about it was imperfect. Every moment was choreographed within an inch of its life but instead of feeling over-rehearsed it burst with feeling, leaving goosebumps to rise through the huge crowd.
Coachella has a problem now because topping this is a near impossible task.
CARDI B
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Most would have excused Cardi for pulling out of an extremely hot, afternoon set while very pregnant but Cardi was never going to hand over her Coachella moment. She understood the importance of it and looked hungry to make it something to remember. For someone who has been in the mainstream public eye for just a year, she's got a bucketload of hits and she rolled them out effortlessly over a jam-packed 35 minute set.
Invasion Of Privacy provided most of the soundtrack. The crowd's reaction to both Drip and I Like It, which are both at opposite ends of the Cardi spectrum, showed she's already stamped them as classics just a fortnight after their release. Bodak Yellow was a moment, as expected, but nothing topped her and SZA performing I Do and proving them to be two of the most potent forces in music right now.
Cardi just continues to tear down walls and her Coachella moment was liberating.
HAYLEY KIYOKO
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Hayley Kiyoko may not have been the most known name on the lineup but that's not going to be the case for long. Her debut album Expectations is a brilliant pop record and she expertly converted it to the stage at Coachella. She brought a Justin Bieber-esque arena performance to a much smaller stage backed by four back-up dancers.
Don't confuse Kiyoko for just any old popstar though because she comes wielding a message that's often left out of music. Songs like What I Need and Curious are bisexual anthems that explore the nuances of approaching new relationships. Seeing Kiyoko represent that on-stage at a festival as large as Coachella and watching how proud she was to do so was heartwarming.
PRINCESS NOKIA
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Once an underground, cult favourite, Princess Nokia's Coachella set showed that she's quickly getting ready to penetrate the mainstream with her East Coast rap. From Tomboy to It's Mine she delivered potent, thoughtful raps that doubled as party tunes. The crowd went out of their minds as she led them, acting as her own hype person.
She also came with one of the best monologues of the entire festival saying, "This is to celebrate gay folk, celebrate LGBTYA, this is to celebrate all of your trans brothers and sisters, celebrate fans and love and kindness and expression."
SZA
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Listening to SZA's debut album CTRL we would have never picked she had main stage potential no matter how much we loved the record. She proved us all wrong though as one of the most capable and deserving performers to take to the main stage this year. Her elongated voice and magnetic personality made intimate tunes like Drew Barrymore carry across a crowd of thousands while the crowd was so elated to hear The Weekend you would've believed it was the biggest hit of the last decade.
She bounced around the stage with glee, smiling from cheek-to-cheek, still not really believing just how good she really is. Coachella placing SZA second to The Weeknd may have seemed like a surprising move on paper but festivals should be edging her towards headline positions because she's truly capable.
BROCKHAMPTON
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We've never really had anything like Brockhampton ever - a bi-racial boyband with varying sexuality operating in hip-hop as a serious mainstream force. Brockhampton were given a criminally small stage for their Coachella debut but they made the most of it, bringing to the table one of the most ambitious sets of the weekend. Armed with string quartet, they lifted their collection of Saturation songs with an in-your-face cockiness. They know, however, that in order to be cocky you've gotta deliver and each of them seemed determined to improve on weekend one's technical errors. They came though like they had something to prove and delivered a set that was near-perfect from Boogie to Sunny.
More Coachella coverage to come...
