The 2019 lineup was revealed for the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Wednesday night. Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande were announced as some of the headliners for the massive six-day event.
The company organizing the popular music festival, Golden Voice, unveiled individual acts from the bill throughout the day, all before dropping the long-awaited lineup poster right at midnight.
Coachella annually takes place in Indio, Calif. at the Empire Polo Club. Other artists — including Janelle Monáe, The 1975, Anderson .Paak, Weezer, Khalid and many more — will play over the span of two weekends between April 12 and 21.
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The organizers posted a GIF on Twitter to tease the bill only an hour before actually revealing it.
An image showed all of Coachella’s previous lineups framed on a wall. It was accompanied by a piece of paper taped to the wall, topped off with a loading screen — foreshadowing the imminent 2019 reveal.
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The lineup dropped at midnight and the internet went nuts.
Artists scheduled to perform also expressed their excitement and gratitude over Twitter.
Kevin Parker from Tame Impala wrote in a tweet that the psychedelic rock group would be playing “new sounds,” teasing the long-awaited follow-up to their 2015 album, Currents.
Disheartened music lovers from across the globe shared their dread of missing out on the American festival, mainly expressing concern for the well-being of their wallets and bank accounts.
“Will you pay for me?” asked multiple users to Khalid.
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A majority of the tweets related to Coachella 2019, interestingly enough, were hyping up an up-and-coming group named Black Pink. The all-female quartet debuted more than two years ago and they’re yet another Korean pop sensation to explode in popularity among North Americans.
Black Pink will be the first ever K-Pop group to perform at the event, marking it as a huge cultural step forward for not only Coachella, but for all music festivals across the continent.
Many are hopeful that this will inspire a positive change in terms of cultural diversity and progression in the Western world.
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Also joining the bill will be Nigerian “afrofusion” singer Damini Ogulu, who is best known as Burna Boy.
Upon seeing the lineup poster, Ogulu took it upon himself to call out Coachella. He believed the font size they used for his name was too “small.”
“Coachella, I really appreciate you,” he wrote. “But I don’t appreciate the way my name is written so small in your bill.”
“I am an African giant,” he added. “I will not be reduced to whatever that tiny writing means. Fix things quick please.”
Twitter users and even some of his own fans were quick to turn on Ogulu and mock him for using the term “African giant.”
“Burna Boy has no notable award to his name or no Billboard appearance,” someone wrote. “Just one breakthrough year and he gets picked for Coachella for the first time in his life, then he thinks he’s Drake?”
Ogulu was quick to delete his Instagram story after the unexpected backlash.
But again, while many were poking fun at Ogulu, it’s truly a step forward in terms of culture as he is one of two Nigerian artists performing in the 2019 lineup. Diversity like this hasn’t been seen like this before in Coachella’s history.
With additions like this, who knows what 2020 will have to offer? Joining Ogulu will be singer/songwriter and fellow-Nigerian, Mr. Eazi.
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2019 marks the 20th anniversary of Coachella, but since the festival did not run in 2000, this will be the 19th iteration. It has not been made clear whether the anniversary will be celebrated this year or next.
Tickets for Coachella go on sale at 2 p.m. ET on Jan. 4. General admission, VIP, car and camping passes will be available on the official website.
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