The recent phenomenon that is none other than Coachella has just passed, and let’s talk about it.
There are many controversies surrounding Coachella, from the insane prices to the fashion competition, the people who attend, and the artists who perform. Many people online have started saying that they will be watching these performances by many once in a lifetime artists from ‘Bedchella.’ The attendance list is made up of influencers who get paid to be there by companies and brands, and the attendees face scrutiny for their outfits in a “court of the press,” which is social media. It seems like the stress of attending isn’t worth the dust and heat of the desert, so why go?
Coachella allows people to see their favorite artists, such as Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, KATSEYE, and many more. However, most of the controversies surrounding Coachella have occurred not because of the strict social guidelines or harsh conditions, but because of the artists who performed.
Many people, even those reading, may have seen that Sabrina Carpenter is getting semi-cancelled in the media for calling a fan’s culture weird. For those of you who don’t know, as the famous pop idol was about to perform a song, a fan in the crowd did a zaghrouta, which is a celebratory cheer or call in Arabic cultures. Sabrina asked if the fan’s culture was “yodeling” and called it “weird.” The pop star has since received a lot of backlash and released an apology. Whether you agree with it or not, this is not the only example of artists who have had less-than-stellar performances, yet no one seems to be focused on them.
Justin Bieber has seemed to have a revival overnight. During his performance he was praised for using his old voice to sing “Beauty and a Beat.” Many fans are cheering, some who did not get the chance to attend try to console themselves by saying that “It sounds better on Spotify anyway.” However, he spent a good portion of his performance searching for his old songs and memes of himself on YouTube. While seeing Bieber’s reaction and recreation of “It’s not clocking to you” was undoubtedly funny, I found a large part of his set to be lazy. This is not the first time that Bieber has chosen a more subtle stage and setup, but many artists use Coachella to go all out and impress their fans who pay thousands to attend. As a person who was once a Belieber, I was wishing for more.
So why is it that one artist gets slammed for her reaction, but another gets praised for singing a song that he has performed many times?
Social media, cancel culture in particular, has made it so that people have all-for-nothing reactions: either they respond with resounding positivity or absolute hatred. The worst part is that the media cycle goes by so fast that weeks later, people don’t even understand why they hate a brand or artist— they just know that they should. I’m not saying that Sabrina should be completely forgiven or we should cancel Bieber, but maybe we should start responding to things we see on media with a “grain of salt.” You might be reacting to false information that people have given out to cancel an artist or praising an artist that has done horrible things in the past.
As a society, we need to bring back balanced reactions. Not everyone needs to be cancelled, and not everyone deserves a free pass or excuse for their bad actions. This takes away from performers who had excellent performances. There is a reason that this article consists of two artists, because those are the two people who the media is circulating at the moment. However, you could always look up the performances or music of artists who performed in the setlist over those three days. You might even find some new artists that you might really enjoy.
