On the weekends of April 14-16 and April 21-23, the famous music festival, Coachella, took place. Many big artists performed, such as Bad Bunny, Blackpink, Frank Ocean and Blink-128. This festival was also full of surprise guest appearances of artists including Tyler the Creator, Billie Eilish, Don Toliver and The Weeknd. 

As always, Coachella is one of the biggest festivals for celebrities, with stars such as Hailey Bieber, Zendaya, Kourtney Kardashian, Justin Beiber and Shawn Mendes making an appearance. This event is also big for influencers. Tiktokers such as Dixie Demilo, Alix Earle, Noah Beck and Emma Chamberlain all came out for the weekend in stylish outfits. 

Outfits are also huge in terms of Coachella. People who come to Coachella use it to create fashionable outfits. Obviously, these outfits are always fit for the extreme heat in Indio, California, and people can express themselves however they want with them. Celebrities are often seen wearing loads of denim, lace, fringe, and sparkles, all of which are Coachella’s signature style. 

However, Coachella has created much controversy due to Frank Ocean’s performance. Ocean is a R&B artist who released his last album, Blonde, in 2016. His announcement of playing at Coachella sparked much excitement in many of his fans. They had high expectations for this performance, and many hoped he would announce a possible new album. 

Unfortunately, Ocean’s performance was nothing like his fans expected it to be. Ocean started his performance at 10:55 pm, which was an hour later than when he was originally supposed to perform. His performance was also not live streamed to fans who sat at home, which upset and disappointed many. Fans seeing him live also did not have a good experience. Since the performance was done through large screens, it obscured Frank Ocean and his band and was badly lit. 

“His performance was good, people just want to hate,” Freshman Zack Robinson said. “It was annoying that he was an hour late, but I enjoyed the remixes of the songs and honestly preferred some of them over the original.”

Ocean only performed for an hour and a half, singing songs like Novacane, Bad Religion, White Ferrari and Godspeed. In total, 24 songs were played, but most of them came from a mini DJ set instead of being played live. 

Personally, Frank Ocean’s performance was good enough, but it had the potential to have been better. He hasn’t performed in 6 years due to the death of his younger brother, so even showing up to Coachella and agreeing to perform is better than nothing. People also still got to listen to his songs, which is definitely good enough. But it could’ve been organized better. The screens shouldn’t have been so badly lit and he should’ve been right on time, considering this is his job and he gets paid to do it. 

Overall, Coachella 2023 was one of the most interesting yet. This year’s line up, with artists such as Frank Ocean, Black Pink, Bad Bunny, Kali Uchis, and more, was very fun, and many enjoyed it. Without the Ocean controversy, Coachella might have been a way better experience for fans, but otherwise it was great due to everything else.