Your Exclusive Coachella Weekend One Recap
- La Voz Latina
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
Written by: Madisyn Falto
On Apr. 10-12, Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, and Karol G took the stage as the three headliners for the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The three highly anticipated artists each performed a unique set showcasing their new albums, individuality and global image.
Sabrina Carpenter opened up the first weekend on Friday with her hit song, “House Tour,” from her new album “Man’s Best Friend.” Carpenter appealed to fans by singing favorites from not only “Man’s Best Friend,” but her Grammy-winning album, “Short n’ Sweet” and “Emails I Can’t Send.”
The stage had an elaborate design, mirroring that of Hollywood Hills, which she dubbed SabrinaWood. Set designs constantly changed, transforming Coachella from modernity to the glamor of the 1960s, jazzy old Hollywood.
There are two moments from weekend one that fans can’t stop raving over starting with her note change during "We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night.” Instead of keeping with the original melody, Carpenter changed the notes in the chorus, which has received the most applause from fans.
Secondly, during her transition from song to song, there was a surprise tribute to Barry Manilow and his song “Copacabana” in an audio voiceover, in which Manilow can be heard singing, “Sabrina, she’s at Coachella…”
Carpenter closed her first show on a high note with her performance of “Tears,” which involved her rising from a car with sprinklers and water everywhere.
Switching gears, Justin Bieber took the stage on Saturday. He brought fans down memory lane, performing songs from his earliest albums in a rather unconventional way.
Bieber’s performance differed drastically from Carpenter’s due to its simple set design with minimal lighting and features.
For the first half of his performance, Bieber sang songs from his most recent albums “Swag” and “Swag II.” Following this, Bieber began playing older songs like “Stay,” in which he brought out The Kid LAROI.
What really struck fans was how Bieber chose to perform the remainder of the night.
He told fans, “We gotta take you guys on a bit of a journey,” as he proceeded to type into his laptop his breakout song “Baby.”
Bieber defied typical headliner standards by singing over YouTube videos of his oldest songs while sitting on a stool for the majority of it.
Although he has not confirmed this, fans are speculating that the YouTube performance is due to him selling his entire discography before 2022 and no longer having the rights to it. Other theories point to Bieber paying tribute to his early rise to fame, which began with his YouTube renditions of popular songs.
Closing out weekend one in historic fashion, Karol G became the first Latina artist to headline Coachella. The performance highlighted and embraced Latin music and culture, especially that of Karol G’s country, Colombia.
She opened with her song “Latina Forever” from her newest album, “Tropicoqueta.” Her performances continued to display Latin pride, evident in her use of a gaita hembra, a traditional Colombian instrument, and in bringing out an all-female Mariachi band.
Karol G also brought out special guests like Becky G, who performed a song from their album “Mamiii” together.
The performance was a nonstop celebration of Latin culture, and she made sure Coachella understood that.