This has been a special year for Asian people in the Western music industry, with many celebrating records broken and first-ever Grammy wins. This was specifically highlighted at the 25th Coachella with artists such as BINI, BIGBANG, Laufey and KATSEYE performing for crowds amassing over 100,000 people.
Coachella is an annual music festival hosted in Indio, Calif. that blends a variety of genres and attracts big artists. This year, the festival took place on April 10 to 12 for Week One and April 17 to 19 for Week Two. It showcased the growing representation of Asian artists in the U.S. music market.
From the Sahara Stage on Friday, April 17, global girl group KATSEYE, consisting of four out of six members with Asian heritage, opened with their new single “PINKY UP” for the first time and were met with a screaming crowd.
Later in their set, the stage briefly darkened and re-ignited with snippets of Netflix’s most-watched movie “K-Pop Demon Hunters.” Korean member Jeong Yoonchae began singing the movie’s hit song “Golden.” She was then joined by Asian American member Megan Skiendiel, as well as the original singers of Huntrix — Rei Ami, Audrey Nuna and EJAE — went on stage to perform the Oscar-winning song with KATSEYE.
P-pop girl group BINI, consisting of eight Filipina members, performed the first act from the Philippines in the festival’s 27-year history. Throughout their set, multiple Filipino flags were visible among the crowd.
The group ended with their most-streamed song, “Pantropiko,” which is sung in a mix of Tagalog and English. The song finished with the Filipino flag on a screen behind them as they graciously thanked the crowd in Tagalog.
Icelandic-Chinese artist Laufey debuted her song “Madwoman” from the deluxe version of her album “A Matter of Time” at Coachella. Known for combining jazz, pop and classical music, she finished the song with the lights shining only on her during her cello solo. The star also had a jazz group and a string quartet accompanying her set as she shined light on her genre fusion, where retro meets modernity.
For their 20th anniversary, the K-pop group BIGBANG performed six years after their initial Coachella debut was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crowd was full of their fans, called “V.I.P’s,” holding up their iconic yellow light sticks as the group performed a full set for the first time in nine years.
BIGBANG ended their set with “Still Life” and included a pre-recorded verse from former member T.O.P, who is also known for his role as Thanos in Squid Game. T.O.P left the group in 2023 following controversy around a drug investigation to prevent further damage to the group. However, the group still chose to include his vocals in their performance of the last song he recorded — a nostalgic ode to long-time fans.
After almost two years without new music, Olivia Rodrigo made a surprise appearance at Coachella to perform her new lead single “drop dead” for the first time live during fellow singer Addison Rae’s Week Two set. The Filipino-American artist appeared during “Headphones on” to duet on the song with Rae, before joining forces to sing “drop dead.”
Other notable Asian performers seen at this year’s Coachella were SHINee’s Taemin, who was the first ever K-pop male soloist to perform at the festival, as well as singers Youna and Ecca Vandal.Even though BlackPink is the only Asian headliner in recent Coachella history, the growth of Asian artists make it possible for a new Asian headline appearance in the future.
