Coachella, a long awaited music festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, in the Coachella Valley, is raising excitement for the 2023 festival. On Jan. 10, the official Instagram page for Coachella announced the festival’s line-up with Bad Bunny starting on Friday, April 14 & 21, Black Pink on Saturday, April 15 & 22 and Frank Ocean on Sunday, April 16 & 23.

The post also announced several other artists including, Rosalía, Becky G, Kali Uchis and more. A total of 167 artists will be performing this year at the festival.

This year, fans are thrilled since it’s the first time Hispanic, Asian and R&B artists will be leading the first weekend at the Coachella music festival. The famous desert festival consists of two three-day weekends starting Friday, April. 14 and ending Sunday, April 23. Each weekend, the same artists will be performing, so everyone will get a chance to enjoy their favorite groups.

The Puerto Rican artist, Bad Bunny, becomes the first Latino to headline for the prestigious festival. This year is the first year where all performing artists opening the festival are not white. This is a huge milestone for the singer after his last album “Un verano sin ti” broke records last summer. Bad bunny has been Spotify’s most-streamed artist for three consecutive years.

Although, his incredible achievement has been overshadowed by his most recent controversy. A fan in the Dominican Republic tried to take a selfie with the artist while he was walking near a water canal. Instead of taking the picture with them, Bad Bunny threw the phone in the water, leaving the fan shocked.

“The person who comes up to me to say hello, to tell me something, or just to meet me, will always receive my attention and respect,” Bad Bunny said in a tweet, translated from Spanish to English via Twitter. “Those who come to put a phone bastard in my face I will consider it for what it is, a lack of respect, and I will treat it likewise.”

The performer expressed his unconformity with the situations and asked his following to respect his boundaries. Artists should not be ambushed by their fans, especially during the artist’s downtime, respecting their privacy and the fan’s safety should be the number one priority. Many agreed with Bad Bunny that his privacy should be respected, while others thought he could have gone better about the situation.

“I think it was completely unnecessary to go that far, especially being a role model to people around the world,” sophomore Mariana Giraldo said.

Popular Korean girl group, Black Pink also became the first Asian group/artists to headline at Coachella. This will be the second time the famous Korean girl group will be performing at the festival. Black Pink debuted back in 2016 and since then they have skyrocketed to international fame, performing in 2019 at the 20th anniversary of Coachella for the first time.

Diversity has become very important in the last few years, especially in big events like the festival. Coachella began in 1999, but it started to gain traction in the early 2010s. The fact that 2023 is the first year when all the opening artists are non-white speaks for itself and the owners of the festival.

Early last year, Philip Anschutz, CEO of entertainment giant AEG and owner of Golden Voice/Coachella, was found problematic for making donations to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations and making false claims about climate change.

Despite the efforts of boycotting Coachella many influencers continue to attend, and the festival still manages to attract huge advocates for LGBTQ rights.

The attendees are very excited to see this year’s Coachella music festival line-up with all of its diversity. Ranging from reggaeton, to K-pop and R&B artists, it is fair to say everyone will have representation.