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Kesha seriously turned heads when she made a surprise cameo during Reneé Rapp‘s set at Coachella, joining the Mean Girls star for a collaboration on her 2009 breakthrough hit, “Tik Tok.” The song that famously pays tribute to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger (and partying very hard) opens with the iconic line “wake up in the mornin’ feelin’ like P Diddy.”
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But in the wake of a raft of allegations of sexual assault and abuse aimed at the Bad Boy Records founder (born Sean Combs) — whose homes in Miami and L.A were raided last month by officers with the Homeland Security bureau in connection with an ongoing federal sex trafficking investigation — Kesha subtly, but pointedly, tweaked the line from her Animals album.
“Wake up in the mornin’ like, ‘F— P. Diddy,’” Kesha sang alongside Rapp, with both pop stars tossing up a middle finger at the same time. Kesha doubled-down later in the night, tweeting out the line as well, just in case anyone missed the reference. In November, shortly after the first stories of Diddy’s alleged actions came to light, Kesha removed the rapper’s name from “Tik Tok” during a performance in Los Angeles.
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The lyrical lambasting was not lost on one of Diddy’s chief hip-hop mogul antagonists, 50 Cent, who has been relentlessly trolling the former Revolt boss over his legal issues in his signature snarky social posts. Above a video repost of the moment, 50 took yet another opportunity to poke at Diddy, writing, “LOL she said [middle finger emoji] Fvck P DIDDY, HAHAAHAHA [eyeball emoji] PUFFY LIKE 50 TOLD HER TO SAY THAT!”
Combs has kept a low profile since the mogul’s former girlfriend, singer Cassie, filed a lawsuit in November accusing the hip-hop entrepreneur of years of abuse and one accusation of rape. The lawsuit alleged that she had “endured over a decade of his violent behavior and disturbed demands,” including repeated beatings and forcing her to “engage in sex acts with male sex workers”; the suit was settled a day later. Diddy has denied any wrongdoing and in a social post after the Cassie settlement he lashed out at the “sickening allegations,” which his lawyer dubbed a “witch hunt.”
Diddy has also been accused of a “gang rape” of a teen in 2003 in a separate lawsuit, as well as sexual assault and sex trafficking in another lawsuit from music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones Jr.
In December, 50 said he was working on a documentary through his G-Unit Films division about the history of sexual misconduct allegations against Diddy, with 50 promising to donate proceeds to help victims of sexual assault. At press time there was no update on that project.
See 50’s post below.
Sunday night (April 14) was slated to be a triumphant first for Billy Joel. After half a century in the music business, the Piano Man was headed to prime time for his first-ever broadcast network concert special, The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden – The Greatest Arena Run of All Time.
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Announced during this year’s Super Bowl and taped on March 28 during Joel’s 100th consecutive performance at the legendary New York city venue, the show was slated to run from 9-11 p.m. on CBS. Unfortunately, the network’s live coverage of the Masters golf tournament pushed back the start of the Joel concert’s airing, which meant that the climactic ending of the show was cut off for many viewers to throw to the local news.
To make matters worse, according to posts from livid viewers, the screen went black at the worst possible time, near the celebratory ending of Joel’s signature sing-along ballad, 1973’s “Piano Man.” “#BillyJoel #MSG #100 concert not only starts a half hour late, but then you cut off the last 3-4 minutes for local news to start at 1130?,” read one rage-filled tweet that opened with a not polite, four-letter salutation to the Tiffany network. “Are you serious. Absolutely pathetic decision making, on an event that’s been advertised for MONTHS, and you f–k it up.”
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At press time a spokesperson for CBS had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment about the abrupt cut-away from the broadcast, which some X users compared to the infamous moment in 1968 when NBC jumped from a nail-biter New York Jets/Oakland Raiders football game to switch to children’s movie Heidi.
“CBS has been promoting the Billy Joel concert special every two minutes for WEEKS. So what better way to air it than to preempt it for a half hour and the cut him off MID-PIANO MAN? C’mon guys,” read another annoyed tweet. That same fan further explained that she’d spent “three wonderful years with CBS and I love the network dearly… but as a media professional, I am straight up confounded by this decision.”
In fan video of the moment, Joel is leaning into the denouement of the song, singing, “And the piano it sounds like a carnival/ And the microphone smells like a beer,” amid footage of fans at the MSG show singing along and cheering as the screen abruptly jumps to local news. To be fair, the cut-off came near the end of the final verse, with just a round of choruses, and around a minute, left to go. According to one report, the edit only affected viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones.
While CBS has not issued a statement so far, one of the affected stations offered an apology, with 10 Tampa Bay sport director Evan Closky writing, “As a man who grew up right next to Billy Joel’s hometown, who went to The Last Play at Shea, it was my duty to apologize to everyone about cutting off our telecast of Billy Joel tonight. Not to get into the weeds, but there was a special report after the Masters and it wasn’t accounted for by the powers that be beyond this building.”
Joel will be back at MSG on April 26 and May 9 for two more gigs at his home-away-from-home, before hitting the road this summer for a run of baseball stadium gigs that run through November.
Check out some of the angry tweets below.
Billy Joel fans might burn CBS and its affiliates to the ground after cutting Piano Man off during the last verse… to play the local news on time.— John Lund (@lundinbridge) April 15, 2024
Dear @CBS , Fuck off.#BillyJoel #MSG #100 concert not only starts a half hour late, but then you cut off the last 3-4 minutes for local news to start at 1130? Are you serious. Absolutely pathetic decision making, on an event that’s been advertised for MONTHS, and you fuck it up— Tom Lagacy (@Tommygunn1544) April 15, 2024
Disclaimer here that I spent three wonderful years with CBS and I love the network dearly… but as a media professional, I am straight up confounded by this decision.— Emily Gandolfo (@emilyrgandolfo) April 15, 2024
Also for the record, we have no idea why that happened that way. I’m sure it will be looked into.— Rex Smith (@Rex__Smith) April 15, 2024
Taylor Swift was watching when Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt performed her song “All Too Well” on Saturday Night Live. And she’s all for it.
Gosling hosted Saturday’s episode of SNL, and was joined by his The Fall Guy co-star Emily Blunt for a cover of her Red-era release during the monologue.
At the top, Gosling assured viewers that he “would not make any jokes” about his character Ken from the Barbie movie,“because they’re not funny.” He’s kidding; they’re hilarious. And with that, Gosling set up the musical gag.
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“You know, when you play a character that hard, that long, just letting go feels like a breakup and for processing a breakup, there’s really only one thing that can help: the music of the great Taylor Swift,” Gosling remarked.
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Gosling then slotted in at a grand piano and channeled his loveable-but-dimwitted Ken with a parody of “All Too Well,” complete with dark shades and a white fur coat.
Swift’s lyrics were tweaked for the occasion. “I shredded Venice Beach is true / My clothes were tight / But something about that spandex felt so right / I left my rollerblades in that big pink house / But I still got that fur coat and I’ll wear that right now,” he sings. “If I said that I was doing fine, you know I’d be lying / ‘Cause I was just Ken and now I’m just Ryan.”
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Swift gave the moment her seal of approval with a post on Instagram. “All Too Well (Ryan and Emily’s Version)!!! Watch me accidentally catch myself singing this version on tour. This monologue is everything,” she writes.
Gosling, even when he’s out of character, has a special connection with the song. In an interview with Fandango posted last week on YouTube, Gosling and Blunt talked TayTay while discussing their new film alongside director David Leitch and stunt doubles Ben Jenkins and Logan Holladay.
The actors shared their personal favorite tracks in the 14-time Grammy winner’s catalogue, with Gosling revealing, “‘All Too Well’ right now has a real soft spot in my heart.”
Swift is currently enjoying some downtime during her extensive The Eras Tour. She restarts her schedule with concerts May 24 and 25 at Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal, followed by a run of eight mid-summer shows at London’s Wembley Stadium.
For one of the biggest performances of her career, Tems called on one of the biggest stars pop stars in the business — Justin Bieber.
The Nigerian singer-songwriter and producer delivered a set at Coachella 2024 on Sunday night (April 14), and brought out the big guns in Bieber and Wizkid, who both stepped onto the stage for a performance of their hit “Essence.”
Fans had been warned. “Coachella! I’m too exciteddd I have a surprise tonight,” she wrote earlier on X.
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Coachella! I’m too excitedddI have a surprise tonight 👀❤️🔥— TEMS (@temsbaby) April 14, 2024
Originally released in 2020 and recorded with Bieber and fellow Afrobeats star Wizkid, “Essence” was a true slow-burner, impacting Billboard’s charts nine months after its release. Tems would reign over Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay in September 2021 with “Essence,” making history along the way. “Essence” also cracked the Billboard Hot 100, and would enter the top 10 (peaking at No. 9), becoming the first Afrobeats song to do so.
Bieber is no stranger to smashing chart records. At 27, the Canadian pop singer became the youngest solo artist in history to notch 100 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat he reached in 2021. The “Stay” singer has kept a relatively low profile since June 2022, when he revealed his diagnosis with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, with one side of his face experiencing “full paralysis.” On Sunday night, he showed no ill effects as he glided around the Coachella stage. Watch below.
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Bieber’s performance will surely send Beliebers into a frenzy, and renew hope for more live dates in the wake of his health problems, which contributed to the cancelation of his 2022 Justice World Tour.
That excitement lifted a gear earlier in the year, when Bieber performed a surprise short set of classics and recent hits at Drake’s 2,500-capacity downtown club History and, earlier, hinted at new music to come.
Tems was Billboard’s 2024 Women in Music Breakthrough recipient, telling reporters ahead of the event: “I really want to use this opportunity to say to all the women in the room, in the world, that no matter what you’re going through, you should know you’re not alone. So even when you’re sad, even when you’re angry, there’s someone that’s angry, too. So uplift everybody around you because they need that like you and somebody’s there for you,” she concluded her speech. “It’s the women that got the women, trust me.”
She previously told Billboard, “everybody just called me Temi. Nobody really called me by my full name. It wasn’t something that was on my mind. It’s only now, as an adult, that I started realizing that it meant ‘the crown is mine.’ I think that’s really powerful. It feels manifested, based on how my life has gone.“
Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat and Lana Del Rey are leading the pack as this year’s headliners for the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. This weekend is the first of two weekends of Coachella 2024, held in the Southern California desert.
Dua Lipa will be pulling double duty on SNL in May. Saturday Night Live posted a lineup update for the NBC sketch comedy this weekend, following Saturday night’s Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton episode. The “Illusion” artist was announced as both host and musical guest for May 4. Fans in the comments section on Instagram couldn’t help […]
Dua Lipa‘s “Illusion” has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (April 12) on Billboard, choosing the 28-year-old pop star’s summery new single as their favorite new music release of the past week.
“Illusion” brought in 54% of the vote, beating out new music by Sabrina Carpenter (“Espresso”), Maggie Rogers (Don’t Forget Me), Lil Nas X (“Right There”), Future and Metro Boomin (We Still Don’t Trust You), PartyNextDoor (“Lose My Mind”), and others.
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“Illusion” is the third single the British artist has dropped ahead of her upcoming third studio album, Radical Optimism, following “Houdini” and “Training Season.” The former debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the latter entered the chart at No. 27.
“‘Illusion’ was the first song Caroline [Ailin], Danny [Harle], Tobias [Jesso Jr.], Kevin [Parker] and I worked on together, and it really broke the ice for the record,” Dua Lipa said in a press statement. “It’s about knowing what you’re getting yourself into, but staying for the hell of it. The joke’s on them, it’s the fun of playing someone at their own game because ultimately you won’t fall for an illusion.”
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The Tanu Muino-directed music video accompanying the track features Lipa alongside dancers, high divers, and synchronized swimmers at the Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc in Barcelona, Spain.
The 11-track Radical Optimism — her first proper album since 2020’s Future Nostalgia — arrives May 3.
Trailing behind “Illusion” on the poll is Carpenter’s alluring new single “Espresso,” which brought in 22% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter holds atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated April 20), after debuting at No. 1 a week ago, as the set earned 125,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending April 11 (down 69%), according to Luminate.
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With a second week in the lead, Cowboy Carter has the most weeks at No. 1 for any Beyoncé album since her self-titled set spent three weeks at No. 1 (its first three weeks on the chart), in December 2013 and January 2014.
Of Beyoncé’s eight No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, three have spent two or more weeks at No. 1: Cowboy Carter (two, 2024), her self-titled effort (three, in 2013-14) and 4 (two, 2011). (Since her self-titled effort, she’s topped the list three more times, with Lemonade [one week at No. 1, 2016], Renaissance [one week, 2022] and now Cowboy Carter.)
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Elsewhere on the Billboard 200, and for the first time in 2024, three albums debut in the top 10 at the same time, as the latest releases from J. Cole, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and Benson Boone start at Nos. 2, 3 and 6, respectively. The last time the top 10 housed three debuts was on the Nov. 25, 2023-dated list, when Stray Kids, Chris Stapleton and Chris Brown saw their newest albums bow in the region.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new April 20, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 16. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of Cowboy Carter’s second-week unit sum of 125,500, SEA units comprise 103,000 (down 54%, equaling 132.69 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), traditional album sales comprise 20,500 (down 88%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 70%).
While Cowboy Carter’s CD and vinyl editions were available to purchase only via Beyoncé’s official webstore in the set’s first two weeks of release, those physical configurations became widely available to all retailers beginning on April 12. (The album has also been purchasable as a digital download, widely, since its release on March 29.)
At No. 2 on the Billboard 200, J. Cole’s surprise-release album Might Delete Later arrives with 115,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 105,000 (equaling 137.95 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 12 songs), album sales comprise 9,000 and TEA units comprise 1,000. The album was only available to stream or to purchase as a digital download.
Might Delete Later was issued on April 5 without warning, and boasts collaborations with Gucci Mane, Cam’ron, Bas, Central Cee, Ari Lennox and Young Dro, among others.
Might Delete Later drew attention for its Kendrick Lamar diss track “7 Minute Drill,” which appears to find Cole responding to Lamar’s apparent disses directed at Cole and Drake on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.” A few days after the release of “7 Minute Drill,” Cole publicly apologized for releasing the track, saying it “don’t sit right with my spirit.” Ultimately, “7 Minute Drill” was removed from the tracklist of the streaming edition of Might Delete Later on April 12, one day after the end of the latest chart’s tracking week. (As of April 14, the song was still available on the digital download edition of the set.) “7 Minute Drill” was the most-streamed song on Might Delete Later during the album’s opening week.
Might Delete Later is J. Cole’s seventh album to reach the top two rungs on the Billboard 200, after he notched six earlier No. 1s in 2011-21. He has logged one other entry on the list, with the Forest Hills Drive: Live, which hit No. 71 in 2016.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER notches its fifth top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200, as Minisode 3: TOMORROW debuts at No. 3 with 107,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 103,500 (making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.54 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album’s sales were supported by its availability across 17 collectible CD editions (including exclusive editions sold by Barnes & Noble, Target and the act’s webstore), all containing randomized paper merchandise (but with the same audio tracklist).
With the Nos. 1-3 titles on the Billboard 200 each earning at least 100,000 equivalent album units, it’s the first time we’ve had as many albums clear 100,000 in a week since the Dec. 2, 2023-dated list. That week, Drake’s For All the Dogs jumped 4-1 with 145,000, Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) held at No. 2 with 137,000 and Dolly Parton’s Rockstar debuted at No. 3 with 128,000.
Future and Metro Boomin’s chart-topping We Don’t Trust You falls 2-4 in its third week on the list, earning 99,000 equivalent album units (down 24%). The set’s sequel album, We Still Don’t Trust You, was released on April 12 and will impact next week’s chart dated April 27.
Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time is pushed down 3-5, despite a 4% gain, with 72,000 equivalent album units earned.
Benson Boone’s debut full-length studio album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, skates in at No. 6 with 58,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s the first chart entry for the singer-songwriter. Of the set’s starting sum, SEA units comprise 52,000 (equaling 70.21 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 4,000 (largely from its digital download, as the set’s only physical availability was through a limited release on CD) and TEA units comprise 2,000. The album was led by the hit single “Beautiful Things” (the most-streamed song on the set), which has spent the last nine weeks inside the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (through the list dated April 13), peaking at No. 2.
Ariana Grande’s chart-topping Eternal Sunshine falls 4-7 on the Billboard 200 with 48,000 equivalent album units earned (down 17%), Noah Kahan’s Stick Season slips 7-8 (though up 2%) with 45,000 units, Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Guts dips 6-9 with 43,000 (down 13%) and SZA’s chart-topping SOS drops 9-10, though with a 1% gain, to 40,000 units.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
It’s The Tortured Poets Department release week, and beginning April 13, Taylor Swift fans can embark on a search for a secret message from Swift on Apple Music. One word a day will be hidden within Swift’s lyrics on the music streaming service, Apple has announced. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See […]
Olivia Rodrigo invited Jewel to her stage in New York City earlier this week for a live performance of “You Were Meant for Me,” Jewel’s 1995 hit from her debut album, Pieces of You. On Saturday (April 13), Jewel explained exactly how that happened, and why linking up with the young Guts singer was so emotional for her.
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“Her team reached out a little bit before [the show],” Jewel told fans about her Madison Square Garden appearance in a video uploaded to Instagram Saturday afternoon. “And I was excited because I was a fan of Olivia. I’ve been watching her career.”
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She continued, “I became aware of her I think during ‘Drivers License.’ I liked her ’90s aesthetic. It’s a little edgy but very approachable — and she’s writing. She’s writing these songs, and I love them. So I was excited to go out, I was excited to meet her.”
At Rodrigo’s April 9 concert, the last of four Sour Tour shows at the New York venue, the pop star introduced Jewel to her fans by sharing that she would listen to Pieces of You before she went to sleep when she first started getting into songwriting herself.
In Saturday’s video, Jewel referenced her own experience in the music industry, noting, “Something a lot of people don’t realize or talk about in this industry is just how toxic it is. I’m very lucky, we’re all very lucky to get to do our job, but nobody talks about how toxic it is. This industry is like interacting with a poison. You have to have a plan. People will care if you’re famous, people will care if you’re making money … But nobody cares if you’re a good person. Nobody cares if you’re happy.”
The singer-songwriter got teary-eyed as she shared her first impression of Rodrigo after meeting her at Madison Square Garden.
“She’s a good person. She’s grounded and she’s heartfelt,” Jewel said, adding that “it really made me want to meet her parents.”
Fortunately for her, Rodrigo’s mom was there — and Jewel said meeting her turned out to be “the thing that I loved the most.”
Jewel says that some of her favorite songs by Rodrigo include Sour hit “Deja Vu” and Guts‘ “Vampire.”
On her post, she added the following caption: “Yes. I cry musing about @oliviarodrigo. I can’t help it. I care so deeply about how women evolve in this industry. I love supporting women in this biz- lord knows we need all the support we can get. Esp learning how to navigate an industry that often chews folks up – that’s why I’m so proud of her and why I loved meeting her mom … her mom cried she met me… it was such s full circle moment … my music touched her mom when she was young, and she raised Olivia on my music, and then there we all were backstage tearing up about how wild life is.”
See Jewel’s vlog and photos from the show on Instagram.
Lana Del Rey no solo comenzó su set en Coachella antes de tiempo, sino que su entrada fue épica.
El viernes 12 de abril, a las 11:16 p.m., las pantallas principales del festival mostraron una vista aérea de Del Rey y su comitiva acercándose rápidamente. A medida que se estaba más cerca, quedó claro que su equipo no llegaba en los esperados carritos de golf que suelen llevar a las estrellas alrededor del festival de Indio, California, sino en motocicletas. Y mientras sonaba un fragmento de su canción “Jealous Girl” — cuya letra dice “Baby, yo soy una gángster también” en bucle — la caravana de Del Rey dio una vuelta entre la multitud mientras ella sonreía y saludaba a los miles de fans reunidos para ver ese momento.
“¿Qué tal, Coachella?”, preguntó casualmente, después de llegar al centro del escenario y ofrecer una pequeña sonrisa antes de interpretar “Without You” en una fusión de “Doin’ Time” de Sublime con “Summertime Sadness”. “Estoy muy contenta de estar aquí”, añadió con otra sonrisa tenue y aún más breve. Tengamos en cuenta que esta es Lana Del Rey, presidenta del pop de la tristeza y eternamente comprometida con el personaje, ya sea que esté encabezando Coachella o no.
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Como tal, su comportamiento coincidía con el diseño del elaborado escenario, que parecía más una versión degradada de la Mansión Gatsby mucho después de que había ofrecido su última fiesta. Era, por supuesto, el escenario imaginario perfecto para que Del Rey organizara su propia fiesta nocturna, con todo y una banda de swing y bailarines inspirados en la rugiente década de 1920.
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A principios del set, Del Rey hizo notar que tocó en Coachella “exactamente hace 10 años hoy” (cuando estrenó el sencillo “West Coast”), antes de agregar suavemente “todavía estamos haciendo esto”. Sin embargo, no es el hecho de que todavía esté aquí una década después lo que impresiona, sino más bien que todavía es completa e irreverentemente ella misma después de tantos años, o al menos, que la personalidad de Lana Del Rey sigue intacta. De hecho, a lo largo de sus nueve álbumes de estudio, Del Rey parece haberse vuelto aún más ella misma, asumiendo más riesgos experimentales y ofreciendo títulos de canciones más largos y sorprendentes en el camino.
Y esta noche, su set como cabeza de cartel parecía ser una tranquila celebración de eso. Del Rey caminó por el escenario interpretando éxitos que abarcan su carrera y que, en un festival como Coachella, parecían casi gemas underground que estaba cuidadosamente desenterrando. Incluso las esperadas “acrobacias” como cabeza de cartel fueron entregadas con un toque delicado: Interpretó “Ride” mientras giraba lentamente desde un columpio circular cubierto de hojas; ofreció una hermosa interpretación a capela de “The Grants” junto a su trío de coristas; y, lo más notable de todo, cantó “Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have – but I Have It” a través de un holograma acompañado por su colaborador y amigo cercano Jack Antonoff al piano, quien coprodujo la canción. (Más temprano esa noche, Jon Batiste tocó el piano para una versión extendida de “Candy Necklace”).
El holograma — aunque un poco mórbido, especialmente considerando la letra “Hola, soy la mujer más famosa que conoces en el iPad/Llamando desde más allá de la tumba” — enfatizaba perfectamente el espíritu del set. Como evidencia, su elección de “Young and Beautiful” (que se utilizó prominentemente en The Great Gatsby) como canción final dejó aún más claro que Del Rey había venido a hacer una declaración.
Como canta en “Young and Beautiful”: “He visto el mundo, lo he hecho todo, ahora tengo mi pastel. He visto el mundo, lo he iluminado como mi escenario”. Todo el tiempo, se cernía la pregunta principal de la canción: “¿Seguirás amándome cuando ya no sea joven y hermosa?”
Más temprano en el set, Billie Eilish dio una respuesta afirmativa.
Tras rumores online de que la superestrella estaría haciendo una aparición especial durante el set de Del Rey (una artista de la cual Eilish ha sido fan durante mucho tiempo), apareció hacia el final del set sobre una enredadera arqueada para hacer un dueto en “Ocean Eyes” y “Video Games”. Después de que terminaron, permanecieron sentadas por un momento más, luciendo realmente asombradas ante la presencia de la otra. “Sal de mi vista”, le dijo Eilish riendo a su heroína.
“Sí, esa es la voz de tu generación, la voz de nuestra generación”, respondió Del Rey. “Estoy tan jodidamente agradecida de que ella esté parada junto a mí en este momento”. A lo que Eilish respondió: “Esta es la razón de la existencia de la mitad de ustedes, incluyendo la mía”.
Esa simple frase llegó al corazón de la audiencia. Claro, el set tuvo sus irregularidades, con momentos de oscuridad y silencio entre muchas canciones y algunos problemas con el volumen del micrófono, todos los cuales Del Rey señaló audiblemente. Y sí, la tendencia de Del Rey a hablar suavemente tanto dentro como fuera del escenario puede que no la hayan hecho la artista principal más obvia para inaugurar Coachella. Pero su impacto sigue siendo innegable.
Pero no crean en mi palabra, créanle a “la voz de nuestra generación”. La artista que quizás no tendríamos si no fuera por una artista como Lana Del Rey haciendo lo que sabe hacer mejor: ser Lana Del Rey.
Mientras entregaba la nota final de “Young and Beautiful”, la banda aceleró el ritmo y sus bailarines reaparecieron con botellas de champán en la mano mientras fuegos artificiales explotaban en el cielo nocturno, todos los ingredientes de una gran fiesta al estilo Gatsby. Y mientras Del Rey se alejaba en moto, tal como había llegado, la fiesta en el escenario continuó mucho después de que ella se fue. Y ese es el punto.
Su impacto innegable es también inolvidable, y es exactamente lo que hace a Lana Del Rey el ícono que es. Un ícono que vale la pena celebrar.