Bad Bunny Makes History as First Latinx Artist to Headline Coachella

History has been made with the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2023 reveal and a Latinx artist is at the helm. At the top of the Coachella flier, millions saw big bolded letters of the world’s most streamed artist on Spotify in 2022 for three years in a row: Bad Bunny. The flier has not only confirmed that the Puerto Rican global superstar, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, will be one of the headliners at the iconic festival but that he will be the first Latinx to do so in the festival’s 24-year history. He’s also the first Spanish-language musician to headline. 

Coachella also announced that Blackpink and Frank Ocean would be the other two headliners at the festival making it the first time ever that all of the Coachella headliners are non-white performers. Blackpink, a South Korean girl group that is globally successful in the K-pop scene, would be the first K-pop headlining act at Coachella. Award-winning and critically acclaimed Black singer-songwriter Frank Ocean was set to headline in 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his performance was canceled. Now he is back to perform for the first time since 2019. 

The year 2022 was an impressive one for  the “Tití Me Preguntó” artist’s career further cementing how far he has come from when he released his first single, “Diles” in 2016 on Soundcloud. The success of his first single would lead to the blueprint of what would eventually turn into Bad Bunny generating a world-breaking record of $435 million from his tours alone in 2022. However, as we have seen time and time again making history appears to come as second nature to Bad Bunny as he has also broken yet another record for having  the first Spanish-language album, Un Verano Sin Ti, to be nominated for Album of the Year for the 2023 Grammys airing next month.

Among the list of additional Latinx performers at the festival is Spanish pop star, Rosalia, who in 2022 was awarded a Latin Grammy for Album of the Year for her album, “Motomami.” Also, Colombian American artist Kali Uchis and eclectic Argentine rock band, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs are set to perform on the same day as Asian-Latinx pop-punk band called The Lindas Lindas. Becky G is back to hitting the stage except this time she’s the sole performer instead of a special guest. Additional Latinx artists include DannyLux, Conexion Diva, Eladio Carrion, Los Bitchos, Afro-Latina DJ Juliet Mendoza, and ¿Téo?. 

To see a Spanish-language artist headline one of the most popular music festival is a huge win for our community and hopefully it’s the start of more diversity and inclusivity for future lineups.

The 2023 Coachella festival is taking place in Indio, California at the Empire Polo Club on April 14 – April 16, 2023 and April 21 – April 23, 2023. Presale begins January 13 at 11 pt.