Every year, nearly 750,000 attendees pack the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, for the world’s biggest music festival: Coachella. Held annually since 1998, tickets sell out within hours, often nearly a year in advance. The festival draws in some of the biggest names in music during its two-week tenure in April, including Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, and Karol G, for this year’s lineup. Artists perform on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday over two back-to-back weekends.

Former Disney child actress turned pop-phenom Sabrina Carpenter headlined Friday of both weekends, performing tracks from all three of her albums, including her recently released Man’s Best Friend. Her set was “Sabrinawood” themed, inspired by the vintage 1950s and ‘60s film noir look. Cameos during her performance included actors Will Ferrell, dressed as a disgruntled electrician, and Sam Elliott, who joined Carpenter for a black-and-white skit. During the second weekend, she brought out ‘90s pop icon Madonna, who performed Madonna’s most iconic songs, including “Vogue” and “Like a Prayer.” Madonna, who is now 67 years old, dazzled on stage and looked as beautiful as she did when she headlined Coachella twenty years ago.

Justin Bieber’s Saturday set was a fan-favorite, dubbing the name Bieberchella in honor of the 32-year-old Canadian star. Although Bieber’s old music catalogue was stolen by music executive Scooter Braun and blocked from being performed, Bieber found a loophole by playing the songs on YouTube, a funny and creative workaround that excited fans. He played a full set, including Beauty and a Beat, his 2012 duet with Nicki Minaj, in a moment that went viral online as he sang with his “baby Justin” voice, which had disappeared into his low register in recent years. Bieber also brought pop artist Billie Eilish onto his set, which fans went crazy for. Even with the set’s success, it wasn’t without conflict. The set went two minutes over the strict 1 a.m. curfew, costing the festival $20,000 in fines. Combined with DJ Anyma’s late set, fines totaled to $44,000 for breaking curfews enforced by the city. 

Latin superstar Karol G closed out the festival on both Sunday nights, in a performance that Rolling Stone called, “energetic, sexy, and politically outspoken.” The singer, who was born in Colombia, made history this year as the first Latina to headline Coachella. This isn’t her first time as a trailblazer.  Last year, she was the first Latina to headline a global stadium tour, which sold over a million tickets. Her set did not shy away from making a statement; it focused on female empowerment and featured many political nods throughout the night. To start out the set, the singer narrated a story in Spanish about a girl who defied social expectations to follow her dreams. Throughout her 90-minute set, she had six costume changes and called attention to discrimination against the Latin community in the US, stating, “This is for my Latinos that have been struggling in this country lately. We stand for them, I stand for my Latino community…feel proud, raise your flag.” Her set was a strong finish to an action-packed festival that celebrated music that unites people of all different backgrounds, reminding us that no matter what, music will survive. •