Coachella Really Needs the Press, Huh?

A little over a week before your richest friends and the most annoying influencers take over the California desert, Coachella is in nearly uncharted territory: It still has a good number of tickets available. And you could join those friends in the festival’s second weekend for the low price of $499 (plus fees), since not even the first, cheapest tier has sold out. It took nearly a month for weekend one to finally sell out, which is, well, nearly a month longer than usual. Last year was the first year since 2012 that weekend two didn’t sell out, but at least tier one did. This year, it seems like many fans are skipping the desert — yes, even some of those influencers.

So was it just a coincidence that, nine days before her first Coachella headlining set, Doja Cat logged onto Twitter to philosophize about album leaks and pick fights with her fans — whom she recently swore she doesn’t hate? (Those tweets have already been deleted, but she’s standing by her Pitbull take.) And that all came after fellow headliner Tyler, the Creator’s own defensive moment last week, when he took a break from promoting his Louis Vuitton collection and responded to a fan who asked if he’d be performing “that old-ass set” of music from his 2021 album Call Me If You Get Lost when he headlined. “I sure am, most artist with 7 albums worth of music usually perform songs that they already put out lol,” Tyler wrote in another now-deleted tweet. Just days later, Tyler found himself trending yet again, as the center of a story line on Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show involving his friend Carmichael admitting a crush on him.

Sounds like someone needs the attention. After 2023’s Frank Ocean mess, not to mention a bombshell year for live music, there’s a fair amount of pressure on Coachella to succeed this year. Think the festival wants its headliners causing trouble online to juice a bit of sales — or at least, isn’t mad about it? And that’s all before even mentioning the report that Taylor Swift will be attending to watch her friend Lana Del Rey. Influencers who?

Sure, it could all be a lucky coincidence for Coachella. But if Lana logs on to share her thoughts about feminism next week, it sure wouldn’t hurt that final stretch of ticket sales.