Shakira performs by surprise on the big night of Bizarrap and Featherweight at Coachella | Culture

Festivals like Coachella remind us of the power of brands. Events like this one, which each year bring together more than 100,000 people in the middle of the California desert, are a unique opportunity for companies to promote themselves. Wants a beer? Walk 600 meters to reach the sponsor’s drink garden. Do you want to see celebrities? You can see Paris Hilton exclusively in the area reserved for a famous vodka. But on stage, artists remain the biggest consumer products. Shakira, one of the most valuable brands in the music industry, appeared this Friday without prior notice with the Argentine Bizarrap. To the surprise of everyone who unlocked her phones to record the moment, she made an announcement:

“I’m leaving,” said the Colombian.

“Where are you going?” ―answered Bizarrap, who had barely spoken until then.

“I’m finally going on a world tour,” the singer said excitedly.

A huge screen announced behind them Women don’t cry anymore world tour.

The moment remained in memory like one more advertisement in a sea of ​​advertising impacts. Shakira detailed that she will begin in November in Los Angeles the tour to promote the album she released this year. This is currently the only confirmed city. Minutes before, the star had sung the now famous Session 53, with which he settled accounts with his ex-partner, the footballer Gerard Piqué. The song became an international hit and helped Bizarrap cement his reputation as a producer capable of conquering global charts. This first collaboration between the two was followed The strong, included on the album that gives name to Shakira’s new tour. The duo showed good chemistry. “Biza, you are my partner, my colleague,” Shakira told Bizarrap. When the singer left, the Argentine said, of course, into the microphone. “And they asked me if I was going to have guests at Coachella…”

Before the star’s fleeting appearance, Bizarrap (Gonzalo Julián Conde), dressed in a rigorous tracksuit, had performed a great DJ set with samples from his sessions. From his start with the song he released three years ago with Nathy Peluso to more recent ones like the one he did with the Puerto Rican singer Villano Antillano or with the Mexican Natanael Cano, released less than 10 days ago. From Argentine Milo J he played two songs. But the trip through the region was not done by jumping from genre to genre, but rather by uniting the voices in a solid package of electronic music that passed through the houseclassic techno and even dubstep popularized by Skrillex. He closed with another of his most viral songs, stayfrom the Canary Islands Quevedo.

An hour later it was time for Peso Pluma, who occupied the main stage of the festival. His presence there makes clear his meteoric rise. Last year, the artist also known as Double P, whose real name is Hassan Emilio Kabande, had his debut at Coachella. His participation was limited to a few minutes, as a guest of Becky G on Chanel. This Friday it was he who returned the invitation from the American artist with Mexican roots. Featherweight was the penultimate before the melancholic closing of Lana del Rey and her guests, among whom were the multi-award winning Jack Antonoff, Jon Batiste, with whom she sang the opening of Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd; and Billie Eilish, with whom he performed Ocean Eyescomposed by two-time Oscar winner.

Just as 1986 was the year of rap or 1991 was the year of the emergence of grunge, 2023 was marked as the year of the takeoff of the Mexican regional, a single label that the industry has used to sell a wide range of sounds that include traditional corridos, the band sinaloense, grupero and tex mex. On that wave he rode Genesis, the album that has helped Peso Pluma become known to the general public after two more modest releases. Tonight she played several songs from the album, among them the one that has generated controversy outside her country for its apology for drug trafficking and the Sinaloa cartel. “The packages are well lined. / There is no slope, I cannot fail. / I’m always ready to cross. / Dust, wheels and also glass”, she sang in PRC, one of his lying corridos. Behind him were headlines from the world press that covered his “uncomfortable” relationship with organized crime.

“Up with Mexico, to hell, old man!” was his war cry during the concert. He had as guests Arcángel, rapper Santa Fe Klan and Junior H, to whom he also paid tribute in the video that closed the show. In the images, the 24-year-old Mexican artist told what he considers the history of the corrido, which goes from Chalino Sánchez to him, the self-proclaimed heir of that tradition.

At the same time, inside a tent, an unclassifiable phenomenon showed one of the most alternative faces of Coachella. Clown Core has made its debut at the festival giving a sample of its act, half performance, half nightmare. The Nevada trio is made up of musicians who have remained anonymous behind clown masks, letting the videos they publish from time to time and which are recorded in moving vehicles or public latrines speak for them. They are enigmatic video clips that leave a passing taste of a bad trip set to music with a mix of easy listening, jazz and noise. The group has become a sensation in Los Angeles, where they quickly sell out their concerts.

French electronic music duo Justice returned to Coachella in a stylish live number. In it they have presented their new album, Hyperdrama, which will be available on April 26 and features a collaboration with Tame Impala. It is the first trip to the Californian desert since the group of Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé became known in 2007 with a memorable performance. Tonight they opted for an incredible set of moving lights that rose and fell to form a roof over their heads. Wearing suits and dark glasses, the French left another great visual spectacle only using the color white and their large cross, with which they usually accompany the gospel of electronic dance music.