It’s that time again: The air in Coachella Valley is hot, dry and filled with anticipation, as ‘For You Pages’ become flooded with an avalanche of pre-scheduled content. And it can only mean one thing: all of our favourite influencers are headed to the Colorado Desert of Southern California for the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival; a centrepiece of the fashion, music, and entertainment scene that has dominated the 2010s through its high-profile headliners, FOMO-inducing celebrity attendees, hedonistic parties, and instagram-able Ferris wheel.

However, inhibitions and bank balances weren’t the only things dissipating in the 38°C heat. Over time, Coachella’s prestige and glam eroded, decaying like an overripe fruit in the Californian sun.

Influencers started to treat it like a chore, showing up in PR gifts to shoot #ads by day and dip out to their villas just before sunset. Former fans were left to max out their credit cards for tickets, camp in dust storms and live off stale granola bars and vibes because they couldn’t afford $18 tacos or $20 vodka and limes.

And the artists? If they even managed to show up on time—I’m looking at you Frank Ocean—they were sometimes even more controversial than the festival’s reportedly homophobic founder.

@jihoon

❤️ Again, this was my first experience but im sure many people have an amazing experience !! I hope this helps if you have fomo, not everything is how it appears on social media !!

♬ original sound - Jihoon

@1.800.brzy

What I spent at Coachella 🎡✨🪩🕺🌴as usual I ordered so much clothing but am returning most of it so didn’t count that into the cost #coachella #coachellamusicfestival #coachella2024 #coachellarecap #coachellacosts #coachellacost #coachellavlog #whatispendinaday #spendingdiary #carcamping

♬ Get Into It (Yuh) - Doja Cat

@alice_nevin

I actually had the best time and met loads of cool ppl but it was an experience to say the least #coachella2024 #britabroad

♬ original sound - Alicenevin<3

This year, for instance, some netizens were particularly displeased to discover that two Coachella staples, Jennie and Lisa from the South Korean girl group BLACKPINK were set to return to the main stage, despite a recent controversy around their use of a racial slur.

In case you don’t know, pre-debut videos of the two and their bandmate Rosé using the N-word, while singing along to rap lyrics during their trainee days at YG Entertainment, were uncovered in March 2025.

The footage, reportedly leaked by a Discord user claiming to be a former YG Entertainment employee, went viral on social media for several days, casting a critical light on the K-pop genre. Many netizens have noted in the past that its lyrics, choreographies, and aesthetics frequently drew on the art of Black performers, without awarding appropriate credit, or apparently respect, to these visible roots.

N what if smn in jennie and Lisa’s coachella crowds holds a sign abt them saying the n word.

— BLU 🧡🤍🩷 (@pinkponyclubbng) April 4, 2025

#LISA of BLACKPINK has taken down Twitter videos of her saying the n-word claiming “copyright”. Will fans forget she is racist? Or will fans resurface the videos again soon? 👀 pic.twitter.com/q2PLBTmlpv

— EM (@EXECUTIVEXMEDIA) April 9, 2025

Why is Lisa from BLACKPINK so obsessed with Black culture? She needs to take a racial sensitivity class to fix her cultural appropriation addiction. pic.twitter.com/EetNBBFMS4

— poppy 🦋 (@imnotpopbase) June 24, 2024

The backlash to the leak was swift and intense, but apparently not impactful enough to shake down the gates of Coachella and pressure the artists into issuing apologies—or even an acknowledgement.

The show must go on, as they say, and the leak was simply ignored, showing once again how accountability rarely stands a chance when profit is at stake.

Of course, this controversy is only reflective of the larger discussions that Coachella ignites.

For starters, in recent years it has come to the public’s attention that Phil Anschutz, the owner of the festival’s parent company, The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) has been donating money to anti-LGBTQAI+ organisations, pro-gun groups, anti-abortion rights groups and conservative politicians. In reaction, some celebrities like Cara Delevingne started to boycott the festival.

It delivered the first proverbial nail in the coffin. And while it wasn’t enough to tear the festival down, it was enough to prompt critical discussions over incidences of harassment, racial hatred, and homophobic behaviour that were frequently cut out of Instagram montages.

All of a sudden, the lie that everyone has a great time at Coachella—the supposed heaven for music and the arts—disappeared and was replaced with the grim reality that the festival is where the privileged party but the margins are left to sweat. They are left broke, uncomfortable, and burdened with the emotional labour of telling a white woman that her braids aren’t trendy or that her Bindi-like makeup is offensive.

This doesn’t mean that Coachella is a bad festival, especially in light of these instances being present at any other large event. Instead, it means that people just got disillusioned with the Pinterest lie that Coachella was ever more than just a festival. Fans thought that they had discovered at a cotton candy world filled with attractive celebrities, stylish clothing and divine music from artists that they couldn’t afford tickets to see individually.

Instead, they discovered that at Coachella, no one dances, no one really rides the Ferris wheel, and certainly no one enjoys a full meal for under $80. Cause at the end of the day, the experience isn’t about the music but the pictures you take and the proof that you have been there, all to maintain the festival’s reputation of luxury, carefree joy, and once-in-a-lifetime artistry.

But its sustained at a cost both literal and metaphorical, because profit depends on keeping this dream alive, no matter who gets left out of it. And people just aren’t buying it anymore.