By Abigail Brandwein
The first weekend of Coachella is an influencer phenomenon. The music festival gives brands a massive opportunity to sponsor their favorite social media stars with tickets, thereby profiting off of the marketing they get from that person. But Coachella, which started off as a showcase for indie artists as an alternative to mainstream festivals, evidently loses its uniqueness to the flood of influencers during Weekend 1, and regains its identity the following week.
Weekend 1 of Coachella 2026 was underwhelming. Justin Bieber, one of the headlining artists, gave a visually mediocre performance consisting of himself, a microphone, and his music videos projected from YouTube. Sabrina Carpenter, another headliner, performed to her usual extravagance.
The first weekend was heavily promoted on social media such as TikTok or Instagram, and the artists seemed to cater to that demand for content instead of emphasizing authenticity. In past years, Coachella has lacked a crowd that cared about the music itself. “It always seemed like, to have fun, you had to be extremely rich or sponsored. The experience seemed bad if you weren’t an influencer,” said Peyton Clinton, a sophomore at IHS.
But during Weekend 2, the less public-figure heavy weekend, Coachella returned to its roots – providing a quality experience for music fans, not just for media-hungry influencers. Justin Bieber gave a significantly more energetic performance, bringing out special guests like SZA and Billie Eilish to enhance his set. Sabrina Carpenter brought out Madonna, and the pair notably duetted Madonna’s hit song Like a Prayer.
Other artists also introduced musical guests that weren’t part of the original lineup, such as Young Thug bringing out Camilla Cabello, Karol G bringing out Peso Pluma, Pink Pantheress bringing out Zara Larsson, and Addison Rae bringing out Olivia Rodrigo.
While in recent years, Coachella has become more of an influencer event than a musical one, Weekend 2 of the 2026 festival showcased more talent and provided an overall better experience for those who used their own money to buy their tickets.
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