Coachella 2023 festival lineup: 6 big takeaways

The lineup for the 2023 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival arrived Tuesday, and with headliners Bad Bunny, Blackpink and Frank Ocean at the top of the bill it’s clear the global drift of Coachella in recent years is here to stay.

Puerto Rican rapper-singer Bad Bunny, whose “Un Verano Sin Ti” held No. 1 on the Billboard charts for 13 weeks and was the top-selling album of 2022, becomes the first Latin artist to headline at Coachella when he plays both Fridays in April.

K-pop girl group Blackpink, who in 2019 packed the Sahara Tent at Coachella when they became the first K-pop to play the festival, now return as the first K-pop headliners. They play Saturdays both weekends.

Long Beach singer-rapper Frank Ocean is sole homegrown artist to headline this year, but he’s a bit of a unicorn too, having not played live since 2017, though he was originally booked to headline Coachella for the pandemic-delayed 2020 edition. He’ll finish up Sundays.

Based on headliners alone Coachella 2023 has a different look than other large festivals this year. Bonnaroo also announced its lineup on Tuesday with Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters and Odesza as headliners for the Tennessee festival. BottleRock in Napa dropped its lineup Monday with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lizzo and Post Malone its top-billed artists.

And Coachella hasn’t just booked Bad Bunny and Blackpink – the lineup is packed with eclectic acts from around the globe from top to bottom.

We’ll take a deeper dive before the festival opens on Friday, April 14 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, and research the newcomers and lesser-known artists in the lineup, but now we’ll take our first pass at running the lineup through our ought-to-be-patented InstantLineupAnalyzer and see what six themes for 2023 the music machine kicks out.

1. It’s a big world: K-pop and Latin music get the headliners here and the headlines all year long of late, but Coachella 2023 features artists from beyond those two admittedly huge genres, booking acts from six of the seven continents. (Better luck next year, Antarctica!)

Nigerian singer Burna Boy, who first played Coachella in 2019, returns as the third-billed artist on Friday, the same day the South African DJ Uncle Waffles performs. France’s Christine and the Queens is another returnee while Belgian electropop singer Angèle provides another chance to test your lingering high school French comprehension.

Spanish flamenco-pop singer Rosalía also played 2019 and returns this year as the second-billed performer on Saturday. Hong Kong’s Jackson Wang, a standout at 2022’s Head In The Clouds, plays Sunday. And, of course, the EDM acts represent countries from Germany (Boris Brejcha) to Brazil (Mochakk), Italy (Tale of Us) to England (Nia Archives).

The lineup for the 2023 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival arrived Tuesday, and with headliners Bad Bunny, Blackpink and Frank Ocean at the top of the bill it’s clear the global drift of Coachella in recent years is here to stay.

Puerto Rican rapper-singer Bad Bunny, whose “Un Verano Sin Ti” held No. 1 on the Billboard charts for 13 weeks and was the top-selling album of 2022, becomes the first Latin artist to headline at Coachella when he plays both Fridays in April.

K-pop girl group Blackpink, who in 2019 packed the Sahara Tent at Coachella when they became the first K-pop to play the festival, now return as the first K-pop headliners. They play Saturdays both weekends.

Long Beach singer-rapper Frank Ocean is sole homegrown artist to headline this year, but he’s a bit of a unicorn too, having not played live since 2017, though he was originally booked to headline Coachella for the pandemic-delayed 2020 edition. He’ll finish up Sundays.

Based on headliners alone Coachella 2023 has a different look than other large festivals this year. Bonnaroo also announced its lineup on Tuesday with Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters and Odesza as headliners for the Tennessee festival. BottleRock in Napa dropped its lineup Monday with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lizzo and Post Malone its top-billed artists.

And Coachella hasn’t just booked Bad Bunny and Blackpink – the lineup is packed with eclectic acts from around the globe from top to bottom.

We’ll take a deeper dive before the festival opens on Friday, April 14 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, and research the newcomers and lesser-known artists in the lineup, but now we’ll take our first pass at running the lineup through our ought-to-be-patented InstantLineupAnalyzer and see what six themes for 2023 the music machine kicks out.

1. It’s a big world: K-pop and Latin music get the headliners here and the headlines all year long of late, but Coachella 2023 features artists from beyond those two admittedly huge genres, booking acts from six of the seven continents. (Better luck next year, Antarctica!)

Nigerian singer Burna Boy, who first played Coachella in 2019, returns as the third-billed artist on Friday, the same day the South African DJ Uncle Waffles performs. France’s Christine and the Queens is another returnee while Belgian electropop singer Angèle provides another chance to test your lingering high school French comprehension.

Spanish flamenco-pop singer Rosalía also played 2019 and returns this year as the second-billed performer on Saturday. Hong Kong’s Jackson Wang, a standout at 2022’s Head In The Clouds, plays Sunday. And, of course, the EDM acts represent countries from Germany (Boris Brejcha) to Brazil (Mochakk), Italy (Tale of Us) to England (Nia Archives).