Sandy winds, desert heat, and Ferris wheel flicks. Ah yes, Coachella season has come and gone, but there was something a bit different about Coachella 2022: hardly anyone mentioned it. Prior to COVID-19, Coachella was the music festival to end all music festivals. I have vivid memories of sitting in my teenage Houston bedroom watching the Coachella live streams via YouTube, wishing that I could be there to drink overpriced lemonade and take IG photos with Coachella Queen Vannessa Hudgens. However, this year, the festival simply just wasn’t “giving,” and I’m not the only one who feels this way.  Let me break down why that might be the case. 

Coachella was the pinnacle of spring and summer festival wear, but the rapid rise of fast fashion has stunted the taste of many Coachella attendees. Fast fashion has always been around with stores like Forever 21, Wet Seal, and Rue 21 filling the closets of teens everywhere. However, the rise of fast-fashion giant, SHEIN, has completely changed the way that consumers shop. Fast fashion focuses on what’s trending. Right now, that’s Y2K fashion and “BBL fashion” with the large cutout clothing trend. The issue is that Coachella is all about setting trends, not following them. Everyone was dressed the same this year, and those who stood out in the crowd captured social media’s attention because of the care and thought that went into their ensembles. It just seems like the attendees this year didn’t really understand the assignment in terms of setting the trends for everyone else to follow for this upcoming festival season. 

Now, when I did see a mention of Coachella on my social media timelines, it was typically by an influencer who was invited to the event to promote a brand. The influencer was typically in an exclusive tent and watching shows from a screen, only venturing into the crowd for a quick photo op. Influencer culture has shifted the way we view most things, but this shift was uncomfortably noticeable during this year’s desert festival. One of the appeals about Coachella pre-COVID was the feeling of the event seeming somewhat attainable to those at home. The aura of exclusivity surrounding the number of guests invited to the festival this year kind of made the event unattractive and personally left a sour taste in my mouth. It felt fake seeing social media stars parade around the festival grounds knowing they were there to paint a picture and uphold this image of an event versus seeing them experience the event authentically. 

And of course, it wouldn’t be Coachella without the music. Honestly, the Coachella lineup was pretty great this year with major names like Doja Cat, Harry Styles, and Billie Eilish headlining the 3-day event. Unfortunately, these headliners and other performers, who are awesome performers in their own right, had to follow up the iconic Beychella Homecoming performance in 2018. Beyonce raised the bar in terms of what festivalgoers expect out of a performance. Now that we have seen what can be done on the festival stage, we are not ready to come back to the same old festival routine of artists simply performing their standard concert set. There was hardly any buzz surrounding the performances this year, with the exception of the Weekend 1 Harry Styles show with Shania Twain, and even then, that was only a brief moment out of the full set. Kind of disappointing to see. 

All in all, Coachella wasn’t it this year, but that was to those like me who were stuck at home waiting to see the highlights. Let me know how you feel about Coachella 2022 or your thoughts on my breakdown of the event in the comments below.