Whereas Sunday (April 14) was the coldest evening of the primary weekend of Coachella 2024 — with many attendees preserving heat by wrapping themselves in silver emergency blankets — you wouldn’t have recognized it by taking a look at Doja Cat.
Closing out the pageant as its Sunday evening headliner, the rapper carried out a number of her present whereas sporting a white fur two-piece outfit, trying scorching in each sense of the phrase even if temperatures have been within the excessive 50s and a biting wind was blowing throughout the polo subject.
Irrespective of. With the efficiency, Doja squashed debate about whether or not she was a large enough star to headline Coachella — not by pandering to the viewers, however simply by embracing her signature strangeness. Suppose playful wigs, a mud pit, a pretend Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, dancing yetis and different components introduced with complete dedication to the bit. This efficiency occurred upon an industrial, multi-tiered stage rig constructed from scaffolding and a number of walkways jutting out into the gang, a setup upon which Doja and her crew of dancers prowled.
Altogether, they not solely stuffed the house — a major job on a stage that dimension — however made it their very own. The efficiency (which was very quick on crowd banter) was a contact theatrical, however by no means felt inauthentic, in the end functioning as both a reminder of or introduction to Doja’s charisma, expertise and oddball sensibilities.
Nevertheless it wasn’t a greatest-hits set, with Doja completely avoiding smashes like “Lady” and “Say So,” and as a substitute specializing in more moderen materials, a lot of it — “Demons,” “Fuck the Women” “Acknowledge Me,” “Gun” — from her 2023 album, Scarlet, and its deluxe version, Scarlet 2: CLAUDE, that dropped earlier this month. With the efficiency, Doja grew to become solely the second Black girl to headline Coachella, following Beyoncé’s landmark Beychella set in 2018.
Under, discover 5 of one of the best moments from her Coachella 2024 headlining present.
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The Props
That aforementioned Tyrannosaurus skeleton got here out towards the tip of the present as Doja carried out “WYM,” with a crew of puppeteers making it chase her across the walkways that went out into the gang, having no clear connection to the music however including one other sprint of kooky enjoyable to the present with its presence. The ultimate flourish was when, throughout the show-closing “Moist Vagina,” the satellite tv for pc stage was reworked right into a mud pit, into which Doja and her dancers crawled and acquired themselves soiled. Depart it to her to do innuendo in a means that was placing, cool and fortunately messy.
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The Stay Debut of ‘MASC’
Doja launched her latest monitor, “MASC,” simply 10 days in the past, with the ballad about maturity (“Boy, we means too grown for this sh–“) getting its dwell debut about halfway by means of her efficiency. The music’s collaborator, Teezo Landing, got here onstage to carry out his half, rapping right into a microphone embedded right into a bouquet of flowers and sporting white soccer pads outfitted along with his signature spikes. Whereas his look was transient, the pair had chemistry and each of their voices sounded true to the music.
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The Friends
Along with Teezo Landing (and the aforementioned T-rex), Doja introduced out 21 Savage to do a verse on their January collaboration “n.h.i.e.” and A$AP Rocky to do his half on their not too long ago launched monitor “URRRGE!!!!!!!!!!” Whereas these moments have been thrilling, not one of the friends lingered onstage for all that lengthy.
However the visitor look that went on for awhile and likewise made Doja look the happiest was the aptly named The Pleasure, a 5 man a cappella group from South Africa. The Pleasure surrounded Doja throughout the present’s first few songs, with its members — who, like her, have been dressed all in white — singing in Zulu and in beautiful five-part concord. At one level, she simply stood in the course of them and appeared to soak of their sound, closing her eyes and flashing one in all her largest smiles of the present.
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The Hair
Doja began the efficiency on the satellite tv for pc stage jutting out from the principle space, showing in a full hazmat swimsuit. It was a placing look that didn’t final lengthy, as she eliminated the hood to disclose a protracted (like all the way down to her knees) almost white blonde wig. This hair and this shade of it could develop into motifs of the present, with Doja performing with a cadre of dancers sporting head-to-toe lengthy white blonde fur fits, trying like glamorous yetis and inflicting a number of white hair to swing round throughout their group efficiency of “Demons.” By this time, Doja was sporting only a bikini additionally outfitted with white blonde hair, after which eliminated her wig to disclose her bleach-blonde, tightly cropped hair. Throughout the remainder of the present she’d seem in a white fur bikini (regardless of the frigid temperature), a floor-length white fur jacket and different complimentary outfits manufactured from plastic and different shiny and furry supplies.
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The Outfits
Along with the aforementioned hazmat swimsuit and fur bikini, Doja additionally wore one other bikini outfitted with the identical lengthy white blonde hair that her preliminary wig was constructed from. One other outfit was a two-piece shorts and prime set that appeared to be made out of clear plastic, and given the chilliness issue, one couldn’t assist however really feel a bit relieved when she and her tightly choreographed crew of dancers all placed on floor-length (seemingly fake) fur jackets, with Doja’s in white and the dancers’ in black. An extended phase of the present carried out from the highest of the scaffolding discovered her in reflective tights, a shimmery belted bodysuit and boots — and naturally, the present ended along with her merely coated in mud.