Get ready, BLINKS, because BLACKPINK is bringing the pink venom back to Coachella this year. And in the 2023 edition, they got the highest honor in the event: headlining both Saturdays, April 15 and 23. The information was unveiled by the official Coachella social media profiles along with the full line-up for the event, which includes Frank Ocean as another headliner and artists like Björk and Rosalía.
The superstar quartet made up of Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa, and Rosé is the first K-pop group to ever achieve headlining status at Coachella, and this will be their second time performing at the festival. In 2019, they also made history by being the first K-pop girl group to perform at the festival, with shows at the Sahara tent on both Fridays. And in 2022, even though they were not part of the line-up, group leader Jennie attended the festival in the audience.
Other K-pop and Korean artists who appeared in previous editions of Coachella include hip-hop trio Epik High, who performed in 2016 and 2022, as well as GOT7 star Jackson Wang and 2NE1 star CL, who performed under the 88rising umbrella at the main stage in 2022. Wang is returning to the stage in 2023 with a solo show.
In fact, post-pandemic editions of Coachella and Lollapalooza have given K-pop much more space than it previously had, with Coachella 2022 featuring four Korean artists or groups and Lollapalooza 2022 bringing on names such as j-hope and TOMORROW X TOGETHER.
Hopefully, this trend continues to grow over the next few years, as a way to acknowledge the relevance of K-pop and Korean artists to the Western music market of today.