Coachella is an event that occurs every year during the spring/summer season in California, where multiple influencers and celebrities pay to attend this festival. Many events take place during this festival, such as games, food trucks, and most notably, artists performing live in front of thousands of fans, turning it into their concert. This year, there was significant traction pulled from the K-pop performances. One is Jennie and Lisa from Blackpink performing for the third time at Coachella, but performing solo, highlighting the individual songs from their new solo albums. Along with them, Enhypen, a 7-member K-pop boy group performed at Coachella for the first time this year.
Lisa’s performance gained a large audience in real life and online viewership. Lisa made a huge career being the first K-pop soloist act to perform at Coachella. Prior to her Coachella performance, Lisa had released her new album titled Alter Ego. The album conveyed different styles of Lisa, ranging from her vulnerability, to her self-independence, and to her confidence. Her album got a lot of mixed reactions; some liked the album, but it mostly received negative backlash from listeners. Lisa’s Coachella performance was held at the Sahara Stage, which is the second biggest stage after the main stage. On weekend one Lisa performed on Friday, April 11, 2025, from 7:45pm to 8:40pm. Online viewers and people who saw her in real life raised Lisa to bring the energy to the stage that is needed for a huge festival like Coachella. She was praised for delivering live vocals and intense dance performance that captured the audience’s attention and made them stay for her performance.
She balanced singing live and intense choreography extremely well. She was also praised for amazing production of the set and the different outfits she wore to represent each of her alter egos. For weekend two on Friday, April 18, 2025, same time as weekend one, Lisa put more energy to her performance. On weekend two, Lisa showcased the same level of skill as she did on weekend, staying consistent. There were some disappointments with her performance such as her not bringing on guests like Megan Thee Stallion, Tyla, and Raye since they were featured on her album. Some people praised her for that too because it showcased how she did not need a guest to make her performance stand out. After her performance, people took to social media to give their opinion. Many people online claimed that she was relying too much on the back track, and when she did sing live for songs like “dream,” people said that her voice did not sound good. It was later revealed by Lisa i a behind-the-scenes video that the air was very dry and windy, making it difficult to sing well. In her career as Lisa of Blackpink and Lisa the soloist she has faced many challenges but she never let them change or discourage her.
Jennie’s Coachella performance at the Outdoor Theater has been a trending topic all over the world ever since Coachella week one
where she performed on Sunday the 13th and for week two Sunday, the 20th. For week one, Jennie was praised for her live vocals and her amazing stage presence. She brought in a huge crowd for her performance with many clips going viral on social media even claiming her act was the best performance of the three day weekend at Coachella. Many of her catchphrases went viral as well, the most notable is when she was playing her song “Like Jennie” and she had stated the phrase “Coachella I know you’ve been waiting for this one, come one its gonna be f***ing hard.” This statement was trending all over social media where there were videos made over this audio, in which people were dancing to the song “Like Jennie.” However, with positive reviews, there is always negative backlash, especially with Jennie as she has experienced hate her whole career due to her “lazy dancing.” As for her Coachella performance, ”many fans criticized it for feeling low-energy and lacking live vocals,” according to India Times. This sparked a significant wave of online criticism directed at Jennie, with detractors continuing to voice their disapproval across various social media platforms.
However, during the second week of Coachella, Jennie’s performance was significantly more praised. As Junior Lance Wedly noted, “watching the performance on Youtube, it was noticeably much better than the first weekend, with her having much more confidence and the backtrack is much more lower.” The second week of Coachella indeed brought Jennie considerable acclaim, even forging a new memorable moment during her performance of “Like Jennie.” Before the track plays when putting on her iconic “Jennie glasses,” she hypes up the crowd declaring “Coachella I wanna see your hands up and your phones down for this one, it’s gonna be f***ing hard.” Ultimately, her vocals and dance met and even exceeded fan expectations, with her captivating stage presence during the second Coachella weekend reigniting her performance status and leaving a lasting impression on the festival audience, solidifying her reputation as a dynamic and engaging live performer.
Enhypen, a 7 member K-pop boy group, had performed in Coachella for their first time on April 12th and the 19th, both of which fell on a Saturday on the Sahara Stage, the same stage that Lisa had performed on. Their performance was met with nothing but praise from fans or Engenes (Enhypen fan base name). Even locals from California had begun to listen to this new group as they were fascinated by their live vocals and their dancing. Locals have also questioned during the performance of “who’s that red hair guy,” taking to social media to find an answer. Engenes tweeted back stating that, “His name is Lee Heeseung!” as per influencer @ilylheeseung on social media platform X. They received a lot of praise for their performance. Enhypen sang live and performed difficult choreography in extremely hot weather. Online viewers and the audience at Coachella loved their performance on both weekends.
They received negative feedback from other K-pop fans that claimed that Enhypen failed to attract a crowd by showing a picture of the audience at the Sahara Stage. Engene later debunked this claim by stating that the crowd that K-pop was showing was at the beginning of the performance. As proof, they showed the drone shots from Coachella that showcased the huge audience that Enhypen was able to attract. At the end of their performance on weekend two, Enhypen teased their comeback Desire; Unleash, releasing on June 5, 2025, and they will be starting their world tour soon.
Despite all the negative things these K-pop groups and soloists faced, they still delivered performances that will be remembered.
