Part of The Bird on Fire’s What’s in the News
By 12th-grader Melina Brodeur
The Coachella lineup came early this year; usually, we see it in late January, but this year it came out in September (Stereogum 2025).
Every year, many people complain about who is playing, and this year is no exception. Arielle Gordon, a writer for music zine Pitchfork, notes, “[T]he festival was officially more cooked than the parched earth beneath its main stage” (Pitchfork 2025).
This year’s festival runs from April 10th through 19th. The headliner most people are super ecstatic about is Sabrina Carpenter. She is headlining because it is the peak of her musical career, she has lots of personality on stage, and her live vocals are fantastic.
Our next headliner is Karol G, a Colombian pop star who is pretty big in the music industry. She just dropped her fifth album this summer, called Tropicoqueta (Consequence 2025).
The following headliner, Anyma, has gained much traction due to the visual aspects of his shows, but many say he is the headliner who doesn’t fit in this year’s lineup due to his music being more futuristic.
Now Justin Bieber, our most controversial headliner this year, has been somewhat rocky as of recent due to his “it’s not clocking to you” (Complex 2025), which was a misuse of slang and is now being turned into a meme. He angrily confronts the paparazzi for taking videos of him, and he has questionable Instagram live videos looking like he’s crashing out. Still, many are excited to see him because he hasn’t been on stage much in recent years (EOnline 2024).
This year’s lineup is very 2010 Indie-focused, and there are plenty of bookings that are remarkable. David Byrne is finally back; Geese is about to drop a new album, and Nine Inch Noize is exciting to see due to their reputation for their visuals. Even if people are complaining about the headliners, the smaller artists and groups’ energies are going to be unmatched.
Sources Referenced
https://consequence.net/2025/09/coachella-2026-one-day-later/2/ (Consequence)
https://stereogum.com/2323042/23-thoughts-on-the-coachella-2026-poster/columns/sounding-board (Stereogum)
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/coachella-2026-lineup-issues/ (Pitchfork, Arielle Gordon)https://relix.com/news/detail/coachella-unveils-2026-artist-lineup-justin-bieber-sabrina-carpenter-karol-g-david-byrne-iggy-pop-yung-thug-and-more/ (Photo Credit)