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Kali Uchis made her presence known in India, California for the first weekend of Coachella 2023, still riding the high from the March release of her third studio album, Red Moon In Venus.

On Friday, April 14, Uchis joined Kaytranada’s set to perform “10%,” which was just the appetizer for Uchis’ own set on Sunday, April 16.

As reviewed by Uproxx, “Kali Uchis was also a highlight of the day. She opened her main stage set with her viral song ‘Telepatía‘ before bringing Tyler The Creator out for their joint track ‘See You Again.’ Omar Apollo was next to grace the stage, delivering their recent collab ‘Worth The Wait.’ Then, Don Toliver — Uchi’s boyfriend — appeared to sing his verse in ‘Fantasy.’

See exactly how Uchis’ set played out below, courtesy of setlist.fm.

1. “Telepatía”
2. “See You Again” (with Tyler The Creator)
3. “Get You” (Daniel Caesar cover)
4. “Worth The Wait” (with Omar Apollo)
5. “Fantasy” (with Don Toliver)
6. “10%”
7. “Melting”
8. “Rica Y Apretadita” (El General cover)
9. “Salvaje”
10. “Tattoo” (Unreleased)
11. “Papi Chulo” (Lorna cover)
12. “Fue Mejor”
13. “Dead To Me”
14. “Moonlight”
15. “La Diabla”
16. No Hay Ley”
17. “Sad Girlz Luv Money” (Amaarae cover)
18. “Not Too Late”
19. “Hasta Cuando”
20. “I Wish You Roses”
21. “After The Storm”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jordan Klepper‘s time at the desk has come as The Daily Show continues trying out myriad guest host options to find the right fit long-term. And Klepper’s resume is impressive. Forget that he’s been with the show for 9 years, that his “Fingers The Pulse” segments on the (endless campaign trail) crush on YouTube while also being fan favorites. Klepper also has experience as a host both behind a desk with The Opposition and in the field with Klepper, two experiences that are obviously going to inspire what we see when he has the big chair.

A frequent interviewee for us, we naturally wanted to check in and get a sense of what Klepper has in store for this week of shows while getting him to give us the dirt on the fiercely competitive behind-the-scenes drama at the show (or lack thereof). And because he is who he is, we fingered his pulse on the campaign trail (slash indictmentapalooza) and Trump’s chances in 2024. As always, laughs were had along the way while Fox News, gun culture, and conspiratorial thinking elbowed their way into the conversation.

How are the woke mind virus treatments? Are they working? You’re not reading right? Don’t read.

They’re slowly working. For a long time, I’ve been reticent of books and all of the knowledge they contained. I’ve always been very skeptical of getting more information.

Those books behind you are just props.

Oh yeah, exactly. In some ways, it’s like garlic to vampires. I’m inuring myself to it.

I imagine most of those are from the Bill O’Reilly mystery collection.

(Laughs) Exactly. I love the Fox anchors and their non-fiction projects. Give me some Lincoln history. I want to see what’s inside Kilmeade’s head, just like anything, any kind of literary experience they want to have. I’m willing to go down that road.

So, are you looking at guest hosting The Daily Show as an audition or just a fun week at work?

Well, they say this is not an audition, but…

They’re lying.

For me, there’s really only one way to approach it: have as much fun as humanly possible. That being said, I’ve been busting my ass the last couple of weeks, prepping for this week. I wanted to go out into the world and grab stuff. We have a bunch of surprises. I went to the world’s biggest gun show. So I’m packing this week full of field elements, and interviews with big names. But then walking into next week, I think you can’t be too precious with it.

What I’ve learned from my time with The Opposition is to enjoy it, stay open, and stay playful. And so next week we’ve done all the work, and the news will play out as it does. And I think such a benefit of getting to host a show like that is you walk into a room with such funny people, so be open to the fun in the room, and then be playful. One of the things I’m most excited about is playing with Roy (Wood Jr.), playing with Desi (Lydic), and playing with Ronny (Chieng) to get that energy again. I don’t get to have that out on the road.

Is it competitive at all with the people that work on the show all the time?

Let me tell you, this sounds pat, but I love The Daily Show. I’ve been a fan for 20 years. I’ve been on the show since 2014 in various forms. And so it’s fun and strange and it changes your perspective of what the show is, suddenly seeing these guest hosts come in. And I think it proved how strong the show and the staff is over the first few weeks of seeing guest hosts succeed. And then Roy pops in, the first person who is a part of the news team, a colleague of mine who I got to work with, and I will say it was so enjoyable to watch that thing soar because of it. You talk to any of us, we love that show. Would I want to be behind that desk, of course, I think I could do a killer job behind that desk. I can’t wait for the opportunity, but I also love working with those folks and so you’re rooting for one another.

I was there the night Jon (Stewart) came in. I was editing a piece, talking with Jon, then he goes out and does this great segment with Roy. It’s so fun. The audience is in love. I get to go out and talk to Roy about what I just did in downtown New York a few hours earlier. It was alive. It was playful. Those are the things that I love so much about The Daily Show and so competition is way in the rearview because it’s so live right now.

This is our 415th interview, so I feel like we’ve had enough back and forth that I can say what you’re saying feels genuine. You’re a good actor, it feels genuine. (Laughs)

You know me well enough that I’m not that good an actor. It has to be genuine. If I were that good an actor, I’d be on an NBC spinoff right now. The fact that I’ve worked here for so long is just proof that I’m not a good enough actor to get that sitcom to pay for my condo. No, I will say this, part of how that show is built is it moves so fast that assholes don’t stick around for that long. When Trevor came in, it was a weird time for the show. I’d been there with Jon for a couple of years. Trevor comes in and he brings in this new crew of folks, Desi, Ronny, Roy, and we kinda had to figure out what that show was together. And remarkably, they’re all really wonderful people and so it’s been a weird few years. We’ve been through COVID together. You’re trying to figure out how a show works that way. I’m on the road a lot too, so I’m not always in the office, but when I do get to get in the office and bounce off of these people, they’re my colleagues, but they’re my friends.

I don’t know what is happening with The Daily Show six months from now, two months from now, two years from now. And I don’t think anybody really knows what’s happening with late-night TV two years from now. So if you are approaching it with anxiety about what that’s going to be and holding onto that too closely, you’re going to be miserable. So that’s where I do think there is a lot of good energy, good vibes, and people rooting for one another because I think this is what we have right now and it’s actually pretty fun.

Are you able to share what interviews you have booked? I’m curious to see you having a conversation with someone not wearing a t-shirt with Trump’s rippling abs on it. Is that going to throw you?

To be clear, we will have those T-shirts on the ready. Everybody is more than welcome. I’ve learned some things. Sell T-shirts no matter what. I’m gonna make a killing with this host thing. (Laughs)

I’m doing a couple of remote interviews. It’s been so fun to go out and sit with people in a field setting. I went to Michigan to talk to Governor Whitmer and we had a big chat over beers about gun control, abortion, Michigan football, important things. I have another big interview I can’t announce right now that we’re putting together and then I’ll have a few in-studio guests as well. I love chatting with people in the real world, but it’s really nice to do it in an air-conditioned studio. And so I think it will be wonderful to talk to somebody and keep the possibility for a “JFK Jr. is still alive” reference to a minimum.

Is he the interview you can’t mention?

Tune in. You don’t know. I’m not saying that JFK Jr. will not be on the show, or Tupac, or Aaliyah. Are these people out there? Am I able to interview them? I don’t know. Listen to the podcast, understand the talking points behind it, and show up next week to see if they’re there too.

Circling back, what’s in the goodie bag at a gun show? Are there any door prizes?

(Laughs) Well, you tend to walk in with a lot of weaponry is something that I realized. Going to the world’s largest show, 11 acres of guns and so you’ve got your Nazi paraphernalia, you got your make-an-AR kit, anime tables, Kamala Harris gun clips, just a little bit of America packed into 11 acres of guns.

Honestly, this is what I love about doing field work and why I go to places like this. The gun argument and the gun debate is something that’s close to my heart, and that I’ve covered for a long time. And so in working on this week, I wanted to go to something that, sadly, is a part of the discussion around gun violence. The discussion around the necessity of having a AR-15 is something that has been in the news and will not go out of the news. And so going to a place like this is just this microcosm if you can call 11 acres of guns micro in any sense.

There’s something definitely micro about the whole vibe of that, I’m guessing.

(Laughs) Yeah, I think there’s perhaps some overcompensating that’s taking place there. I’m aware of that. Honestly, what I got to see going there is what the gun show loophole looks like, up close. I’m living in New York reading about ways in which people are passing guns off at these gun shows. But then you go to a parking lot in Tulsa and you see a guy throw a gun on his shoulder, a little stick in the barrel of the gun with a price on it and start walking around the parking lot and then exchange guns for cash, go back to his car, get another gun and start walking around the parking lot again. You’re like, “Oh, oh, that’s the loophole, right then and there.”

Just like the Founding Fathers intended.

(Laughs) Exactly.

How have the rallies changed, not just your approach, but just what you’re seeing from the attendees? Are there more people, less people? Are they more rabid, less rabid, literally rabid?

Quite literally, the last rally I went to was Donald Trump’s indictment, which if you zoom out, is a funny evolution. I don’t know if I have a great sense of what a traditional Donald Trump rally is because the ones I’ve been to have been shielded in ways that the other ones weren’t before. The one in Charleston I went to was invite-only, which had its cast of characters and conspiratorial thinkers, but was small and wasn’t set up to be a big outside rally. I went to the indictment, which in and of itself had its Trumpsters and MAGA world there, but they were in New York surrounded by almost twice as many media folks who were egging them on. And so that was, I don’t think, representative of the traditional MAGA movement, but it is showing you how much of a circus it is. So it’s hard for me to get a sense of the power of this movement right now.

There’s been a lot of calculated moves on his part to not exactly show his hand or perhaps be afraid to put out the call to see how many people actually show up. And I’m getting only bits and pieces here and there. I’ve missed a few larger rallies. I didn’t get to go to Waco. There have been conflicting reports. The energy was there, it sounds like, but the numbers were smaller than expected. So we will see. I think it’s way too early to call. The fervor is going to be there, people like a good party. But whether these 10,000-person gatherings suddenly become 4,000-person gatherings. I think that’s yet to be told.

I think what’s been compelling is to watch the DeSantis conversation and we have yet to see them turn on Ron DeSantis. So there’s the small segment of folks we’ve talked to, we bring up these other folks in the party. And even though Trump has started to vilify these potential contenders, I haven’t seen the crowd do that yet, which has been odd for them not to be in lockstep on his enemies. I think that’s an evolving story, but right now they’re still keeping options open.

Is it weird when Lindsay Graham makes an appearance on the first episode with Franken a couple of weeks ago? Because I thought that was a little weird.

I wasn’t there in the building for it. I think The Daily Show should always be a place where different opinions can come in.

Yeah, but isn’t there a difference between a different opinion and a bad-faith actor?

Yeah, I think you’re right. I think you can’t be afraid to challenge somebody who has power, who might have a different opinion. Lindsay Graham is somebody who is in a position of power. He talks out of both sides of his mouth, but if he’s willing to engage in a conversation around it, I think it’s worthwhile to engage him. Now, there are times where perhaps if it’s just talking points and it’s just pushing that thing, yeah, maybe that’s not somebody you book onto the show. I think that’s always something there should be a conversation around. But I also get fearful of the knee-jerk reaction to not engage with these folks.

Oh, sure.

A good example, the podcast I did with John Kasich, people on the left did not like the fact that I was talking to somebody who was on the right, and that always scared me because if we lose the ability to engage with somebody with a different POV — a bad-faith actor is a different story — then we’ve lost the entire battle. And so that I think that is always important. I hope there’s a space on the show to engage with folks who might not share your point of view.

It’s hard because it seems so much like that battle is lost on the other side. But you’re 100% right, if we just bubble everything over, we are, maybe not in a literal civil war, but for all intents and purposes,

Yeah. You should be challenged with outside opinions. I think you’re right though, the arbiter of that is viewership numbers. And so perhaps on the right, it’s like, well, what do we get from bringing this point of view on there? And there’s the fear of that on the left as well. So I hope we keep engaging. I hope we keep trying. We need to be careful not to platform ideas and bad-faith actors, but we should be engaging with ideas that make us uncomfortable or at least we have a hard time understanding. And through that conversation, you have, perhaps, a view into it.

Or if you have bad-faith actors on, mock them as furiously as you can right to their face like you do.

I will say, a weapon in the back pocket of everybody at The Daily Show, is that you’re a comedian, you got satire, go at them. And I think that is the benefit of The Daily Show.

‘The Daily Show with Jordan Klepper’ airs Monday through Thursday this week on Comedy Central at 11PM ET

When Saraya showed up in AEW, it wasn’t clear from the outset what her role would be in the promotion. She’d been successful as an onscreen voice since suffering what was deemed a career-ending injury nearly five years prior in WWE. But all doubts over whether she could wrestle again evaporated when she defeated Britt Baker in her highly-anticipated return match last November.

Her arrival in AEW has helped catapult the women’s division at just the right time. The promotion has set ambitious goals for the coming year starting with CEO Tony Khan’s decision to go global, bringing All In to Saraya’s home country and the iconic Wembley Stadium in London this August.

“I haven’t performed in the UK in years. And then to be on one of the biggest stages you can get over there, Wembley Stadium, it’s just a very wild opportunity,” Saraya told Uproxx Sports. “It does have that WrestleMania 1 vibe where this is something really special. I feel so fortunate that I get to be a part of history.”

WrestleMania is reserved for some of the most anticipated matches of the year, and while Saraya would love for her family or fellow Outcasts members Toni Storm and Ruby Soho to be involved, she has two dream matches for the historic event top of mind.

“I would love to face Jamie Hayter. That would be amazing, because she’s also from the UK — I’ve had the opportunity to be in a tag and triple threat, but not a singles match, and I would love that opportunity,” Saraya said. “Do we open that Forbidden Door? Mercedes Moné, I would love to face her there. That would be such a full circle moment. There’s so much opportunity there.”

Regardless of where Saraya lands on the card, she’s proud to be part of the growing women’s division within the promotion. She makes it a point to praise Baker as a pillar of the company who isn’t getting her recognition during the ongoing tug of war over the AEW World Championship between fellow pillars MJF, Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara, and Jungle Boy.

As the women’s division has seen an influx of talent, Saraya highlights the balance of homegrown wrestlers and star power that makes up the roster, highlighted by the likes of Jade Cargill, Skye Blue, Willow Nightingale, and others. For the newcomers, she compares what many of the women are experiencing to how she built her career in the early days of WWE NXT.

“They’re in the room before the shows, they’re training with Dustin Rhodes, and they’re just working their asses off. It is a difficult journey, especially when you get thrown onto TV like that, where I was really fortunate enough to go to a development center and hone my craft a little bit more,” Saraya says. “But these wrestlers get thrown in the deep end and they have to learn how to swim very quickly. They do such an incredible job, but it is harder for them than it would be for me or Toni or Ruby or Taya (Valkyrie) to come in. I do commend them because they do work really hard and they deserve their time.”

Saraya’s return to wrestling has been difficult in its own right. Wrestling evolves and changes over time, and she’s found herself sitting back, learning and watching, experiencing the feeling of a newcomer again.

Time away from wrestling allowed her recover, and she credits her partner for getting her in the gym, eating healthy, and preserving good mental health — even if that meant taking a break from social media here and there. But the bruises of wrestling since 2006 have taken a toll on her, and this time, she’s doing what she can in the ring to maintain her health.

“I was out for a really long time, so I’m a lot more cautious about what I do. People that have been in business a lot longer than me would always be like, you don’t have to bump so much, you don’t have to do all that crazy stuff,” Saraya says. “I never understood until I busted my neck twice. And then (I decided) I’m going to limit my bumps a little bit and be a lot smarter about what I do and how much I do to my body.”

At this stage in her career, Saraya is happy, healthy, and the number one priority is capturing the AEW Women’s Championship. Whether winning the belt actually happens or not, she’s just thrilled to be along for the ride as AEW goes on to do “bigger and better things.”

“(Tony Khan has) done such a great job already,” she says. “The company’s still in its baby stages and he’s done such a wonderful job already, along with obviously Kenny (Omega) and the Young Bucks and all the girls and guys that are involved behind the scenes. But I just want to continue being a part of history with this company. I feel very fortunate to be here, I love my time in AEW, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds here.”

Lil Durk is doing good.

According to Complex, the Chicago rapper has donated $100,000 scholarships to two students of Howard University through his Neighborhood Heroes HBCU College & Career Readiness Cohort Program. He also donated $250,000 to Howard’s financial aid program GRACE Grant.

“I’m the voice this the part they don’t show,” he wrote on Instagram. “I appreciate all the kids who struggling to finish school and needed this blessing.”

Howard’s GRACE (Graduation Retention Access to Continued Excellence) Grant program is designed to allow students with the greatest financial need to stay in school and graduate on time. Established in 2014 by President Frederick, the program provides additional funding for students who receive the maximum Federal Pell Grant, matching the Pell Grant distributions by 100% and providing additional funds.

Lil Durk has been working at cleaning up his image lately, choosing to present himself as the actual Voice Of The Heroes that he called himself on his joint project with Lil Baby. After his attempted murder charges from 2019 were dropped, Durk proclaimed he’d no longer drop the names of people who’d been victims of street violence in his music.

Since then, he’s used his voice to speak up on behalf of the incarcerated Young Thug, and apparently, make sure students have the option of finishing their education without having to turn to the streets.

The View tackled the GOP freak out over a recent Bud Light campaign featuring trans activist Dylan Mulvaney, and Whoopi Goldberg was not happy to see Anheuser-Busch seemingly cave to the MAGA backlash. After Kid Rock, Travis Tritt, and other conservative voices began promoting a boycott of the beer company, Anheuser-Busch responded with a new ad featuring its famous Clydesdale horses.

“This is a story bigger than beer,” the narrator said. “This is the story of the American spirit.”

Co-host Sunny Hostin was not thrilled. “So now all of a sudden they unleash the Clydesdale horses, like ‘let’s get the horses out because the horses are so much more American than trans people.’”

The company also issued a statement that Goldberg took issue with at the end of the discussion. Via Deadline:

“We have thousands of partners, millions of fans and a proud history supporting our communities, military, first responders, sports fans and hard-working Americans everywhere,” the statement said. “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”

“Listen Budweiser, we’re all Americans here,” Goldberg said. “We appreciate your beer whether it’s light or the regular… Don’t let them scare you. Let us scare you.”

Budweiser’s seeming capitulation is an interesting development considering conservatives were already quietly pulling back on the boycott. Why? Turns out Anheuser-Busch is one of the biggest Republican donors. Apparently, no one thought to check on that before shooting beer cans, but shockingly, it seems like Donald Trump, Jr. may have had an inkling. Who saw that coming?

(Via Deadline)

Pop Smoke was shot to death inside of his Hollywood Hills home in February 2020. The New York-born rapper (real name Bashar Barakah Jackson) tragically lost his life at just 20 years old. Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that one man connected to Pop Smoke’s murder pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

There have been efforts to preserve his memory, including posthumous releases and the debut of a mural in his Brooklyn neighborhood months after his death.

Today, April 17, an mural, supposedly of the rapper is making the rounds online — and it looks nothing like Pop Smoke:

It’s unclear where the mural is located (it appears to be inside of a store), and it hasn’t been totally confirmed that the mural is intended to reflect Pop Smoke, but it does (somewhat) bear a resemblance to a photo of the late rapper.

The reactions are predictably negative. Commenters flooded No Jumper’s post claiming that the painted figure looks more like Babyface Ray, Fivio Foreign, or Lil Durk.

“They put the Snapchat baby face filter on him smh…,” a tweeter going by Dan I wrote, while Everyrealm compared it to the infamous Ronaldo sculpture from 2017.

While the mural is objectively sore, it was much more egregious when Aubrey Jackson, Pop Smoke’s mother, shared in September 2021 that his gravesite had been vandalized.

Bad Bunny was the first of three headliners — Blackpink and Frank Ocean being the other two — of Coachella 2023, taking the stage on Friday night, April 15. Benito ratcheted up the anticipation with an Instagram thirst trap, and he delivered on his promises. (Although he’s still playing coy over whether he’s dating Kendall Jenner.)

Uproxx summarized Bad Bunny’s whirlwind set, which included several special guests.

“Bad Bunny closed out the night with a bang, and I’m not just about the fireworks during his main stage set. The Puerto Rican rapper drew the largest crowd of the night, and for good reason. While the moment was historic — Bad Bunny is the first Latin solo artist to ever headline the festival — he made sure to highlight the roots of Reggaeton music and credit the artists who made his success possible like Celia Cruz, El General, and Tego Calderón. On top of that, his show-stopping stage design cleverly nodded to the viral concert he performed on top of a gas station late last year.”

Bad Bunny started his Coachella set with the same two Un Verano Sin Ti songs he used to open the 2023 Grammys in early February: “Tití Me Preguntó” and “Moscow Mule.”

See Bad Bunny’s full setlist below (as recorded by setlist.fm).

1. “Tití Me Preguntó”
2. “Moscow Mule”
3. “Efecto”
4. “Neverita”
5. “Si Veo A Tu Mamá”
6. “La Difícil”
7. “La Santa” (With Intro Of “A Tu Merced”)
8. “Vete” (With Intro Of “Pero Ya No”)
9. “Otra Noche En Miami (With Intro Of “Ser Bichote”)
10. “Estamos Bien” (With Intro Of “Ni Bien Bi Mal”)
11. “Si Estuviésemos Juntos”
12. “Te Bote” (Remix, New Shortened Version)
13. “I Like It” (Cardi B Cover)
14. “El Apagón”
15. “Safaera” (With Ñengo Flow And Jowell & Randy)
16. “Yo Perreo Sola”
17. “Un Coco”
18. “La Canción” (With Post Malone)
19. “Yonaguni” (With Post Malone)
20. “Dakiti” (With Jhay Cortez)
21. “Tarot” (With Jhay Cortez)
22. “No Me Conoce” (With Jhay Cortez)
23. “Callaíta”
24. “Me Porto Bonito”
25. “Después De La Playa”

Matty Healy used the Australian dates of The 1975’s At Their Very Best Tour to make a couple of declarations. In Adelaide on April 12, Healy explained his decision to deactivate from social media because “the era of me being a f*cking a**hole is gonna come to an end.”

Healy then introduced his rat era in Brisbane on Saturday, April 15, according to Australian outlet The Music.

“There’s a meme that I’m a specific rat, which, is it the kid from Flushed Away?” Healy told the crowd, as captured by The Music and BBC Radio 1. “This is actually doing me damage. I’m not cashing in on anything there. But we’re all friends, and I’ve seen that meme so many times, and it’s made me laugh. And the reason I’ve not said anything about it is because — I mean, listen, the reason I’m successful is because of this f*cking brilliant band right here.”

He continued, “Guys, you know my parents are actors. My mother is an actress. She’s a legend! Give it up for mum! Her godfather is a producer, and he produces movies. I wasn’t actually close with him until I was around about probably about 14 years old or something like that. But anyway, he was looking for inspiration for a movie he was producing called Flushed Away. So, it is genuinely based on me. I know that seems ridiculous, but if you do enough internet research, you’ll be able to be find out that that’s true. They did a good job, so maybe I am officially a f*cking rat now.”

BBC Radio 1 did that internet research and confirmed that Healy’s godfather is Ian La Frenais, who is listed as a writer with a “story by” credit on the Flushed Away IMDb page:

Flushed Away came out in 2006. Its synopsis reads, “The story of an uptown rat that gets flushed down the toilet from his penthouse apartment, ending in the sewers of London, where he has to learn a whole new and different way of life.”

The rat is named Roddy, voiced by Hugh Jackman. Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, and Andy Serkis were also among the voice cast.

See some of the best reactions below.

“It’s been so long,” Frank Ocean addressed the Coachella 2023 crowd, “and I have missed you.” Frank’s fans have missed him as well. The last time put on a live set was in 2019, but he hasn’t performed material from his acclaimed album Blonde since a few years before that. That’s why his headlining Coachella 2023 set was the most anticipated set of the entire festival and, after a bewildering and disjointed performance, fans were disappointed when it fell short of expectations.

People from all across the festival grounds started happily flooding to the main stage up to an hour before Frank was originally supposed to perform. But the energy began to die down when he was 15 minutes late to the stage… then 30… then 45 minutes. Finally, after making the crowd wait an hour, the stage lit up and dancers began walking in circles around a small cluster of instruments. The problem was that Frank himself was nearly impossible to see. He launched into a stripped-down rendition of “Novacane,” but a metal gate was blocking the crowd from seeing him from their vantage point.

He then transitioned into a soulful rendition of “Crack Rock” before the metal gate finally lifted. After singing an electric-twinged version of “White Ferrari,” Frank finally addressed the crowd. Giving some context to his reserved stage presence, Frank paid tribute to his late brother and explained what the performance meant to him. “These last couple of years, my life changed so much,” he said. Frank recalled fond memories he had of attending Coachella with his brother. “I know he would have been so excited to be here with all of us,” he continued. Frank also added how he used to try to avoid coming to Coachella, which might have been an explanation for his underwhelming performance. “I feel like I was dragged out here at the time because I hated the dust out here.”

When he did finally get to his hits like “Nike,” and “Nights,” Frank didn’t even perform. Instead, the songs played over the speakers while he sang along with the crowd. Overall, his set felt aimless and unplanned. There were long pauses between each song, making it seem like Frank was making the setlist up on the fly. He would walk off the stage for lengthy intervals, leaving the crowd wondering if he was going to come out with a guest or something else he had planned (hint: he didn’t).

Halfway through his performance, Frank’s set was interrupted by a DJ — who should have opened instead — and a twerking security guard. After about an hour and twenty minutes, Frank got back on the mic to say: “Guys I’m told it’s curfew so that’s the end of the show.” People in the crowd were confused and waited around until the lights officially shut off because they were convinced he was joking. Overall, the only redeeming part of Frank’s set was when he addressed his next album, which he made clear isn’t coming any time soon. “I’m here, because, it’s not because of a new album. It’s because — not that there’s not a new album — but there’s not right now.”

As festivalgoers flocked to the exit, nearly everyone could be overheard unpacking what a disappointment the show had been. “That sh*t was f*cking horrible,” I heard someone next to me tell their friend. Another woman said she was about to re-download Twitter, which she hadn’t had in nearly a year, just to “read the sh*t people are talking about the set.” The acoustic nature of his set would have been better suited to a more intimate environment — say, a venue with limited capacity — but not at the headlining spot at one of the world’s largest music festivals. Even with the confusion around what he was trying to accomplish with that performance, one thing is abundantly clear: People won’t be hounding Coachella for Frank to headline again any time soon.

Thankfully, not every performance was as unsatisfying as Ocean’s. Artists like Latto, Kali Uchis, and Dominic Fike made up for the headliner’s disaster. Latto brought all the energy out to her star-studded set at the Sahara tent. The rapper was able to hype up the crowd and feed off their energy, even inviting one lucky fan on stage to get up close and personal with her dancers. She kept everyone engaged with hits like “Soufside,” and “Big Energy” and brought out several guests; She invited TiaCorine to perform their unreleased “Freaky T” remix, then Lola Brooke came out for their collab “Don’t Play with It.” Finally, Saweetie surprised the crowd to deliver her verse in “Bitch From da Souf” and give a short, heartwarming speech, giving Latto her flowers and leading the crowd in an “I love Latto” chant.

Like Latto’s set, Kali Uchis was also a highlight of the day. She opened her main stage set with her viral song “Telepatía” before bringing Tyler The Creator out for their joint track “See You Again.” Omar Apollo was next to grace the stage, delivering their recent collab “Worth The Wait.” Then, Don Toliver — Uchi’s boyfriend — appeared to sing his verse in “Fantasy.”

Though he didn’t bring out surprise guests like Uchis and Latto, Dominic Fike’s Coachella 2023 also performance deserves some praise. The singer and Euphoria actor had fans screaming along to tracks like “Babydoll” and teased his next album, which he confirms is finished, with the unreleased track “Ant Pile.” He also ran through his just-released track “Dancing In The Courthouse,” which he thanked his fans for showing love to, before closing out the set with the breezy pop number “Why.”

Find more of our Coachella 2023 coverage here.

Latto‘s first-ever Coachella set was an eventful one, as she pulled out all the stops, packing in surprise guests, and even apparently getting in a shot at Nicki Minaj.

Saweetie originally appeared on Latto’s 2019 remix of “Bitch From Da Souf” from Latto’s debut album Queen of Da Souf. Saweetie performed her verse from the song, receiving a huge pop from the crowd when she appeared. She also made it a point to big-up Latto after performing, saying, “She can rap her ass off… Bitch, and you look better than me!”

Meanwhile, Latto used her platform to help out a couple of rap’s rising stars, Lola Brooke and TiaCorine, bringing out the former to perform her signature hit “Don’t Play With It” (Latto appears on the remix) and the latter for a performance of the “FreakyT” remix.

Of course, the attention-getting moment was when Latto performed a new song in which she says the line “she thought I would kiss her ass, she must ain’t took her meds.” Fans have interpreted this as a shot at Minaj, with whom Latto has shared a contentious relationship ever since Nicki denigrated her achievements on Queen radio, leading to a spat on Twitter and a continuing cold war between the two.

We’ll see if Nicki sees it the same way and responds. For now, check out the clips above.