Recommendations of the Editorial team
PinkPantheress showed Coachella how to throw a party on Saturday night. The singer-songwriter and producer took to the Mojave Stage with “Stateside,” the track she recreated with Zara Larsson and which currently sits at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. She opened the performance with airline-style graphics that announced: “PinkPantheress has arrived.”
“Stateside” was the start of a nearly hour-long set in medley format that spanned their biggest hits and best deep cuts. From “Noises” and “Nice to Know You” to “Another Life”, “I Must Apologise” and “Pain” – the latter echoed through the venue as thousands of fans sang along to every line. Later, PinkPantheress performed “Turn Your Phone Off” live for the first time, followed by “Angel,” for which she appropriately wore a giant pair of white angel wings.
Larsson’s Midnight Sun tour stops in Austin tonight, so she didn’t make it to the desert – but PinkPantheress wasn’t celebrating alone. Their performance included a special DJ set from the Dare, who performed his remix of Addison Rae’s “Fame Is a Gun” and Charli XCX’s “Guess.” Thundercat later joined for “Break It Off”. Her collaborator DJ Joe played Troye Sivan’s “Rush” and her early single “Just for Me.”
Warehouse style rager
PinkPantheress expanded the dramaturgy of her set – a raucous warehouse party, a much-needed evening and a deep look into herself – with guests HorsegiirL and actor Tyriq Withers, who played the title role of her song “Romeo”. He kept showing up, once just to be in the spotlight. His final performance came during “Illegal,” which brought the triumphant performance to an end.
The past few years have allowed PinkPantheress to find herself as a performer. The artist started her career as an anonymous creative with a flair for eclectic beats, but no physical presence on the internet. For a while, the running joke was that she kept her handbag with her on stage so that she could disappear more quickly after the set.
“I think my appearance actually influenced whether people were willing to listen to me. It helped me a lot, but maybe it also made some people not want to listen in the first place. I’m a lot more open now, I share more of my opinions – but part of me wishes I hadn’t done a lot of that,” PinkPantheress recently told Interview magazine. “Maybe it would have stunted my career, but sometimes I value mysticism above all else. It’s really nice to be someone who hides and then emerges when a musical moment occurs.”
An artist on the move
What Coachella witnessed was a transformed artist – and one who is just getting started.
