From Slayyyter, Katseye, and Sabrina Carpenter to FKA Twigs, PinkPantheress, and Karol G, women in pop dominated the conversation around this year’s festival
Midway through her Coachella set, Slayyyter let out a death growl during “YES GODDD,” and the sound reverberated through the thousands-deep audience that gathered to see her. And so did a few astonished gasps when a drone shot revealed just how far outside of the Mojave tent her crowd of headbanging bodies stretched. Slayyyter didn’t have a primetime slot or an extensive budget for a flashy production. She went on in the scorching heat at 3 p.m. in an outfit she made herself. It didn’t matter to her or anyone else there. She delivered one of the most striking sets of the entire first weekend, joining the stacked roster of women who dominated conversation around this year’s festival.
On the other side of the pop spectrum, far away from metal screams and the electric current of “CRANK,” flashed the shining lights of Sabrina Carpenter’s Hollywood dream. The pop star’s headlining set was a two-year-old manifestation come to life. At Coachella in 2024, she promised she would be playing the most coveted position on the lineup the next time she came to the desert. Carpenter packed this year’s performance with film references, from Dirty Dancing and Cabaret to Psycho and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Call it Sabrinawood: Some say it’s the place where your dreams come true — which is especially accurate for pop fans who love spectacle as much as the women on this year’s lineup do.
