When Ariana Grande does it big, EVERYBODY has a reaction on social media — and her Sunday night headliner performance at Coachella was the perfect example of that!
The thank u, next superstar opted to fill the stage last night out in the desert, and she went over the top on bringing out guests, from *NSYNC and Nicki Minaj, to Diddy and Mase! And there’s SO much more to talk about after her set suffered sound issues, and more!!!
Related: Ariana Is Trademarking Her Hit Song Title!
The Sweetener singer performed 26 (!) songs in total with a whole lot of help from her costars on stage, seriously taking us to the next level. And while wind problems in the desert plagued the set’s audio at various points all night long, Ari gave an otherwise flawless, high-energy performance worthy of a FULL look back!!!
So let’s do that!
ICYMI on the livestream of the Coachella YouTube channel from Indio last night, let’s get you ALL caught up on the singer’s big night — big enough to maaaaybe re-name the whole festival, now forever known as #Arichella! Ha!!!
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*NSYNC Joins Ari On Stage
The boy band and the pop star collectively teased it all weekend, and when it came time to perform, Ari and *NSYNC delivered! Just minutes before the show started, the fellas (sans Justin Timberlake) tweeted this backstage pic confirming what we knew all along: they were taking over Coachella (below):
Tune in now https://t.co/kRjOZ0KCue @coachella @ArianaGrande pic.twitter.com/fc1tOLyayb
— *NSYNC (@NSYNC) April 15, 2019
And when everybody hit the stage, the crowd went WILD!
Ch-ch-check out a few highlight clips from the *NSYNC throwback (below)!!!
https://twitter.com/ThePopSupreme/status/1117747260354383872
https://twitter.com/ThePopSupreme/status/1117748472919339008
*NSYNC and Ariana singing Tearin’ Up My Heart ???? #NSYNC #ARICHELLA #COACHELLA @NSYNC @ArianaGrande pic.twitter.com/ZRAbg2v9rn
— leikela????????⁷ (@leikela_joy) April 15, 2019
THE CHOREO. ????
@ArianaGrande x @NSYNC #coachella pic.twitter.com/bx0QSYPAwk
— billboard (@billboard) April 15, 2019
Nice!!!
Nostalgic, tight, well-produced, and thankfully no real audio issues (yet) — bringing the boys up early set the tone perfectly for the rest of the night for the self-proclaimed ’90s baby and her nostalgic throwback to her favorite decade!
The Biebs… And Billie Eilish!
The Arichella set was going SO hard early on that Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, and James Corden couldn’t help but break out into a collective dance during Tearin’ Up My Heart (below):
https://twitter.com/eilishupdates2/status/1117734812536705024
Amazing!!! You know you’ve gone and done it when the Biebs is doing some Riverdance style thing… ha!
All this came moments after the Biebs and Eilish apparently first met, also during Ari’s set (below):
.@JustinBieber and @BillieEilish finally met at #Coachella during @ArianaGrande’s set. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/V9CljapsnZ
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) April 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/whenurfallin/status/1117749749640237056
See?! Ariana’s music really does bring people together! Ha!!
But seriously, any time celebs stan for celebs… we are totally here for it!!
Nicki Arrives — But Problems Do, Too!
After *NSYNC wowed the crowd (and the Biebs), Nicki took the main stage for what should’ve been a high-energy two-song set with her friend: the pair was gonna SLAY Bang Bang and Side To Side with the crowd ready to explode and the vibe perfectly set up for it…
There was only one problem…
Nicki’s audio was messed up pretty much from the beginning!! She appeared to lose sound in both ear pieces before even reaching the stage for the performance, and while she tried her best to make up for it with Grande working HARD to keep pace beside her, Minaj appeared… lost.
Ch-ch-check out the most awkward moment of ’em all (below) when Ari admits the two can’t hear anything:
https://twitter.com/archivesaga/status/1117677168971087872
https://twitter.com/beysholic/status/1117675489450237952
https://twitter.com/TonyAltrudebta/status/1117694042685317120
Yikes!!!
Give the girls credit — they were definitely game to try to push through it, but things just didn’t work out and Nicki’s two song cameo was pretty much destroyed. (FYI, high winds in Indio wreak havoc on performer audio for at least a few sets pretty much every year. In fact, earlier in the night on Sunday, newcomer Lizzo suffered massive audio failure during a particularly gusty windstorm, but powered through it as best she could, too.)
Nicki Breaks Down…
Social media users purportedly out at Coachella last night captured shots of Nicki appearing to break down some time after the failed set, as you can see in this one viral snap (below):
Nicki Minaj crying after performance at Coachella… STAY STRONG Onika. WE LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT #Arichella #Coachella #NickiMinaj pic.twitter.com/Zud0FLthwC
— Bartek (@Ariatto999) April 15, 2019
Hmmm… It’s unclear whether she’s actually crying, though a bunch of other social media users shared that same pic — but no clear video evidence seems to be available. (No word on social media from the rapper, either.)
Obviously, the context and the timing of the pic itself is unclear, and we don’t know if Miz Minaj actually is crying (some replies suggest she’s just talking to someone on her team), but it’d be totally understandable if she and Ariana were pissed off about the audio problems — it definitely f**ked with their set!!!
Mo Money, Mo (Audio) Problems
If you thought *NSYNC was a fun 90s throwback… how about Mase?!
Grande brought back the rapper — and Diddy, who has been here the WHOLE time — for a re-imagined rendition of Mo Money Mo Problems last night, too!!
Ch-ch-check out some highlights of Ariana’s hip-hop side and the rap collab (below):
https://twitter.com/AltheyuhMoves/status/1117679954446020609
Ariana brought Murda Mase & Diddy AHHHHHHHH @ArianaGrande #Coachella pic.twitter.com/46rNM360uR
— joey. (@_Jo3y) April 15, 2019
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwRNgYlhdlF/
Nice!!!
Listen closely through a couple of those clips, though, and you can hear the audio is still a little choppy… winds must’ve been doing no favors for anybody all night long!! That Arichella was this good even with the wind, though, tells you how much energy everybody brought on stage!!!
Ari’s Solo Act
To be fair to Ari, it wasn’t just cameos and guest stars all night long! Like we mentioned up top, the set had a couple dozen songs, and when there wasn’t a cameo or a throwback act out with Grande, she was doing the damn thing all by her lonesome!
For one, ch-ch-check out her performance of God Is A Woman from last night out in the desert (below):
https://twitter.com/remstara/status/1117731209575129090
Wow!
And if that ain’t enough for y’all, what about 7 Rings (below)!!!
https://twitter.com/llLaVieEnNoir/status/1117781366681239552
She can handle her s**t!!!
The starlet even slowed things down a bit for Breathin (below):
The orchestra with ‘breathin’ ????????????
@arianagrande #coachella pic.twitter.com/ArLoEhk3KE
— billboard (@billboard) April 15, 2019
Ariana Grande – Breathin #arichella pic.twitter.com/iisT02BmAZ
— arthur (@arthurswamp) April 15, 2019
And left us all wanting more with No Tears Left To Cry (below):
No tears left to cry ❣️
@ArianaGrande #coachella pic.twitter.com/p0L5v3fviy
— billboard (@billboard) April 15, 2019
Unreal!!!
The 25-year-old seriously SHUT IT DOWN last night!!!
Social Media Reacts
Whew! What a performance!! We’re exhausted just recapping it — LOLz!
But like we mentioned up top, EVERYBODY had a reaction to Arichella; from the winds and audio problems, to *NSYNC’s cameo, to Nicki’s alleged breakdown, to Ariana’s own high-energy power moves, here’s what social media is saying about what might end up being the most memorable set at this year’s festival (below):
Justin Bieber really went to coachella just to watch Ariana’s performance a legend supporting another legend oof
— vivi ???????? (@lifetimejbs) April 15, 2019
ariana grande’s coachella live stream is my game of thrones.
— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) April 15, 2019
ariana keeps saying “come on coachella” “sing it coachella” and then bum ass mfs just stand there like ????? #ARICHELLA
— lexa (@amrxzm) April 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/ira/status/1117699649609981952
Ariana went from singing NSYNC's songs at their concerts to having them join her on stage…. idk a better woman
— emily (@emiIyanderson) April 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/CuriousCorduroy/status/1117674369621295106
should we fire the sound guy as well during nicki minaj’s appearance with ariana grande? #arichella #coachella
— Wesley L. (@realwesleywess) April 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/renaesrose/status/1117690564655194112
Nicki Minaj chasing down the sound engineer after joining Ariana on stage at Coachella pic.twitter.com/pbrxf6zAae
— Harry (@tyrantstan) April 15, 2019
People who’s set got screwed up at #Coachella due to their crappy sound engineers and system:
Lizzo
Nicki Minaj
Vince Staples
Mase
Diddy
Ariana Grande and more— Kyle (@WordsByKyle) April 15, 2019
Diddy and Mase at #Coachella with Ariana? Damn.
— Shaquille Hill (@ShaqHill810) April 15, 2019
im still in shock ariana bought out diddy and mase and sang mo money mo problems like …..my life? complete. i can die happy now. pic.twitter.com/82OaVKe88t
— jess (@coldcaseovo) April 15, 2019
Highkey pissed the audio was fucked up for Both Nicki Minaj and Mase+Diddy's time on stage. Nonetheless, Ariana Grande is killing her set. ???? #Coachella #ARICHELLA
— Anthony Desmond (@iamEPanthony) April 15, 2019
These 5 yo white folk have no idea what to do when Ariana brings out Mase and Diddy. They don’t deserve it
— hotpot dasani (@raesanni) April 15, 2019
Ariana bringing out Nicki and Diddy & Mase #ARICHELLA she made Coachella this year. Also props to diddy for that Mac Miller shout out
— Cassandra (@cassymcollins) April 15, 2019
Wow!
What about you, Perezcious readers?! What did U think about Ari’s Coachella performance and all the guest appearances?? Sound OFF in the comments (below)!!!
[Image via Coachella YouTube/Twitter]