PinkPantheress showed Coachella how to party on Saturday night. The singer-songwriter and producer hit the Mojave stage with “Stateside,” the record she revamped with Zara Larsson that is currently sitting at Number Eight on the Billboard Hot 100. She introduced the performance with airline-themed graphics that announced “PinkPantheress has arrived.”
“Stateside” marked the beginning of a nearly hour-long, medley-like set that spanned her biggest hits and best deep cuts. It spanned from “Noises” and “Nice to Know You” to “Another Life,” “I Must Apologize,” and “Pain,” which echoed through the area as the thousands-deep crowd sang every word back to her. Later, PinkPantheress performed “Turn Your Phone Off” live for the first time, followed by “Angel,” for which she fittingly donned a massive pair of white angel wings.
Larsson’s Midnight Sun tour has a stop in Austin tonight, so she couldn’t make it to the desert, but PinkPantheress didn’t rave alone. Her performance featured a special DJ set from the Dare, who played his remix of Addison Rae’s “Fame Is a Gun” and Charli XCX’s “Guess.” Later, Thundercat joined in for “Break It Off.” Her collaborator DJ Joe deployed Troye Sivan’s “Rush” and her early single “Just for Me.”
PinkPantheress built out the narrative of her set — a raging warehouse party, a much needed night out, and a look deep inside her mind — with guests HorsegiirL and actor Tyriq Withers, who played the titular role of her song “Romeo.” He returned at recurring moments throughout the performance, at one point just to bask in the spotlight. His final appearance came during “Illegal,” which brought the triumphant performance to an end.
The past few years have seen PinkPantheress come into her power as a performer. The artist launched her career as an anonymous creator with an ear for eclectic beats, but no physical presence online. At one point in time, the running joke was that she kept her handbag with her onstage so she could leave faster when her set was over.
“I think the way I look has actually affected people’s willingness to listen to me. It’s helped me a lot, but it’s maybe made people not want to listen to me as well. I’m way more outside now, I’m more open with my opinions, but there’s part of me that wishes I didn’t do a lot of these things,” PinkPantheress recently told Interview. “Maybe it would’ve stunted my career, but sometimes I value mystique over everything else. It’s really beautiful to be someone who hides and then appears when a musical moment happens.”
What Coachella witnessed was an artist transformed, but also one who is only just getting started.
