1. Coachella
Festival season is upon us, whip out your flower crowns and anything with fringe. The long-awaited Guns N’ Roses reunion didn’t fall through despite Axl Rose’s broken foot, the singer just performed on a throne lent to him by Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl.
One of the things everyone always looks forward to at Coachella is the special guests that artists are going to bring out as a surprise.
Weekend One, Calvin Harris brought out Rihanna and Big Sean. The Chainsmokers welcomes Walk The Moon, G-Eazy and Daya to the Sahara tent. Halsey brought Brendon Urie for an awesome cover of I Write Sins Not Tragedies.
Ice Cube brought out his son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Common, Snoop Dogg and most notably the N.W.A. reunion we were all waiting for, minus Dr. Dre and Eazy-E. Kesha took the stage with Zedd for the first time since her recent legal battle with Dr. Luke.
Kanye West decided to drop in for not one but two different sets: A$AP Rocky and Jack Ü. Twitter’s favorite, Jaden Smith joined Lido on stage. The Arcs, Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys’ side project, brought Eagles member Joe Walsh and the young at heart Glenn Schwartz, former Pacific Gas & Electric member out on stage.
This doesn’t even begin to cover half of the surprise guests who showed up to grace Coachella with their presence and that was just Weekend 1. Weekend 2 is upon us and bound to lead to some new guests along with some from the first weekend.
2. Music Legend Prince passes away at age 57 on Thursday.
— Chevrolet (@chevrolet) April 22, 2016
“Prince was unapologetically different and he made it OK for his fans to be different and to celebrate their individuality,” said Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges in a statement released on Thursday.
There aren’t words to truly explain how influential and iconic Prince was to not just the music industry but creative industries as a whole.
"This is truly devastating news. The greatest performer I have ever seen. A true genius… Rest in peace you purple warrior." #Prince #RIP
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) April 22, 2016
Many cities lit up their monuments with purple lights in honor of the artist including Cleveland’s Terminal Tower, New York City’s Empire State Building and Paris’ Eiffel Tower. AMC Theatres announced that they would be showing Prince’s movie ‘Purple Rain’ in 87 theatres across the country for the upcoming days.
Earlier today Prince’s publicist released a statement saying “A few hours ago, Prince was celebrated by a small group of his most beloved: family, friends and his musicians, in a private, beautiful ceremony to say a loving goodbye. Prince’s remains have been cremated and their final storage will remain private.”
In honor of Prince, an early look at next week's cover, "Purple Rain": https://t.co/lF0Nwyd7q8 pic.twitter.com/myN15OxsCO
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) April 21, 2016
Heartbreak continues to pour out from everyone from President Obama to Chevrolet through social media.
3. Beyonce drops surprise album after HBO Special
#LEMONADE the Visual Album. https://t.co/8LM6jOwNKe pic.twitter.com/eV32dUg7Pj
— BEYONCÉ (@Beyonce) April 24, 2016
The songs were teased in her docu-style film on HBO only for Beyonce to have the album completed and dropped by the end of the special. This isn’t the first time that Beyonce has dropped a surprise album like this for her fans but it seems as though everyone was just as shocked as they were the first time from reactions on Twitter and other social media sites.
The 12 track album is currently available exclusively on Tidal. Guests on the album include Kendrick Lamar, Jack White, James Blake and the Weeknd
When the HBO film’s teaser was released people began to expect that it may mean a new album coming soon. The timing is in a word, ideal since Mrs. Carter’s Formation World Tour kicks off in Miami on April 27th.
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