Backstage, minutes before Bad Bunny's headlining set at Coachella, everyone seems to be running on pure adrenaline. A group of dancers are climbing a set of stairs toward their marks when a security guard stops a wardrobe designer in their midst and refuses to let him pass. "He's the designer!" one woman shrieks, her voice crackling with the anxiety of countless things that could go wrong.
A gate flings open and Kylie and Kendall Jenner pass through the backstage area, leaving me so surprised that I wheel around and almost hit Kylie with my backpack. Nearby, a troop of fans breaks into a sprint, trying to get into a private area just in front of the stage that's rapidly filling up with celebrities from all over the world. Eventually, the Jenners, Blackpink's Jennie, Rosé and Jisoo, Mexican singer Peso Pluma and Hailey and Justin Bieber all stand there to watch Bad Bunny make history in real time.
The crowd radiates a chaotic, uncontainable energy, understanding that there will be a precise before and after this moment. Bad Bunny is about to become the first Latino solo act and first Spanish-language artist to headline Coachella in the festival's 24-year history.
Screens flicker. As the audience roars a few decibels louder in anticipation, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio is standing onstage in the dark, a mantra running through his head: Thank you, God, thank you, life, for letting me do this. It's one of the only private moments he lets himself have during the performance - if he gets sidetracked by any thought, he tends to forget his lyrics, and this event is too big for distractions.
Esta historia es de la edición August/September 2023 de Rolling Stone UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición August/September 2023 de Rolling Stone UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Suitors and ties
Bridgerton's newest beau Victor Alli on joining the hit Netflix adaptation as the third season begins
Fran Healy
Travis’s lead singer on living in Los Angeles — the inspiration behind the band’s forthcoming album L.A. Times — streetfights with strangers and the unifying power of music
THE GREAT GADSBY
Comedy's enfant terrible Hannah Gadsby is relishing their anti-hero era
"I HAD TO GET OUT OF THIS DOOM HOLE"
After breaking every record imaginable with mega-hit 'Heat Waves', Glass Animals' Dave Bayley came back down to earth with a bump. Fourth album I Love You So F***ing Much sees him sift through the existential wreckage and focus on the fundamentals
SHABAKA'S NEW CALLING
“If I was still playing the sax, it’d be so easy,” the former Sons of Kemet and The Comet is Coming bandleader Shabaka Hutchings admits. On stunning debut album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, he turns to the flute and follows a spiritual compulsion to take a new path
GROWING PAINS AND HAPPY ENDINGS
OPENING HER HEART IN HER MUSIC HAS HELPED NELL MESCAL BUILD A DEDICATED FANBASE, BUT THERE'S PLENTY OF ROOM FOR HOPE TOO, THE 21-YEAR-OLD REVEALS, AS SHE RELEASES HER DEBUT EP
Star Rising
Currently starring in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Freya Allan broke through playing a princess in TV series The Witcher. But this 22-year-old has her feet firmly on the ground as she sets her sights on the future
The new Doctor Who is in!
How Ncuti Gatwa went from TV queer idol to making history on the iconic sci-fi show
Toni Sancho's manifesto of hope
The London-viaTrinidad singer discusses the power of music in helping her move past depression and uplift others
Making it up as they go along
Yeti funerals, big-name producers and a fiercely DIY ethic: we meet Mary in the Junkyard, the band making some of the best new rock music in the UK right now