Beyoncé is the first black woman and Ariana is the youngest person to ever headline the festival.
Just as fans dubbed Coachella “Beychella” last year following Beyoncé’s HBCU-themed performance at the desert festival, Ariana Grande fans titled this year’s concert “Aricella” after she brought out special guests Nicki Minaj and N’Sync (sans Justin Timberlake) during her performance. Both women now hold a special place in Coachella history as Beyoncé is the first black woman to headline the festival and Ariana is the youngest, but when news surfaced that the latter made twice as much as the former, the Beyhive came out to attack.
According to Business Insider, Bey was paid approximately $4 million for her 2018, two-hour “Homecoming” show that sparked a Netflix documentary and a live album the same name where she performed dozens her hit songs. However, this year, Variety says that Ariana was paid $8 million for her show where she sang her chart-topping tracks from all five her albums while closely following the same setlist for her “Sweetener World Tour.”
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“Because Beyoncé came in last year and did her thing and kind set the bar, basically Coachella becomes a competition, which is ridiculous,” Ariana’s production designer LeRoy Bennett told The Hollywood Reporter. “And artists who are strong should just come in and do their own thing and just be who they are. And that’s pretty much what Ariana has done. There’s not like there’s a bunch gags. She’s being Ariana and singing and doing her thing.”
Beyoncé’s fans have taken to social media to share their surprise—and displeasure—with the payout difference, especially with the news that there were hiccups during Ariana’s performance. “Y’all can’t compare #ARICHELLA with #Beychella. Pitting Beyoncé performing with a 20+ year catalogue with Ariana’s 5-ish years mainstream relevance isn’t really fair to either party,” one person wrote. Another person said, “Ariana Grande is NOT a performer. She can sing; but she cannot entertain. Also, that entire set was a disaster. #BeyChella is the best thing to happen to Coachella & it will NEVER happen again, unless Beyoncé performs, again. Goodbye & goodnight.”
Even the L.A. Times wrote, “With routines from her current arena tour jammed together with special-for-Coachella numbers, this thing told no coherent story — a must for any pop extravaganza that plays in the wake Beyoncé’s game-changing performance last year.”
Ariana fans came through for their queen, too.