From Coachella 2018: 9 Performers You Should Follow on Instagram Right Now

The first weekend of Coachella is off to a rowdy start. Even if you didn’t get a ticket to the Valley, that doesn’t mean you can’t catch up on what your favorite performers are up to in between their sets. The sensitive, soulful sounds of Jorja Smith and the mellow electro-trap beats from Yaeji should already be on your playlist, but there may be a few first-time festival performers like Kali Uchis or returning acts such as Alison Wonderland whose rising-star status you should be aware of before the rest of the festival gets underway. You can also livestream all of the performances, if your FOMO doesn’t act up too badly for the next week.

Kali Uchis

The smooth, retro-pop vocal stylings of Kali Uchis emerge on Isolation, her debut studio album, which features production from Thundercat, Kevin Parker, and Jorja Smith. After touring with Lana Del Rey on her “LA to the Moon Tour,” the 23-year-old vocalist will perform for the first time at Coachella this year, on the same day as SZA, St. Vincent, and Daniel Caesar. Which of your other favorites have given Kali Uchis their seal of approval? Odd Future’s Tyler the Creator and the Internet’s Steve Lacy are big fans, offering their vocals and production to tracks on Isolation. It took Kali Uchis one mixtape, one EP, and a handful of features and guest appearances, but she’s finally putting out the music she knows will resonate with her and her audience in 2018.

Snail Mail

At just 18 years old, Lindsey Jordan is the core front person of Snail Mail, the band that has already trail blazed its way through the indie music blogs with weary, disaffected suburban lyrics and guitar-heavy tracks penned by Jordan herself. In just a couple of years, the Baltimore native has become quite a big deal—she recently signed a deal with Matador Records, the label that represents the indie darlings Julien Baker, Perfume Genius, and Courtney Barnett.

Noname

After meeting Chance the Rapper at an after-school slam-poetry workshop, appearing on his Acid Rap mixtape in 2013, and performing with him on Saturday Night Live in 2017, the breakout Chicago-born poet turned rapper Fatimah Nyeema Warner, who goes by the moniker Noname, has performed at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert and begun working on a second mixtape. Her songs, which she’ll perform at Coachella this weekend, include thought-provoking cultural critiques about Chicago gentrification, crime statistics, and self-love—and prove she’s one to watch. Just don’t call the 26-year-old showstopper the female Chance the Rapper—she’s a star in her own right.

Alison Wonderland

Coachella wouldn’t be Coachella without introducing a crop of rising EDM stars—and Alison Wonderland is one of them. The Aussie DJ, whose latest album features collaborations with Trippie Redd and Chief Keef, is returning to Coachella this year as the festival’s highest-billed female DJ, and is bringing a sound that’s more personal than ever for her 2018 sets.

Jorja Smith

At just 20 years old, the sensitive and soulful Jorja Smith has already taken the world by storm. After Smith collaborated with Drake for his More Life dance hall duet “Get It Together,” the classically trained British vocalist also released her garage single “On My Mind,” which won her a Brit Critic’s Choice Award in 2018. Her song “Where Did I Go?” was included by Issa Rae on a Season 2 episode of Insecure, and she joined the Kendrick Lamar–produced soundtrack for Black Panther, Marvel’s biggest blockbuster thus far, establishing herself as a contemporary of some of R&B’s biggest names and making her one of the most highly anticipated acts at Coachella this year.

Big Thief

Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek’s Brooklyn-based band makes a bold statement about intimacy and trauma, with their warm guitar riffs and sensitive vocals.

Yaeji

Yaeji is a rapper, a singer, a DJ, a producer, and a budding style icon for the underground. On her self-titled EP and the follow-up EP2, Yaeji pairs her house and electro-trap beats with mellow vocals, sung in both English and Korean. After her singles “Drink I’m Sippin On” and “Raingurl” gained popularity, and a cover of Drake‘s “Passionfruit” put Yaeji on the map, the 24-year-old multihyphenate is bringing her authentic self to every venue, whether that’s onstage at Coachella or at the Bushwick warehouse where she DJ’d this year’s Eckhaus Latta fall 2018 show at New York Fashion Week before heading off on her first tour.

Petit Biscuit

The 18-year-old French DJ began making beats at just 11 years old, and has accomplished a lot since the release of his 2015 single “Sunset Lover.” His dreamlike, ambient, tropical house sound is reminiscent of the XX and Flume, making it easy to see why he’d be perfect for a set at Coachella in 2018.

Cherry Glazerr

Clementine Creevy, Devin O’Brien, and Tabor Allen make up the slinky lo-fi California trio known as Cherry Glazerr. Following the release of their sophomore album, Apocalipstick, the band’s most recent video for the single “Juicy Socks” is an intense romp around a party bus with a cast of characters ranging from Hardcore Tina to Isaac Soloway.

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