Happy Monday! 

I have some thoughts about all of the Coachella content from weekend one. It seemed like a lot of people on the ground were having issues, inspiring schadenfreude among onlookers online. Meanwhile, Bieberchella sparked discourse across the internet, but I think most people agree it was the right set for Justin Bieber. This and more below.

With weekend one in the books, it’s safe to say Coachella 2026 has been a mixed bag so far for attendees — but it is perfectly suited for the fans watching at home. 

The at-home viewing experience has become integral to Coachella in recent years, perhaps to the detriment of IRL spectators. Several people noted that some of the sets felt too designed for the camera instead of the live audience, although I didn’t see many complaints from folks on the ground.

For many observing Coachella from home (Couchella, if you’d like), the festival isn’t just about the artists who perform. It’s also about the festivalgoing experience, which has more often than not deinfluenced people from spending their life savings on the festival.

I’ve never really felt compelled to go to Coachella since camping isn’t really my jam, but there was a moment on Friday when I had real FOMO. Then, I logged onto TikTok and all my envy went away because viral mishaps totally took over the Coachella conversation. Trouble started ahead of the festival after people described last minute Airbnb cancellations and invalid verified resale passes. Once campers got to the grounds, they showed the crazy winds knocking over campsites and super long shower lines. Even creators seemed to have a rough time, with some getting dropped from brand trips without notice. Other influencers who did go got in trouble for “selling out” to problematic brands.

You could chalk this up to algorithmic bias toward ragebait. However, I think people consuming these videos at home are particularly sensitive to the financial investment and palpable wealth disparity among festivalgoers. Coachella has always been expensive, but with the current economic uncertainties that many are facing right now, people want to know if going to the festival is really worth it. The logistical issues and hefty price tags (some more well-off creators revealed that their cabanas and/or campgrounds cost upwards of $12,000 for the weekend) have made folks reconsider how bad they wanted to be there.

Now let’s talk about the biggest artist moment on everyone’s minds: Bieberchella. While watching Justin Bieber’s trip down memory lane, I remarked to my friend that he was recreating Gay Guy Music Video Night on the big stage (of course, everyone watching online had the same thought). I also thought it was a great ad for YouTube Premium (which Katy Perry and Zara Larsson appeared to agree with).

Jokes aside, this was a set for the day one fans who cultivated their love online, while also staying true to where Justin is now. I absolutely loved how he approached his old songs with a fondness and a lightness I don’t think anyone has seen from him in a long time. I sobbed when he brought up his first viral YouTube covers, when the internet simply knew him as kidrauhl. For the first internet generation, this precious group of younger millennials and elder Gen Zers who grew up alongside the early days of YouTube, Justin Bieber is our first star. Even his silly asides to watch the “Deez Nuts” and “Double Rainbow” memes showed that he grew up in this internet culture with us, humanizing him on a massive world stage.

His virality and subsequent megastardom opened the door for every other popular artist discovered online. But his career also became a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of sudden, young fame in the budding attention economy. Everyone loves to shit on online teen superstars for being untalented, vapid, or undeserving — and he has received his fair share of hate since he was first discovered. So to see JB embrace his younger self and literally harmonize with him, it was a touching moment. I thought this analysis from Billboard’s Lyndsey Havens was particularly astute: 

“For fans, Bieberchella may have been a celebration of his career thus far. But for Bieber, it seemed to be more about celebrating his hard-earned and much-deserved peace — the reward at the end of a long road that has required Bieber to believe in himself every step of the way. Even, or perhaps especially, when others were quick to count him out.”

And the peace he has found with his life and career journey was very clear, to the relief of the many fans who have watched him struggle publicly. I, like many people, have given JB a lot of shit for some of his questionable behavior and attitude over the years. However, it was clear at several points in the last decade that Justin was not doing well—even as recently as last year when the whole “It’s not clocking to you” meme took off. 

Bieberchella felt like it resolved a long-felt tension while opening the door to a new chapter. Whatever resentment Justin harbored toward his fans or his early career felt like it dissipated. It seems like he is ready to move forward after having acknowledged and embraced where he came from. There’s something about his set that seemed to free him from whatever expectations people had of his performances. He’s not the teenager rappelling from the ceiling in giant angel wings anymore — and that’s great! With rumors of a SWAG tour announcement after weekend two, JB has set himself up well for whatever he wants to do next.

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. I have been watching Slayyyter’s Coachella performance of “YES GODDD” over and over, so I wanted to make a playlist of industrial, punk, and metal-influenced songs by women.

In this week’s playlist:

Other things I want to share with you.