Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar reportedly decline Coachella 2025 headline slots

nme.com:

Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar have reportedly turned down the offer to headline Coachella 2025.The reports were first shared by Bloomberg, which published an article about the current state of the Indio music festival and its plans for next year’s instalment.According to the outlet, Paul Tollett – CEO of concert production company Goldenvoice, and co-founder of the festival – has been on the hunt for 2025 headliners since this year’s edition wrapped up in April.The search also comes as the festival has endured some hardships in recent years, including closing down during the pandemic, and then failing to sell out tickets over the past two years.In January, it was revealed that Coachella had seen its slowest ticket sales in 10 years for the 2024 edition.As reported by Bloomberg, Tollett has been looking to book some A-list names for next year to ensure that the lower sales figures don’t continue into 2025, but has so far not locked in the headliners.He reportedly wanted Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna for next year’s festival – two names guaranteed to draw in sales.Lamar has not only gone from strength to strength on the Coachella stage (having performed back in 2012 and 2017), he has also been one of the biggest names in music this year, namely for his highly-publicised beef with Drake.Rihanna continues to be one of the most successful pop stars of recent decades, and has got fans eagerly waiting for her upcoming ninth record.

Dubbed ‘R9’, very few details about the record have been shared, and it’ll mark her first release since 2016 album ‘Anti’.However, according to multiple sources speaking to the outlet, both turned down the offer to headline Coachella 2025.While no official reasons have been given for the decline, it is.