With the 2025 Coachella lineup still a mystery in the eyes of the general public, a recent report states that two would-be headliners have already said no to such offers: Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna.
Lucas Shaw, writing for Bloomberg over the weekend, says that he’s had conversations with various industry execs, both about Coachella specifically and the festival landscape in totality. As touched on in the ensuing piece, Coachella’s complications-spurring massiveness has been the subject of speculation and debate for some time now. As such, all eyes are on what Goldenvoice and company are able to pull off for the 2025 edition, with arguably more emphasis than usual.
According to Shaw, Paul Tollett, Coachella co-founder, initially wanted Kendrick and Rihanna to serve as headliners for next April’s two-weekend takeover in Indio.
“But both passed, according to several people familiar with the matter,” Shaw’s report states, further alleging that Tollet is now “scrambling” for headliners. The report, available here, also says Kendrick is planning a stadium tour for after his 2025 Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show performance in New Orleans next February. However, this has not been publicly announced or otherwise confirmed by Kendrick himself, at least not yet.
Complex has reached out to Goldenvoice reps for comment. This story may be updated.
There’s no doubt that both Kendrick and Rihanna would have been quite the get for the next iteration of Coachella. Kendrick, of course, is coming off a truly blockbuster year following his historic back-and-forth with Drake, which netted him the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Not Like Us.” The song, unsurprisingly, is still hanging out in the upper level of the Hot 100 21 weeks after its first appearance.
Rihanna, meanwhile, has longtime fans in the palm of her hand amid the ongoing wait for a long-teased follow-up to 2016's Anti, which remains the most recent Rihanna album as of this writing.
This year's Coachella boasted the headlining trifecta of Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, and Doja Cat. As you’ll recall, reports of allegedly slower-than-normal ticket sales were widely circulated, contributing to the questions at the core of the latest round of headliner speculation.