Michele Mendez
Having just released their smash hit, “Kill This Love,” BLACKPINK is getting ready to head over to the United States for a number of performances, including for the Coachella festival on April 12th and 19th in Indio, California.
The girls will not only be the first Korean girl group to perform at the festival, but they will also be the first artist ever to have their Coachella set live-streamed in Times Square, NYC by YouTube. The LA Times reports that their set will be shown to the public for free on “The Beast” screen, the largest screen in Times Square which spans an entire block from 45th Street to 46th Street. The group’s performance is at 8:50 pm PT, which is 11:50 pm ET.
The fact that YouTube will be livestreaming the group’s performance is significant, since the girls just broke the YouTube record for the having the biggest YouTube debut by a music video within 24 hours, racking up 56. 7 million views in a single day, surpassing the previous record held by Ariana Grande for her “thank u, next” music video.
Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, said that the decision to live-stream the performance is so that fans could be able to experience Coachella even if they can’t afford to go to the festival. He says, “One of the key motivations is allowing more artists to be seen by their fans wherever their fans are.”
BLACKPINK’s performance at Coachella is one of the most highly-anticipated, as the girls have only made a few performances in the United States thus far. They have previously performed on Good Morning America and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and will tour for the first time in the U.S. when they begin their North American leg of their ‘IN YOUR AREA’ tour later this month. Their first show is at the Forum in Los Angeles on April 17th and their final show is on May 8th at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth.
