Coachella performers fear visa removal for international artists in US
Alok's vibrant set at Coachella on Saturday injected a dose of pulsating energy into the festival, even as international artists increasingly voice anxieties about the future of performing in the United States.
His performance offered a powerful counterpoint to a growing unease within the international music community.
While details of these concerns weren't explicitly stated, the backdrop of Alok's set highlighted a tension between the draw of American stages and the evolving landscape for international performers.
"For me as a Brazilian, it's always been hard to get a visa. So, for us, it didn't change much," Alok told Reuters during an interview backstage at Coachella, held in Southern California.
"But, of course, for Europe and others, they changed the rules, right?" he added.
He heard about other Coachella performances being cancelled in 2025 due to visa issues and feels fortunate that he made it to the festival when other international artists could not.
In the first week of April, British singer FKA Twiggs, who was scheduled to perform at Coachella, cancelled her performance.
She said that she was bowing out due to "visa issues" on the social media platform Instagram.
She also cancelled her entire North American tour.
With the Trump administration rapidly cancelling the international student visas of pro-Palestinian activists as well as revoking the legal status for 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, international music artists have also found that they are not immune.
President Donald Trump speaks to the reporters on board Air Force One on the way to Miami, Saturday, April 12, 2025 (AP)
In March, British punk rock band member of UK Subs, Alvin Gibbs, shared on the social media platform Facebook that they were allegedly denied entry into the United States while traveling to their performance at LA Punk Invasion 2025.
Despite evolving visa policies looming, the music producer Alok did not fret about the future during his set. He moved his music to the next level.
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While Alok traditionally uses LED projections to create rows of artificial background dancers for his music sets, for his Coachella set, he evolved the performance with live performers dancing to his beats.
"It was very challenging. I'm very used to doing a lot of crazy stuff in the shows, very integrating with new technology, but this one for sure was the most difficult," Alok said.
We're dealing with human technology and the synchronizing. But it's also something beautiful because once we are connected in the same synergy, same purpose, we can do stuff that is extraordinary," he added, noting a desire to keep performance human instead leaning too much on artificial intelligence.
"Art is made by soul," the singer said, later adding his appreciation for his guest performer, American singer Ava Max.
Alok is best known for his 2016 single "Hear Me Now" and for his 2024 album, "The Future is Ancestral," which features nine dance tracks mixed with indigenous songs, some of which have been sung for centuries by Brazilian tribes.
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