As Essence fest takes blame for Lauryn Hill's wildly late set, Stephanie Mills lets criticism rip

Los Angeles Times

08-07-2025

The Essence Festival has taken responsibility for a Lauryn Hill performance that saw the hip-hop legend take the stage at 2:30 in the morning.
'Let's be very clear — WE don't play about Ms. Lauryn Hill. Not for clicks. Not for headlines,' organizers wrote Sunday on Instagram. 'She arrived on schedule, stepped on that stage, and delivered the kind of performance only a legend can.'
The 31st annual New Orleans-based event, which ran Friday to Sunday, was peppered with issues from the beginning. According to the news site NOLA, Hill was quietly added to the already inflated lineup just two days before opening night.
'Does Lauryn know about this?' one fan quipped in comments on an Instagram post announcing the addition. Others riffed on her well-known history of tardiness.
The festival was reportedly already running behind when contemporary R&B trio Psyrin opened the first day. At the halfway point, GloRilla finished 45 minutes after the next act was supposed to start, NOLA said. So it was little surprise that headliner Hill didn't get onstage until 2:30 a.m. Saturday. She performed to a nearly empty Caesars Superdome — hundreds of people were left instead of tens of thousands — closing with 'Fu-Gee-La' more than an hour later.
Though Hill is notorious for starting her shows late, even telling a 2023 audience 'Y'all lucky I make it,' Essence Festival organizers quickly took the blame for this one.
'Family is family and around here we protect our own no matter what the PEOPLE have to say,' the organizers said.
'The delay? Not hers. We will take that. The moment? One for the books. The legacy? Still unmatched. Put some respect on her name. Keep the takes, but keep her out of them. All love and deep profound admiration for Ms. Lauryn Hill,' they added.
Comments celebrated Essence's 'accountability.' The social media post even received love from Saturday headliner and legend Erykah Badu, who contributed some applause emojis.
However, not everyone was over the moon. In an open letter to the Essence Festival on Tuesday, Grammy-winning artist Stephanie Mills voiced her grievances about the event's 'overall level of professionalism.'
'While I remain grateful for the opportunity to have participated, my overall experience was unfortunately marred by significant production issues that negatively impacted both my performance and the artist experience as a whole,' wrote Mills, who performed Sunday.
'The schedule and time management were severely lacking, creating a chaotic and stressful environment backstage … the technical difficulties, specifically concerning the sound system, proved deeply problematic,' she continued.
She closed out the letter by calling for a 'vastly improved experience' for artists and fans of the festival in future installments.