Multi-hyphenate artist Zendaya took to the Coachella stage for her first live music performance in seven long years.
Euphoria star Zendaya surprised fans at Coachella 2023 on its second weekend on 23 April with an appearance alongside British musician Labrinth for a live music performance, which was her first on the stage in over seven years.
Though Zendaya has gained wider international fame as an actress, she has also etched her name in music in the early part of her career.
While associated with Disney Channel, for whom she did the sitcom Shake It Up (2010-13), she delivered hits such as “Swag It Out” and “Watch Me” (with Bella Thorne)
Her only album, a self-titled debut with the lead single, “Replay,” was released in 2013. She put her music career on hold after touring for the album in 2015.
More about Zendaya at Coachella 2023
She performed two hit songs
At Coachella 2023, Zendaya performed “I’m Tired” and “All Of Us.” Both songs are from her Emmy award-winning HBO show Euphoria.
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Zendaya is also the co-writer of “I’m Tired.” The other song, “All For Us,” was her collaboration with Labrinth. It won an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2020 after it was featured in the first season of Euphoria.
Zendaya thanks fans
An excited Zendaya took to social media to express gratitude to the Coachella crowd and her fans for appreciating her return to the stage.
“I cannot express my gratitude enough for this magical night. Thank you to my brother @labrinth for inviting me and giving me the most beautiful safe space to be on a stage again. And to the crowd tonight…wow… my heart is so full, I can’t thank you enough for the love I received tonight, made all my nerves melt away, I’m so grateful,” read one of her many Instagram Stories following the performance.
She later posted a video in which she said, “I have never heard screaming like that in my entire life. I couldn’t hear anything but you guys, so I don’t know what I sounded like. It was so special.”
Zendaya on her music career
Zendaya, who is widely known for playing MJ in the Spider-Man films of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), has never clearly stated why she stepped back from music. She has, however, mentioned her music career occasionally in the past.
“I stepped away from music quite a while ago, for a number of reasons, but I still really love it, so the kindness and support I’ve received the past few days just for a little tiny toe dip back into some music means the absolute world to me..thanks,” she wrote in a tweet in 2022.
I stepped away from music quite a while ago, for a number of reasons, but I still really love it, so the kindness and support I’ve received the past few days just for a little tiny toe dip back into some music means the absolute world to me..thanks<3
— Zendaya (@Zendaya) March 4, 2022
In 2019, she gave an interview to Paper Magazine, in which she spoke about the music industry.
“I think the [music] industry takes a little bit of passion away from you,” she said. “It sucks you dry a little bit. What I thought I wanted, it’s not what I want anymore, [especially] when I think about what I had to deal with in the music industry,” she had said.
(Main and Featured images: Coachella/@coachella/Twitter)
This story originally appeared on Prestige Malaysia
Manas Sen Gupta writes at the intersection of tech, entertainment and history. His works have appeared in publications such as The Statesman, Myanmar Matters, Hindustan Times and News18/ETV. In his spare time, Manas loves studying interactive charts and topographic maps. When not doing either, he prefers reading detective fiction. Spring is his favourite season and he can happily eat a bowl of noodles any time of the day.
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