Soho House activates a pop-up during Coachella 2021 with ‘Soho Desert House’.

Role: As “Head of Events, West Coast” for Soho House During Coachella 2021, we activated an off-site pop-up called “Soho Desert House”, where I was the Programming Lead and as such booked 79 of the 88 acts on 2 stages over both weekends of the festival. Acts included: Anderson.Paak’s DJ debut as Pee.Wee, Major League DJz, Soulection, Channel Tres, IDK, Everyday People, BADBADNOTGOOD, Erykah Badu & more.

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Entertainment

Line-Up Headliner Talent:

Pinch yourself, a certified giant and 8x Grammy winner has landed the sunset slot for weekend two of Soho Desert House: Anderson .Paak (Dj Pee .Wee), the acclaimed singer-rapper-drummer and Dr Dre protégé with the ‘Best Teef in The Game’ - both his sizzler of a tour name and a salute to his signature pearly whites. The exuberant soul and funk innovator returns for a DJ set on the main stage. You saw him here first, and you won't forget it. Sincere, soft, and still humble after all these years. So, sway back to Paak’s languid pace and sunstruck tributes to Compton, Los Angeles, and his many loves, past and present.

And if that wasn’t enough, DJ Low Down Loretta Brown, aka Erykah Badu, will Dj on the main stage, too. Let her pour you a tall glass of youth elixir with cool-breeze kickbacks and anthems for eternity. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary, since the Queen of Soul’s immortal debut, Baduizm, dropped, but the Dallas native still goes ‘On & On’ Her own elegy to her art still rings true: ‘Badu is my last name, “izm” is what should get you high, and Baduizm [is] the things that get me high.’

Everyday People — Come for the nod to Sly & The Family Stone, stay for what Vice calls the World’s Coolest Day Party, an ‘alternate universe where being your best and blackest self won’t get you targeted by the cops or destroy your professional prospects’. Which is nice. Whine, twerk, and swag surf to everything from dancehall to Southern rap, sincerely complimenting strangers on their Afrocentric ensembles. Joy, unconfined.

Radio Clue (IDK x Obi) — A show unlike any other, Radio Clue sees rapper slash Harvard lecturer (yes, you read that right) IDK, Ignorantly Delivering Knowledge – or Jason Aaron Mills to his friends – deliver a set tweaked to provide nothing short of an education. The Apple Music 1 host, who raps powerfully about his own jail time, is best known for pioneering SubTrap, a nuanced and inventive exploration of the intersection of drug dealing and addiction.

Major League DJz — Know your Amapiano from your Gqom? No bother. The kings of African Dance Music’s sound of the summer, a bright, jazzy dance music culled from local house flavours and global R&B, are coming to Coachella Valley. Meet the Mbere twins, Banele and Bandile, born in the townships of Gauteng. The vibe is checked. The energy is electric. The league is major. Let the dopamine DJ rush begin.

Sauce — Wet your whistles if you can (never mind the desert heat) for a thrilling trio of girl bosses-turned-international DJs that are sure to blow off your Birkenstocks: Jasmine Solano, the MTV star and arbiter of a music empire; Martina McFlyy, achingly cool deck spinner and creative director extraordinaire, and Ms Nix, part-time DJ, some-time MTV host, full-time genius. A holy trinity indeed.

Siobhan Bell — Fun, freedom and 1990s R&B: that’s the Siobhan Bell formula. The London DJ has been lighting up the East End of the city (catch her at nightclub, Working It, on the regs since circa 2010) weaving in bouncy Jersey club and trap beats with old-school bangers. She’s usually being scooped by brands like Moschino and Versus Versace or artists such as Skepta and A$AP Mob to DJ at their parties, but the desert promises a whole new dimension.