When Coachella revealed its 2027 lineup on the night of November 10 in California, fans reading down the Sunday under SZA’s name found Ayra Starr at the end of the third line. It is the first time her own name has been on a Coachella poster. At 7:48 a.m. Lagos time on November 11, she posted it on X with five words: “see you in the desert 💜.”
She has been on that stage once before, as a guest. In April 2022, she joined Koffee during the Jamaican singer’s set, and the two sang a remix of “Bloody Samaritan” that fans were hearing for the first time.
Coachella has not always gone smoothly for Nigerian acts. Wizkid was booked in 2018 and never played; he blamed visa problems for his band when he missed the first weekend, then did not turn up for the second. A year later, Burna Boy, billed alongside Mr Eazi, complained that his name was printed too small: “I am an AFRICAN GIANT and will not be reduced to whatever that tiny writing means.” Tems had the cleaner debut in 2024, bringing out Wizkid and Justin Bieber for “Essence” in the Mojave tent. In 2026, Davido was the only Nigerian-based act on the bill, playing the Gobi tent on the Saturday while Wizkid and Tems turned up as guests in Bieber’s headline set.
Mavin has been through a Coachella Sunday before. Ayra’s labelmate Rema played the Mojave tent on a Sunday in 2025 and walked on nearly half an hour into his 45-minute set, lip-syncing over a backing track, and the label said his in-ears didn’t fit and his mic had failed. He came back the following Sunday and played the set he had planned.
The booking comes days after “Rush” went Platinum in the US, her first single to get there, and the same song earned her a Grammy nomination for Best African Music Performance in 2024, the first year of the category. On her Sundays in Indio she shares the bill with SZA, Jorja Smith and Victoria Monét.
In 2022 she sang one song in someone else’s set, and in April the set is hers.