‘I’m an influencer – here’s why a lot of us fake actually going to Coachella’
A US singer and social media personality has made a wild claim about influencers at the popular Coachella music festival.
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They’re not living their best lives at Coachella – they might not even be there.
According to musician and American TikToker Loren Gray, many influencers fake actually going to the Coachella music festival.
Gray, 20, explained the alleged phenomenon in a TikTok video posted this weekend, which has already amassed more than 2.5 million views on the social media app.
She prefaced the video by explaining that she thinks it’s a “hilarious” concept, and that she wanted to share it because she hadn’t seen anyone else talking about it.
“Coachella’s like the influencer olympics, right?” she said to her 54 million followers. “It’s the place to be. But most influencers, or a lot of influencers, don’t even go to Coachella, and I think that this is such a wild fact.”
The “Piece of Work” singer continued, claiming that some of these influencers will just go to Indio, a city in California where the music festival is held, and stay in an Airbnb.
She said that they’ll dress up and get their makeup done, and simply pose for photos without actually going into the festival.
“They don’t have wristbands, they just drive their little butts out to the desert to take Instagram photos, make TikToks, get ready with me’s, whatever,” she claimed.
“And then they drive back, and that’s it.”
At the end of the 49-second clip, Gray reminded people that they shouldn’t feel “sad” or have FOMO – a “fear of missing out” – as many of the social media influencers who you follow aren’t really there, either.
“It’s like a very common occurrence that I thought people knew, but then I didn’t see anyone talking about it, so now you know,” she added.
The New York Post reached out to Gray for comment.
Coachella is a star-studded, three-day music festival that takes place over the course of two weekends, typically in April.
It makes headlines for the crazy outfits that people wear and other moments that happen among celebrities – like last year, when Paris Hilton’s bodyguard was seen chasing her around festival grounds.
This year, the event’s headliners include musicians Charli XCX, BLACKPINK, Blondie, and Bad Bunny.
In the comments section of Gray’s video, many people admitted that they had never thought of these claims even being a possibility before.
“This seems so obvious and yet I had no idea lol,” one person typed.
Someone else agreed, writing, “I was just wondering how they all get ready by like noon and still be “late” and catch the set at midnight lmao.”
Others even claimed that the video made them feel better about not being able to attend.
“Never felt better about being broke,” another chimed in.
“I appreciate you for telling us this so much,” one user said.
At 13, Gray first rose to fame through the social media app Musical.ly, according to MTV, which has since merged with TikTok.
A few years later, Gray moved out to Los Angeles and began a singing and influencing career on YouTube and eventually TikTok.
This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission
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Originally published as ‘I’m an influencer – here’s why a lot of us fake actually going to Coachella’
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