Content creator and singer Loren Gray set out to cure her followers' Coachella FOMO by assuring them that a lot of influencers who post pictures from the festival aren't attending it either.
In a TikTok video that has since gone viral, she says that they'll dress up and get their makeup done, and do everything to appear that they're there but won't buy a ticket.
"They just drive their little butts out to the desert to take Instagram photos, make TikToks — GRWMs, whatever — and then they drive back. That's it," Gray explains.
"Okay, I haven't personally seen anyone talk about this, but I think it's hilarious and I have to share it because it's Coachella. Coachella is like the influencer Olympics, right? It's the place to be. But most influencers, or a lot of influencers, don't even go to Coachella."
Image credits: coachella
"And I think that this is such a wild fact. They'll go out to the desert and get like an Airbnb, stay with someone, get their outfits, get their hair, get their makeup, post up Coachella day one, Coachella day two."
Image credits: coachella
"And they don't go to 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, and whatever, and drive back. And that's it. So if you feel boring and sad because you're not at Coachella, just know that most of these people aren't 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."
Image credits: coachella
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 filmed chasing her around festival grounds.
From Beyoncé and Prince to Daft Punk and Kanye West, some of the biggest names in the game have headlined at Coachella in the past, which explains why tickets can cost concert-goers upwards of $549 (and that’s just for general admission, VIP, on the other hand, starts at $1,069).
It's associated with money and glamor, no wonder so many phonies want to bathe in its glory.
Loren's video has gone viral, generating nearly 5 million views
However, as Enrique Dans, who has been teaching innovation at the IE Business School since 1990 has said, notching up a certain number of followers, comments and likes on a social network is not influence; it just means that a certain number of people are prepared to follow someone's activities, for whatever reason.
It doesn’t mean that they trust you, that they think you're reliable, or that they are willing to do what you tell them. The moment somebody thinks that the people who follow them on these platforms will buy what they are told unquestioningly, they have a problem; they don't understand the game they are in. Appearances can get you only so far. If there's nothing behind them (or even worse, just lies), people will eventually notice it.
And people appreciate her efforts of "deinfluencing" social media
