After news that Ariana Grande was paid $8 million for her two-weekend headlining gig at Coachella, old reports that claim Beyoncé and her fellow headliners would make “between three and four million dollars” surfaced. Putting two and two together, fans were visibly irked, thinking Ariana earned twice as much as Bey.
Ariana Grande being paid twice as much as @Beyonce to headline #Coachella is livin proof that as an African American you LITERALLY have to be twice as good to get half as much.
— Takaira Kiki Milton (@Kiki__Sings) April 19, 2019
to see how much work, time and thought has been put into beyonce’s set and her being paid 2-3 times less than ariana who basically did her concert show makes me sick
— ً (@wotahmelonsugar) April 18, 2019
Ariana Grande being paid more than Beyoncé for Coachella is absurd
— Plain Pat, Waddup? (@Glencocolaflare) April 18, 2019
But before you bust out your pitchforks and join the online angry mob, hold up.
According to a more recent report from Billboard, Bey was actually paid $8 million to $12 million for her 2018 Coachella performance. People also cites that actually, “the women were paid $4 million for each weekend and the contracts for Grande and Beyoncé were ‘structured exactly the same way.’”
We get the initial commotion, but before it gets worse, just a reminder: Don’t pit these women against each other, please. Let’s not forget, along with Bjork in 2007 and Lady Gaga in 2017, they are among the only four female artists who have ever headlined Coachella since its debut in 1999. Not only that, but they made history in their own ways—Beyoncé as the first Black woman headliner, and Ariana as the youngest Coachella headliner.
Photo courtesy of Ariana Grande’s Instagram account
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