With bated breath, festival attendees awaited the arrival of their alt-pop rocker-princess at the Mojave Stage Friday. As the stage lights went on and the backtrack for “Kool” started planning, BENEE lept onto the stage. In a red matching two-piece – designed by her hometown friend – the musician got the crowd’s heart racing with the song off of her 2020 album, Hey U X. OG-FIRE ON MARZZ fans rejoiced in her reworked renditions of “Soaked” and “Glitter” – the latter, a drum-driven track about a wild club night in New Zealand where a bottle of glitter was dumped on her head. And as BENEE took the stage for her second weekend in a row, she commanded the space with a proficiency and mastery of her lineup peers, riffing off the crowd’s energy (and rambunctiousness) and serving it right back to them.

And while the young musician just put out her EP “Lychee” last year, she was already teasing a whole new body of work during her set. During both weekends’ performances, she sang two unreleased works (“Rollercoaster” and “Sports Mode”). This one-two punch was met with her most explosive single to date, “Green Honda,” released earlier this year. The joy the new track triggered was so dizzying that it was so hard to believe it was all coming to an end. And as she neared the close of her set, she thanked the crowd for bearing the desert heat and coming out to see her. Closing the show with “Supalonely” and “Sheesh,” you could tell that she didn’t want the gig to end – and neither did her fans.  

After all the dust settled, the musician sat down with V to recap her two weekends in the desert. Read below for her favorite sets, Coachella prep, and her surprise reunion with Gus Dapperton. 

V MAGAZINE: Congrats on your Coachella debut! Can you give us the rundown of these past two weekends? How did you prepare for them?

BENEE: Yeah, definitely. Well, it feels pretty crazy that it’s already done now because it’s probably the most prep that I had gone into – not the most rehearsals – but I had done a couple of movement coach sessions. But yeah, there was a lot that went into the performances. I performed with my band, who came over from New Zealand. Both weekends were just awesome. To be honest, I think with festivals, it can be hit or miss because you can have technical difficulties or something that freaks you out. But it was actually really surprisingly chill. Everyone was just so nice and the lineup was fucking insane. So it doesn’t even matter if we were bad because I was like, “I’m here for the show, no matter what happens. Period.” But, yeah, it was awesome and the crowds were great. I didn’t think people would come because it was like 3:45 PM – I thought that was really early, but some people apparently come quite early to Coachella.

V: When the lineup is so good, you have to get out there.

B: There are some sneaky, hidden hotties there earlier, you know?

V: Like you!

B: Stop!

V: Is there anybody else that you watched weekend one or weekend two that you were a really big fan of?

B: Yes, I saw Burna Boy, who I love. I actually saw him at the Hollywood Bowl, but he was epic. He’s just like this god, lowkey. He gives me such good vibes, and it was such a crazy show. Who else did I see? Charli XCX was sick. I think what was really cool about this year was it was so inspiring being a woman in the industry because it was such a platform. This year there was such a diverse mix of different artists – a lot of women and a lot of Latin artists. And the whole Kpop scene that was there was sick. I saw Jai Paul as well, he was pretty cool. Flo Milli was fucking awesome. Everyone was just so good.

V: Everyone was so good! I love the red outfit that you wore last weekend and the denim ensemble the weekend before. How did you go about creating those two outfits for Coachella?

B: I just knew that I wanted something bold and something I felt cool in. I guess, for me, I always end up over-layering because I feel more comfortable in pants and a shirt as opposed to a skirt or something. Hopefully, one day I can wear a skirt because I’m really loving the vibes of Becky G and the little dance leotard. But yeah, the red outfit was a funny story because we were actually meant to be on the Gobi stage, which was the red tent, so we were actually basing the outfit off that tent, but then it ended up working with the Mojave stage anyways.

V: I love that you tailored your outfit to like the stage, I feel like it adds another layer. It’s like, “Am I matching the stage or is the stage matching me?” Did you make the outfit specifically for Coachella or did you thrift them?

B: Yeah, they were customs. One of them was MIMCHIK, a brand that had reached out to me. That was the first outfit and it was a wax-coated, dark wash denim. And then the second week was by entire studios, which is actually a New Zealand brand that my best friend actually just got a role at as the head of the female design. So he helped with that, and that kept it local, which was nice. 

V: That’s so exciting. And I saw the performance last week and loved the setlist. How did you go about creating that setlist, choosing what songs to include and what songs not to include? 

B: I think with festivals, I’m always wanting a power set because you kind of have to read how people are vibing at the festival. I feel like for me, having played festivals and seeing what songs connect to a festival crowd, it’s quite interesting when it comes to making a setlist. We just wanted to perform all of the upbeat, fun ones that would really work well with the crowd while also including an element of surprise – the two new songs. So that was really fun. And it was a short and sweet set.

V: I loved hearing “Green Honda,” your most recent song. I thought that one was so fun, and really got the crowd’s energy up. Did you have a favorite song to perform?

B: “Sports Mode” was really fun to perform. Mind you, the second week, it was so hot that by the time I did the song “Green Honda” and “Sports Mode,” I was actually having a heat stroke [laughs]. I was trying to hold on to every line, but I was like, “Okay, I should definitely put these in a different place in the set because I was out of breath.”

V: Yeah, the heat is no joke at Coachella. And as you talk about your new songs, which is coming out later this year, what can we expect? What’s the overall vibe?

B: I’ve just moved to LA, so I’m here, and now my mission is to finish the album. So I’m just working on that now. I guess the new stuff is going to be…I don’t want to pin it on one thing. I have so many songs, but it’s always about picking which ones go out when. It’s almost like a puzzle. But I’m really excited to make a big body of work with a bunch of songs, it’s just going to feel so good.

V: That’s really exciting. Why’d you decide to kick it off with “Green Honda”? Was it the first song you created chronologically, or does it signify something bigger?

B: It just felt like the right thing for me. I had this song, and as soon as I finished it, I had this visual idea for it. I mean, that for me, is quite a big thing, so I was like, “Okay, I see the vision, so let’s just get into this.” And I like how it sits as a single. I feel like it makes sense of a single because I think it freaked out quite a few of my fans. They’re like, “Oh my God, is BENEE going to be a little pop girl?” I’m like, “Guys, no.” I love where it sits, but it’s not the direction of my new music. I love how you can do that with singles. You know, they can just be a surprise, and that is what it is.

V: It’s definitely a surprise and a good one at that. And finally, we have to talk about Gus Dapperton’s surprise appearance during Weekend 1. 

B: That was pretty fun and so nice. He came out for Gov Ball as well with me, but this was the second time, and I love being able to spend more time with Gus. We actually ended up making a song in another session while he was in LA. We just released “Don’t Let Me Down,” which is another song, so it’s been really nice being able to get close to him. His popping out at Coachella was such a fun surprise. I love that about Coachella, they just bring out all these like fucking crazy guests.