At a Thursday night Brown Concert Agency release party that stretched into Friday, an auditorium full of students waited eagerly in Sayles Hall to hear who would headline the first in-person Spring Weekend in three years. At midnight, BCA unveiled a video announcing its star-studded lineup, with , and performing Friday, April 29 and Undertow Brass Band, , and performing Saturday, April 30.
After being canceled in 2020 and held virtually in 2021, this year鈥檚 Spring Weekend will be the first juniors, sophomores and first-years experience in person. The three-year interruption posed substantial organizational challenges for BCA, who started planning the event as early as last summer.
鈥淚t was really tricky just because out of all of our board, only two of us have experienced the last in-person Spring Weekend,鈥� Kenney Nguyen 鈥�22.5, BCA co-chair, said. 鈥淭here's actually a big learning curve.鈥�
Ellie Barksdale 鈥�23, BCA co-chair, has never witnessed an in-person Spring Weekend either, and said that she feels the organization has lost a level of 鈥渋nstitutional knowledge,鈥� requiring BCA to 鈥渞edefine鈥� its operations and search through records and contact alumni to better understand the event鈥檚 standards.
Despite these challenges, BCA delivered with a line-up that generated high levels of enthusiasm in the Brown community.
鈥淭hey absolutely killed the lineup,鈥� Iman Hussain 鈥�23 said. 鈥淭his is literally my dream lineup, and Amaarae is my favorite singer.鈥�
Amaarae is an Afropop and R&B singer-songwriter and producer. Her 2020 album The Angel You Don鈥檛 Know saw widespread success, and a remix of 鈥淪AD GIRLZ LUV MONEY鈥� featuring Kali Uchis went viral in 2021, making it to the chart. Amaarae is also known for examining topics of gender, sexuality and race in her music.
Amaarae isn't the only big name setting foot on campus in April. Flo Milli, an American rapper, saw her breakout track 鈥淏eef FloMix鈥� place number two on Spotify鈥檚 in 2019. Her 2020 album 鈥淗o, why is you here?鈥� quickly earned commercial success and critical acclaim.
鈥淚鈥檓 super excited, I love Flo Milli,鈥� Jason Goodman 鈥�24 said at the event. 鈥淪he鈥檚 one of the only (artists) I know, but it's just such hype music, everyone got so excited.鈥�
Rapper and singer Smino, whose albums include the 2017 鈥渂lkswn鈥� and the 2018 鈥淣OIR,鈥� will also be performing at the event.
Saturday鈥檚 show will feature Maye, a Venezuelan-born singer-songwriter best known for her first two singles, 鈥淢y Love鈥� and 鈥淭煤.鈥� Although less known than some of the other artists featured, Maye has been heralded as a .
The performers also include two Grammy-nominated R&B artists: Tems and Ari Lennox. Tems is a Nigerian singer had two singles in the , including a feature on Wizkid鈥檚 鈥淓ssence鈥� which was nominated for the inaugural in 2022. Ari Lennox鈥檚 2021 single 鈥淧ressure鈥� placed on , and her feature on the 2019 Dreamville album 鈥淩evenge Of The Dreamers III鈥� was nominated for the .
When selecting artists, BCA wanted to increase its variety of musicians compared to previous years. 鈥淲e wanted to expand on genre diversity because in all of the years we鈥檝e had BCA there are certain fragments of the population that we have never represented before,鈥� Nguyen said.
Because the majority of undergraduates have never experienced an in-person Spring Weekend before, BCA 鈥渨anted to make sure this would be one to remember,鈥� Nguyen said. He hopes it will revive the 鈥渋ntegral鈥� sense of community this annual event fostered in the past.
Barksdale also hopes that students are excited to experience Spring Weekend together again 鈥渁nd to cling onto this tradition that has meant so much to us in the past,鈥� she said.
