Music mogul Pharrell Williams recently announced the performers of this year’s Something in the Water 2023 festival.
In an Instagram post, Williams released the names of 53 artists set to take the stage for the event. The list included a diverse set of artists, spanning from hip-hop to funk to indie. Along with Pharrell’s own musical guests, Pharrell’s Phriends, Grace Jones, Babyface Ray, Kid Cudi, Jazmine Sullivan, Nile Rodgers & Chic and Summer Walker are scheduled to perform.
Wu-Tang Clan, Kehlani, Remi Wolf, Mumford & Sons, Wet Leg, Maren Morris and Skrillex, amongst others, will take the stage for the Virginia Beach festival. Scheduled for late April, Something in the Water will take place from April 28 to April 30. For those who are unable to attend, it will be live-streamed on the festival’s YouTube channel.
First held in 2019, the festival was created by the musician, philanthropist, and designer in celebration of his hometown of Virginia Beach. Through the three-day event, Williams has been working to celebrate the diversity of the community in Virginia Beach. The festival also gives the community to show what it has to offer, giving smaller businesses and the youth in Virginia Beach the chance to feel empowered.
“The people of Virginia are one-of-a-kind: uniquely gritty, bold, and brilliant,” said Williams in a statement upon the first announcement of the festival. “For the first time, we are harnessing that energy, bringing the great minds of our time and the biggest brands in the world to this great place, and letting the inspiration flow and well deserved opportunities unfold.”
“Virginia needs this right now and the world will see what we Virginians have known all along: there really is Something in the Water,” he added.
Immediately after the inaugural festival, Something in the Water was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon its return in 2022 during Juneteenth, the event was moved to Washington, D.C., from its original Virginia Beach location. Williams shared in a public letter to the city manager, Patrick Duhaney, that the festival would not make its return because of “toxic energy” in the government. In the letter, he referred to their failure to hold police officers accountable for the murder of his 25-year-old cousin, Donovon Lynch, who was shot by an officer.
The city of Virginia Beach and Lynch’s family recently announced that they had reached a settlement worth $3 million this past December.
