From the accessibility of the venue to the easy navigable grounds to the absolutely immaculate vibes from all the performers – Governors Ball 2022 was a weekend designed for good times.
By now, I’m sure you have read all the reviews of the sets and seen all the artists performances broken down to death. So instead of lingering on the things you know – like how amazing The Knocks are, how incredible Tove Lo’s outfits always are and how surprisingly filthy Shaq aka DJ Diesel’s drops were, we decided to bring you some things you probably don’t know about two of the artists you absolutely should know about.
First, we caught up with 25-year-old Coi Leray on Friday after her set on the Bacardi Stage.
Q: If you could have your fans remember you for one thing, what would it be?
Coi Leray: “If I could have any way for the fans to remember me, it would be for what I feel like I’m most remembered for right now which is confidence. I want everybody to keep striving, keep believing in yourselves and never stop going because that’s something that I did and here I am now.”
Q: What does it mean to be one of the powerful women in this year’s lineup?
Coi Leray: “Being a woman in this industry, especially a young black woman in this industry it gets real crazy because I feel like it’s a male-dominated industry and females are now really taking over and it feels good to be a part of the superstars. I feel like we have a strong lineup of superstar status women right now and it feels good to be on that lineup.”
Q: Lastly, what would you be doing if you weren’t working in music?
Coi Leray: “If I wasn’t doing music right now, I probably would have been a chef. I thought about being somebody’s house wife with some businesses cuz you know I get money for real. My dish would be surf and turf.”
Later, we caught up with 26-year-old musician De’Wayne, who just released his first full-length album, Stains.
Q: What is your favorite song you have ever released?
De’Wayne: “I have to say ‘Die Out Here’ is my favorite song ever that I’ve release just because it’s the first one that connected with people and I’m telling a very honest, kind of scary story on it but somehow radio wants to play it every day and that makes me feel like I’m staying true to myself even though it’s pop music.”
Q: What happens when you hear your music on the radio like that?
De’Wayne: “We were at home recording and it came on and I just turned it up in the house. I was also in Utah with my partner and it came on and I was like ‘it’s on!’ and then her song came on two songs after. I’m not used to it yet.”
Q: Who is an artist you would like to work with?
De’Wayne: “I’m really gunning for Matty Healy from 1975 – I just feel like we would make the best rock song ever and he’s so sexy. I just feel like every person would be like why is this happening, including myself. That’s a big one for me, I really want to make that happen.”
Q: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
De’Wayne: “Growing up I always wanted to be a dentist. It’s good. I’m like going to the dentist for my birthday. I have eight siblings, I’ve pulled like four of my siblings teeth out when we were younger, not in a good way.”
Q: What would you want your fans to remember you for?
De’Wayne: “It would just be that I gave them hope and I made them feel good. And I also gave them the confidence to not feel bad for wanting to look beautiful when you leave the house – to feel like your best self. Very simple but just love yourself and don’t feel bad about it.”
Q: Last one, favorite Halloween costume?
De’Wayne: “I think about a year and a half ago I put on an old granny dress and it was the first time I hung out with my girlfriend at the time’s friends and she had on a dress and there were so many guys there and they were like “this is your new boyfriend?” And I was just so pretty and nobody looked better than me that night, other than her but yeah that dress was really good for me. I don’t know what I’m going to be this year but it’ll be good.”
Words by Emily Van Buskirk
Interview and photos by Kim Montuoro
