"I can’t stop crying!": Will Smith filming his daughter Willow's Coachella set is the cutest thing you'll see online today

Will Smith and Willow Smith
(Image credit: Will Smith Instagram / Coachella YouTube)

Reviews of the first weekend of the Coachella festival may have centred around BlackPink, Frank Ocean, Blink-182 and Bad Bunny, but for one proud father, the Californian festival was all about one act, and one act only.

"WILLOWCHELLA!" posted Hollywood superstar Will Smith as he watched his daughter Willow smash her Sunday night (April 16) set on the Mojave stage. Smith posted two clips of Willow's set, a snippet of single Transparent Soul and a section of Meet Me At Our Spot where the 22-year-old led the festival crowd in a singalong. "I can't stop crying!" daddy Smith captioned that particular moment.

Another festival attendee, one Michael Watson II, also captured the sweet moment where Willow invited her brother Jaden on-stage to duet on Summertime in Paris. According to Billboard, Jaden Smith later posted, “It brings tears to me eyes as your brother to see you do this. I love you so much. I’m so inspired by you, I’m so inspired and happy for what you’re doing in the world and the amount of people’s lives you’re changing with the music that you’re making.”

Awwww. 

Coachella Weekend 2 begins on Friday, April 21. Frank Ocean will not perform his scheduled Sunday night headline slot, after injuring his leg last week. “On doctor’s advice, [Ocean] is not able to perform weekend 2 due to two fractures and a sprain in his left leg," a statement from Ocean's 'people' states. Blink-182 are rumoured to be filling Ocean's slot for the night.

Watch Willow performing Falling Endlessly at Coachella below:


Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.