YouTube Creators at Coachella Reveal What It's Really Like to Make Festival Content
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If there's one way to mark the commencement of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, it's the content. Every year in mid-April, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X feeds are flooded with aesthetically pleasing content set against the backdrop the desert in Indio, California, the home of one of the biggest music festivals in the world. The content comes from seemingly everywhere: your close friends, your favorite celebs, but especially from your favorite content creators.
Most people experience the festival by streaming it live on YouTube from the comfort of their homes, or through the eyes of those we follow on social media. From the meticulously curated outfits to the backstage photos and videos to the extravagant day and after parties, these creators and celebs seem to be having the time of their lives at the festival — and honestly, the FOMO can be so real.
It’s easy to watch from the outside and imagine how fun it must be to have a full-time job creating content. But surprisingly, there’s a lot more that goes into content creation than most think. While our faves appear to be carefree while gallivanting around the festival grounds, behind the scenes there are tight deadlines for deliverables that need to be met, lots of delegating via email, and strategizing and creating the actual content itself.
“With content creation, you always have agents, managers, people texting you, emailing you asking for things… it can become overwhelming,” YouTube creator Mai Pham shares with Teen Vogue. “You can have a whole day set of things that you want to do, but then things happen in between the day where it's like, ‘No, I have to sit down and do this edit.’”
Coachella 2024 is the 21-year-old creator's first time at the music festival. Although she admits she gets “really anxious” in crowds, she decided to go in with a positive mindset to see what the hype was all about.
Personally, with more than nine Coachellas under my belt, I felt as though I had a good grasp on what the experience is like and what to expect during festival weekend. Turns out, the typical festival-goer experience is nothing compared to a day in the life of a YouTube creator at Coachella.
From the prep work to execution, there are so many moving parts to consider. Before she even kicks off her weekend, Pham met with her stylist Sierra Rena a few days prior at her Brooklyn apartment to collaborate on a fashion mood board, then the day before Pham was set to leave, the duo finishing shopping and packing for the festival at 11 p.m. — Pham woke up only a few hours later to make her dawn flight for the airport.
Related: How to Pack All You Need for a Coachella in One Carry-On
For YouTube creator Ashley Alexander (aka ur mom ashley), she tries to keep a healthy work-life balance while preparing for massive events like Coachella. “It definitely is a mix of work and business,” the 24-year-old says. "I can come in, try to get all my filming out of the way, and then towards the later half of the day I can relax a little bit more. But while the sun is up, we are putting in that work.”
Still, the unexpected will always arise, and both creators agree that keeping expectations low is key. Teen Vogue caught up with both creators backstage at YouTube’s Coachella Photo Studio during Weekend 1 to chat about what it’s like to be a YouTube creator and their content creation process at Coachella 2024.
Teen Vogue: How did you get into YouTube, and how did it lead you to being here at Coachella as a creator?
Mai Pham: When I was younger, I was chronically online because I wasn't really hanging out with people. I grew up with Asian immigrant parents and my grandma raised me… and she was so much more strict. I would watch a bunch of YouTubers like Michelle Phan and Bethany Mota, and I [would be] like, “Damn, I want to do this.” I knew from the jump that I wanted to do this… I remember my first video ever was a toy unboxing, and it's still on my channel to this day.
Ashley Alexander: I had been watching YouTube since I was little, and I initially got into YouTube through the beauty guru scene. I remember loving Bethany Mota, too, and all those OG beauty gurus. From there, that's where my love for YouTube really blossomed.
TV: What does your day-to-day usually look like as a content creator?
MP: It is all over the place. I have my clothing line and then I also do YouTube. So I sometimes focus on only that for a week straight, sometimes I only focus on content creation. I like to wake up early before anyone is up, especially on the East Coast. I have a couple hours to myself [and] by the time nine or 10 a.m. rolls around, that's when I finally get on my phone.
Usually the night before, I'm sending footage and making sure it all uploads… I send over the links to everybody in the morning so that they can get started on editing. [Then] I start filming all day long. I usually finish around 7 p.m. That's when the sun sets and then boom… [I'm] doing it all over again.
AA: Every day can be so different, and every video takes a different amount of filming. I could film a video that's like, “Here's a week in my life,” and then I have hours and hours of footage, or it could be more of a “challenge” video. Most of my time is spent editing, which is always interesting because I feel like when people see content creators, you never really think of them behind the scenes spending hours just sitting on the laptop. But the majority of my job is [me] at my desk doing my thing. But I love editing and I think editing YouTube videos is so special. I really admire the dedication and the artistry that goes into making a longform video.
TV: Do you have a team that helps you with content creation?
MP: I film it myself. Faces [a photographer and videographer on my team] is usually here for more events. I have three YouTube editors and one girl [who edits] all my short form content. She does my Reels, my makeup videos, all that stuff, because I'm doing so much all the time that I like to film, send it over to her, and then she can make me a bunch of videos that I can consistently post. She herself is a UGC creator, so she gets the vibe. So, I would say I have around four editors.
AA: I have my siblings: me and my brother and my sister are a trio. We're connected at the hip, so we all help each other out and we all do content creation. I do have editors help me, but I always touch up the video [myself]. It's like a team effort. Because I am a little bit of a perfectionist, I'll have people rough cut it and edit videos, but I always go in, tweak it, and [add] my music. So it depends… tt's whatever the vibes are.
TV: What is it like being a content creator specifically at Coachella?
MP: I actually just posted something for a beauty brand. I filmed that TikTok and while I was in the car, I was editing it on the way over here and sent it over. This morning, I woke up and they had [notes], so I edited it, sent it back in the group chat, posted it, and then I have another to do with them tomorrow. But it's been really easy though, because there's a lot of wait time. Yesterday I got five Reels up during Coachella, and literally right after Sabrina [Carpenter] ended, I got another reel up. But it's just because as we're walking from place to place, I'm on my phone. [I] have time to do it.
TV: Do you do a lot of prep work in advance for Coachella? Do you have videos or content you plan to shoot or do you ideate it on the fly?
AA: For Coachella, I usually just do a vlog, and I don't really do too much prep before I get here which is nice. I try to keep it as low-key as possible so that once I'm here I don't have to stress too much. But it's really [about] having fun. It is of course work and fun, but I would say it's mostly fun.
MP: Let's say you plan out 10 pieces of content — you're running around, you're like, “Oh, no, I didn't get this. I didn't get this. I didn't get this.” My mind gets so overwhelmed… If you're just recording everything, you can always go back and make something out of it.
TV: Do you have any tips for young people that want to become YouTube creators and what they can do to improve their content?
MP: Yes! First of all, find a couple niches. People say, stick to one — no, find a couple. For me, growing up, it was volleyball. I did a lot of volleyball videos [and] high school blogs, and you find the people that really like volleyball videos and high schoolers that watch that. I repeated [these] series over and over and over and over again [and] repeat the same thumbnails, the same titles, everything.
If you have one video that does well just keep doing it… because the person that probably followed you from that video wants to see more of that content. One of the biggest questions I get from content creator friends is, “How do you never run out of ideas?” I've never run out of ideas in my life. And it's because you can always go back to what you've done before and [do it] just a little bit differently.
AA: Definitely stay consistent and be yourself. I know that's the most cliché thing to tell people, but really if you just be yourself, that will shine through everything. It's also always good to be optimistic. I grew up also seeing influencers [at] Coachella and I thought, “Oh my God, that seems so cool, I would love to do that.” And to be here now as a creator is so surreal. So just stay optimistic and believe in yourself, and anything can happen.
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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