Editorial
This year's Finals Fest looks to top past years
April 6, 2017
On Wednesday, UW-River Falls Student Involvement announced the performers for this year’s Finals Fest: Lizzo and Jesse McCartney. Collectively, it’s safe to say that the campus lost it.
Lizzo is an alternative hip hop artist from Minneapolis, and she’s quickly becoming well-known as a performer and activist. Jesse McCartney, as anyone who was a preteen girl in the early 2000s remembers, is an actor, singer and former boyband member.
When the performers were announced in the University Center on April 5, there was an impressive turnout. People were surrounding the platform and standing on the stairs, waiting for the big reveal.
It’s exciting to see students so genuinely pumped about something happening on campus. From the line at Einstein Bros. Bagels to the residence halls, everyone has been talking about it since the announcement. It has been quite a while since the campus was buzzing so collectively about an announcement like this.
We’ve admittedly been underwhelmed as a campus for the last few Finals Fest events. People seemed to either love or hate last year’s lineup of Autograf, J. Buzzi and GenerationNOW Entertainment. The year before that, those of us who were not country music fans were not interested in seeing Gloriana or Brothers Osborne. This year, we can look forward to a more diverse lineup that should interest lots of different people.
Props to Student Involvement for pulling this off, because the office killed it this year. It’s nice to see UWRF book a performer who has more depth to her than just her music. Lizzo speaks about body positivity and intersectional feminism, stuff that many of us can admire. It’s also exciting to see UWRF getting someone who is semi-local but has achieved national success. She was featured on “BoyTrouble,” a song by Prince, and she’s appeared on “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee."
Additionally, nostalgia is clearly “in” right now. Between choker necklaces making a comeback and Netflix putting effort into making things like “Fuller House,” this generation is definitely feeling positive about nostalgia. While it’s true that Jesse McCartney has been releasing music since he charmed the world with “Beautiful Soul” in 2004, there’s no doubt that his appearance will be a feel-good cap on the year as we flashback to those memories.
Finals Fest will be held on May 5 at UWRF, and the Student Voice feels “Good as Hell” about it!