Posted by Washington, D.C. – Grammy Award-winning artist Pharrell Williams has announced the return of the Something In The Water festival.
According to a press release fired off on Tuesday (April 26), the typically annual affair takes place in Washington D.C. over Juneteenth weekend (June 17-19). The stacked lineup includes performances from Tyler, The Creator, Pusha T, Usher, Ashanti, Ja Rule, Thundercat, Tierra Whack, Denzel Curry, EARTHGANG, JID, Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch, Run The Jewels and many, many more.
Produced by Live Nation and Redrock Entertainment, this year’s festivities have been expanded to three stages, situated in the heart of our nation’s capital.
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Pharrell decided to pull the festival from his hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia last October over concerns about how the city handled the police killing of his cousin Donovon Lynch. In a letter to the Virginia Beach City Manager Patrick Duhaney, he outlined his reasons for the cancelation, explaining the festival helped ease racial tensions, promoted economic growth for the city and unified the area — but he feels he’s not getting anything in return.
“I love my city, but for far too long it has been run by — and with toxic energy,” he wrote. “The toxic energy that changed the narrative several times around the homicide of my cousin, [Donovon] Lynch, a citizen of Virginia, is the same toxic energy that changed the narrative around the mass murder and senseless loss of life at Building Number 2. I wish the same energy I’ve felt from Virginia Beach leadership upon losing the festival would have been similarly channeled following the loss of my relative’s life.”
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Pharrell’s letter was in response to a note from Duhaney in which he expressed his disappointment in Pharrell’s decision to discontinue the festival. As reported by 10WAVY News, the 2020 and 2021 festivals were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the inaugural 2019 festival — which boasted acts such Missy Elliott, Travis Scott and Migos — reeled in over $24 million for the city.
In the wake of the March 2021 shooting, the Something in the Water executive producer helped launch the Listen Learn Love VB initiative in an effort to “fast-track the diversity and inclusion conversation” and “rebrand Virginia Beach as a “sanctuary for human rights.” But sources say it fell apart when some Oceanfront business owners opposed the message.
Three day passes will go on sale to the general public beginning Saturday (April 30) at 10 a.m. local time. Fans who purchased Something In The Water passes for previous years will have an exclusive pre-sale starting on Wednesday (April 27) from 10 a.m. ET to Thursday (April 28) at 10 p.m. ET. Find more information here.