These Bacchanal announcements incited insane division between those who wished for a democratic Bacchanal and those who jumped up and down with joy every time an artist dropped on the CUBacchanal Instagram.

Bacchanal is one of the most anticipated events that Columbia University puts on. It is a free event for students that highlights popular music artists as well as student artists, and it has cultivated a community through conversations about who those artists will be. This year, there was an intense reaction to the performers, ranging from people being ecstatic to others being deeply disappointed. Here is a timeline of those reactions, beginning with the guesses and ending with the final reactions!

Initial hints were dropped: March 6-9

• At this point, comments were filled with anticipation and potential connections to the hints that Baccahanal was giving. These hints were photos of a rat tail, a rollercoaster ride, the poster of the movie Camp Rock, and an orange line. 
• The biggest guesses for the performers were consistently Addison Rae, Zara Larsson, and Pink Pantheress.
• However, there were lots of guesses overall, ranging from Peso Pluma to Lil Wayne.

Opener dropped: March 11

• The opener was announced to be Nourished by Time!
• A lot of people expressed excitement about this artist, with the majority of the comments on this Instagram post being positive.
• There were a small number of people asking who they were. 

Support dropped on March 13

• The support was announced to be Slow Pulp!
• There was a lot of support from indie music fans in these comments. The reception was majority positive, with comments like “Big day for indie listeners” and “This is huge for the Midwest” being repeated throughout the reactions.
• However, this was also when some people began complaining about “niche shit.” There was a minority of people commenting on the genre of the artists, and how they are too unknown for an event like Bacchanal. 
• Personally, this day was huge to me. Love you, Slow Pulp <3

Last headliner hint: March 23

• The last hint was posted, an illustration of a deer. 
• This resulted in guesses like Doechii, Fontaines, Clairo, and a passionate Addison Rae fan who somehow connected every hint to her.

Headliner drop: March 24

• The headliner dropped: Fakemink.
• Initially, there was a lot of hate. Within the first 30 minutes, many students had filled the comments with GIFs expressing disappointment and paragraphs of anger towards the event. However, there was a good amount of support too, persistently battling against the Fakemink haters.
• Sidechat was filled with people complaining about the “niche underground music enjoyers” who are potentially on the Bacchanal E-Board. 
• Some students, via Instagram story and Sidechat, pushed for Bacchanal to operate democratically, stating that they disagree with the artist not being chosen by the students.
• This intense reaction also resulted in many fans writing opinions like “Yall dont [sic] deserve him” or “Y’all are crazy.” Many people also believed that students were just upset they didn’t have someone like Addison Rae and instead had a different sound.
• More comments in support of the artist can be found on the post now, which makes me wonder if those hating had deleted their opinions or perhaps been hidden. Overall, the reception now looks pretty split.

Here are some opinions dropped immediately after Fakemink was announced as headliner, pulled from Sidechat. These are pretty good indicators of the two common reactions:

Whether you are an “underground fan,” a Midwesterner cheering, or rethinking your plans completely for Saturday, we hope you have fun regardless and stay safe. Personally, I love Slow Pulp, and Fakemink seems fun. Even though I am not a diehard lover, I’ve heard his songs, and I promise… he is not that bad. My opinion is to just try to enjoy it! The music will be loud enough, and your borg will be strong enough to mask the disdain towards him anyway. Happy Bacchanal!

Image via Bwarchives