The performers at this year’s Spring Fling concert will be hip-hop artist T-Pain, up-and-coming rapper Aminé and R&B artist Tinashe, according to an announcement by Tufts University Social Collective (TUSC) Concert at noon on Monday. The concert will take place on April 29.
The announcement was made to a crowd of students in a packed Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center with a photo booth in the lobby and a video in the main hall. The photo booth printed the names of the performers at the bottom of pictures taken by students, while the video announcement featured hooded members of TUSC Concert stealthily moving through campus to post a list of the performers by Tisch Library. Students who were gathered in the dining hall appeared excited by the lineup.
T-Pain, famous for 2000s hits such as “Bartender,” “Take Your Shirt Off” and “Buy U a Drank,” will be the concert’s headliner. Aminé, whose chart-topping 2016 single “Caroline” earned him widespread fame, and Tinashe, whose career kicked off with her 2014 song “2 On” featuring Schoolboy Q, will be the opening acts.
Alex Mitchell, co-chair of TUSC Concert, said the lineup was a “best-case scenario” for the organization.According to Mitchell, a junior, this year's concert came in under budget, and the extra money will be used to pay for other attractions and necessary expenditures for Spring Fling. The surplus will not be put toward next year’s lineup because rollover is not permitted in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Treasury budgeting process.
Mitchell said that this year’s all-black lineup was an intentional choice.
“Over the past couple years, lineups have been criticized for not having enough representation [for people of color], and we agreed with that assessment, so we wanted to respond to that feedback,” he told the Daily in an electronic message. “We chose the artists based on their appeal, not just their race, but it was definitely a consideration.”
The concert is capped at 6,000 attendees, according to Mitchell, who said that TUSC’s goal this year is to sell out the show.
“We wanted to have a top-40, hip-hop/R&B-leaning show from the get-go, especially after Waka Flocka sold out so quickly,” he said, referring to last semester's Fall Fest concert featuring rapper Waka Flocka Flame. “I imagine that our lineup will attract lots of visitors.”
Junior Trenton Manns said he is looking forward to this year's Spring Fling performers, especially Tinashe and Aminé. In particular, he is excited to see Aminé because he is such a new rapper.
"I think it's really cool ... that Tufts is providing a platform for him to be more widely exposed," Manns said.
Multiple students, including Manns and sophomore Adam Rapfogel, said they are more excited about this year's performers than those of previous years, including 2015 headliner Kesha and 2016 performers Matt and Kim.
"In general, I’m happy with them," Rapfogel said. "I think that, compared to Matt and Kim, Borns and Shaggy, almost anything is a good set of choices, no offense to the people who chose it last year."
Erik Poppleton, a senior, said that the lineup did not represent a diversity of genres.
“Though I don't listen to him, I think T-Pain is a good headliner, but I would be happier if we had some rock or [electronic dance music] as openers instead of more rap,” he told the Daily in an electronic message.
Seohyun Shim contributed reporting to this article.
