Aminé, Bia, Dayglow and Ella Jane will perform at Spring Fling Weekend, which Tufts University Social Collective is hosting April 28 to May 1. Spring Fling Weekend is returning in person this year after a three-year hiatus.
In addition to the Spring Fling Concert on April 30, the weekend will also include an outdoor movie screening on President’s Lawn on April 28 and the Tuftonia’s Day Carnival on April 29.
Students can reserve free tickets to the Spring Fling concert beginning April 19 at 10:30 a.m. Concert tickets cost $30 for graduate and exchange students, faculty and staff. Admission to the Tuftonia’s Day Carnival will be free for the entire Tufts community.
TUSC budgeted $216,675 for Spring Fling, which it plans to partially offset with $24,000 of projected income for a net expense of $192,675. Of that, $126,500 is allocated toward paying talent and talent agents.
Dariush Ghaffari, one of the two TUSC Concert Coordinators, said that student input was a major factor in determining whom to invite to campus. TUSC looked at students’ social media accounts and Spotify Wrapped lists to gauge interests in particular genres and artists. Ghaffari, a senior, said he has already begun to hear positive feedback following the lineup reveal.
“I’m really surprised, in a good way, to see so many positive comments towards it,” he said.
Ghaffari acknowledged that most students have never experienced an in-person Spring Fling.
“They should keep in mind that it’s more of an experience than they can imagine,” he said.
Ghaffari added that this year’s lineup of four artists is unprecedented for the Spring Fling concert, which normally features just three. The lineup includes Tufts’ own Ella Jane, indie pop artist Dayglow, rising star Bia and notable hip-hop icon Aminé. With such an impressive selection of performing artists, it is sure to be a highly anticipated event.
The Daily spoke with rising indie bedroom pop artist Ella Jane, known to Tufts students by her real name Ella Roth, for the third time on Sunday to discuss her upcoming performance at Spring Fling. Previously, Roth described the process of signing to her current record label, Fader, from her single dorm room in Carmichael Hall during her first year. With a current total of nearly 660,000 monthly listeners as of press time and more than 16 million listens on Spotify for her most popular track “nothing else i could do” (2020), Roth’s performance is sure to be a highlight of Spring Fling and a homecoming of sorts for the gap-year student.
“This will be the biggest crowd I’ve ever performed to,” the young singer said about Spring Fling in an interview with the Daily on Sunday evening. “Insane” and “nerve-wracking” were some of the words Roth used to describe her upcoming performance, even as she expressed excitement to be playing alongside such big names as Dayglow and Aminé.
“It’s funny to me that it’s happening at Tufts,” she said. “It’s just very surreal.”
Roth said coming back to campus felt “very full circle, and very, very strange,” because it has only been about a year since she was last on campus, which she said “is really, really hard for [her] to wrap [her] head around.”
“The fact that I’ll be performing on the Academic Quad, when that same time a year ago I was in French class [there], is really funny,” she said.
Roth expressed that “[she’s] just really excited to see everyone again” when she returns. She laughed about the fact that when her booking agent proposed that she play Spring Fling at Tufts, she said, “I don’t think they knew that I went there.”
Regarding her musical career in the past year away from Tufts, she expressed how much she was enjoying her time spent making music.
“It’s been really nice to have time to do music,” Roth said. “Last year was really a struggle for me in terms of trying to get my work done and do well, and also make music — and make good music.”
The singer also teased new music.
“I’m currently working on another EP, or project,” Roth said, which gives Tufts students hope that they may be some of the first to hear this new music at her Spring Fling performance.
The rest of the Spring Fling lineup hardly needs any introduction.
Tufts Spring Fling 2017 opener Aminé is returning to campus to headline this year’s concert. From breakout singles like “REEL IT IN” (2018), “Caroline” (2017) and “Spice Girl” (2017) as well as his recent successful album “TWOPOINTFIVE” (2021), Aminé is one of the most original and entertaining hip-hop artists of this generation. With a unique sense of humor that lovingly accompanies his talent for introspective yet hard-hitting tracks, Aminé combines his funky style with his witty lyricism. With hard tracks like “DAPPERDAN” (2018) and “RATCHET SATURN GIRL” (2018) mixing with his signature fun vibes on songs like “Charmander” (2021) and “NEO” (2021), Aminé’s Spring Fling setlist is sure to amaze.
Sloan Struble, creator of the solo indie pop project Dayglow, is best known for his dreamy, underwater sound, as heard on some of his most famous tracks like “Can I Call You Tonight?” (2019) and “Hot Rod” (2019).
Dayglow’s upbeat 2021 album “Harmony House” promises to be an entertaining feature of Spring Fling. Energetic tracks from the album like retro-sounding “Medicine” and popular “Close To You” are sure to come to life for Tufts students.
Medford native Bia is, of course, most well known for her breakout single “WHOLE LOTTA MONEY” (2020), an exceptionally memorable, forceful track given its slow tempo. The subsequent release of “WHOLE LOTTA MONEY [Remix]” (2021) featuring Nicki Minaj has easily become an essential and is sure to be impactful on the Spring Fling stage.
To anticipate the concert, TUSC has created aSpotify playlist that features the event’s artists.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that tickets for the Tuftonia’s Day Carnival were free for all community members. However, in fact, there are no tickets needed for the Tuftonia’s Day Carnival.
