Princeton’s Fall 2025 Lawnparties began gray and rainy, with students huddled under umbrellas as they hurried to grab wristbands outside McCosh Hall and gathered for photographs by the SPIA fountain. By the time the eating clubs opened for pre-headliner festivities, the skies were beginning to turn blue, putting concerns about potential weather delays to rest.
“I’m just glad the weather cleared out so now we can have a good time,” Carlos Fimbres ’27 told The Daily Princetonian. For Fimbres and many other students, a major highlight of Lawnparties was Instagram- and TikTok-famous DJ Mandy, who has nearly one million followers across social media. As her set began at Tiger Inn (TI) at 12:30 p.m., a long line of students remained waiting on the block outside, eager to gain entry and see the performance.
“I know her from TikTok, so I was really excited to see her,” Amelia Carneiro Zhu ’28 said.
Sunday’s festivities were the fourth time the event had been rained on since Fall 2022.
TI and Cottage were the two most popular eating clubs of the day, with over 100 students in line outside of Cottage by mid-afternoon, where twin-brother due MC4D played upbeat remixes for a packed crowd.
“Cottage was great, but it was really, really crowded,” Zhu said. “I felt like I was almost getting crushed at times, but it was still a really fun time.”
Other performances included MacKenzie Porter at Cannon Dial Elm Club, Tessa Violet at Colonial Club, Kilopatrah Jones at Ivy Club, Boys Go to Jupiter at Terrace Club, and Phoneboy at Tower Club.
Outside the eating clubs, students lined up for food trucks and stands to enjoy a wide range of different refreshments. Local businesses, including Alfalfa, Maddalena’s Cheesecake Bars, and Nomad Pizza, were present, as well as popular chains like Taco Bell, Domino’s Pizza, and Rita’s Italian Ice.
At 2:30 p.m., student opener Casual Riot took the main stage, performing covers of popular songs such as the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit “Free Bird,” before headliner Amaarae came on to perform at 3:15 p.m. Amaarae, a Ghanaian-American R&B and Afrobeats artist from the Bronx, N.Y., was the first headliner in recent years who was not a rap artist.
Vedant Aryan ’28 disagreed with potential concerns that Amaarae, who had a slightly lower streaming profile than Fall 2024 headliner NLE Choppa and Spring 2025 headliner A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, would be “less hype” than previous guests.
“I think the response comes from people who just look at the number [of followers] and don’t listen to her music and don’t know her,” he told the ‘Prince.’ “I think people should open themselves up to more diverse [genres] of music, and as a dancer, I can tell you that Amaarae is huge in the dance community because of the beats she has and the [level] of production, and the blend of Afrobeats and modern beats. Just listening to her music makes you want to dance.”
The attendance at the headliner performance appeared lower than in previous years, with many students citing the weather and lack of artist knowledge for their early departure.
“I thought the headliner was a little disappointing, and I thought it could have been someone who would have excited the crowd more,” Daniel Amoils ’29 said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’ “I feel like people didn’t really know the music, or maybe the music just wasn’t the right vibe.”
For some who hadn’t known Amaarae, the performance was still a blast.
“The headliner was super hype, I loved the energy she brought,” Evelyn Mahoney ’28 told the ‘Prince.’ “I feel like she was really trying to get the crowd to sing along and dance a lot, and in terms of crowd engagement, I feel like she was better than either of last year’s headliners.”
Leela Hensler is a staff News writer and Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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