The 2025 Essence Festival of Culture had us excited, hydrated, and ready to get our lives—but some key parts of this year didn’t go quite as expected, and organizers responded to critical comments from attendees.
The Return of the Super Lounges… With a Price Tag?
Let’s start with these “Super Lounges” or as some goers said, “Super Expensive Lounges.” Traditionally, these intimate performance spaces were a crowd favorite. You could catch an up-and-coming artist rock the stage and feel like you just discovered the next big thing… for free. But this year? Essence switched things up with VVIP tickets just to get inside.
Social media went OFF, accusing Essence of trying to capitalize on something that used to be for the people, by the people. Essence responded, writing on Instagram:
“Due to ongoing renovations at the Caesars Superdome, many of the original Superlounge spaces were no longer available. Rather than scale back, we reintroduced Superlounge as a premium lounge experience.”
Do we appreciate the transparency and accountability? Absolutely. But luxury pricing for what used to be a free vibe was asking a lot, especially in THIS economy.
Target? Not Right Now…
Another head-scratcher? Target showing face. Normally, we’d be first in line for their activations (and we do mean line-wrapped-around-the-convention-center energy), but after that whole boycott, folks were side-eyeing their presence HARD.
ICYMI: Target caught major heat after scaling back their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. That move didn’t just flop PR-wise it cut deep in the community that built them up. So, attendees didn’t expect Essence to roll out the red carpet for the retailer.
Turns out, the reason was simple: contractual agreement. In other words, it might’ve taken a legal battle for Essence to refuse funds that the organizers likely already invested in the event.
Check out Essence Fest’s response to delays that left Lauryn Hill performing until 4 am (even though she was ready on time) after the flip!
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