The Come Up Show via Wikimedia Commons

Rapper and singer-songwriter Swae Lee will be performing at the 2024 Spring Fling alongside fellow artists Coco & Breezy and Dayglow on April 27.

Formerly known as part of the brother-duo Rae Sremmurd, Lee launched his music career in 2015 through the duo’s debut studio songs, including “No Flex Zone” and “No Type.” Most recently, Lee has stepped away from this group to perform solo and quickly rose to fame — most notably through his feature in the viral “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” soundtrack. 

“I was genuinely surprised but also very excited that Yale could bring Swae Lee,” said Hien Tran ’27. “He’s one of those artists that was a part of my growth and development in 2016 so it’s very nostalgic to bring him back and remind me of the next part of growth at Yale.”

Post Malone’s song “Sunflower,” featuring Swae Lee, shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 ratings over two months after it initially debuted. Since then, the hit single has been on the chart for 53 weeks and became the first ever double-diamond certified song.

The awarding organization, the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA, has established the minimum threshold of 20 million units for the double-diamond accolade; each download sale or 150 audio and/or video streams of the single within the United States constitutes one unit. Furthermore, due to the achievement of 20 million units, this song is also recognized by the RIAA as a 20x Platinum single, which has a requirement of 1 million units.

A major reason for Lee’s success can perhaps be attributed to his intersectionality, and his blending of social media and cinematography. His 2015 claim to fame was due in part to his popularity on the short-form video hosting app Vine and has since come to dominate TikTok.

“[He] is such a force. He brings in so much hype, with easily recognizable songs in his huge discography,” Spring Fling Hospitality Chair Olivia Telemaque ’26 told the News on the night of the lineup release.

However, it was not by a stroke of luck that Swae Lee came to dominate the music field. It was an explicit decision to use lyrics to illustrate daily life.

In an interview with Variety Magazine, Lee said, “I basically do what I think is cool, you know? And I guess I’m a pretty cool guy, so that translates well to the people.”

While he is well known for his solo performances, he is also an avid songwriter for other singers; Lee even co-wrote alongside Beyoncé for the song “Formation” in her 2016 album “Lemonade.” Lee has also made appearances with other artists, such as French Montana on “Unforgettable.” 

Because of Lee’s strong collaboration focus, Risha Chakraborty ’25 believes that his presence this year will be especially exciting. 

“Lee has a bunch of hits and cool songs that are featured in movies and a lot of those are collaborations with other artists. So, if you listen to any pop or rap or watch movies, chances are you have heard [of] Swae Lee,” Chakraborty told the News. 

He spoke about his unreleased songs in another 2019 Variety interview: “I don’t wanna give them away … I end up loving them myself and want to use them for myself. Plus, I feel like my songs are [of a] different caliber. I don’t want to just give them away and have [another artist] not take them seriously.”

For Sheikh Nahiyan ’24, this year’s lineup is more exciting compared to previous years’, and he said that this sentiment holds “generally across the board.”

“The diversity in artists, from Dayglow to Swae Lee, means everyone can find something they’re interested in listening to,” Chakraborty added.

Spring Fling will be happening this year on April 17 on the Old Campus Courtyard.