As the semester comes to an end, the final hurrah for most students is LDOC and its long-awaited concert. Duke University Union (DUU) has outdone themselves this year and planned a fantastic lineup. If you are curious about the artists that will be gracing Abele Quad April 24, look no further.
Our headliner, Swae Lee, comprises one half of the hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd, which he formed with his brother Slim Jxmmi. Rae Sremmurd produced many songs that characterized the mid-2010s, such as “No Flex Zone,” “My X,” “This Could Be Us,” “Come Get Her,” “Swang” and “No Type.”
Their song “Black Beatles” (featuring Gucci Mane) sparked one of the most viral moments of 2016: the Mannequin Challenge (which everyone had better participate in when Lee performs!). Swae Lee’s songs were the backbone of TikTok precursor Musical.ly. Even almost ten years later, I can vividly picture Loren Gray and Baby Ariel lip-synching to these songs at 2x speed. Duke students will totally appreciate this nostalgia of a simpler time, AKA our middle school selves.
On top of his contributions to internet history via Rae Sremmurd, Lee has had a thriving solo career. He has collaborated with many artists to produce iconic hits: he guest featured on French Montana’s single “Unforgettable,” he received a Grammy nomination for co-writing Beyonce’s single “Formation,” he appeared on Nicki Minaj’s 2018 album “Queen” in the song “Chun Swae,” and my personal favorite is the single “Close to Me” with Ellie Goudling and Diplo. It is seriously the best workout song; try it.
Swae Lee’s most popular song is “Sunflower” (with Post Malone), which was released for the soundtrack of the film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018). In addition to Duke’s LDOC concert, Lee is also headlining at Yale’s Spring Fling this year.
The next artist, Elley Duhé, is a pop singer, boasting many hits with big-name producers and artists. During the 2024 Grammy Awards, she was awarded her first Grammy in Best Dance/Electronic Recording for the song “Rumble.” Her most famous songs include “Happy Now” with Zedd, “Bad Memories'' with MEDUZA, James Carter and FAST BOY, and “Middle of the Night'’, which went viral on TikTok in 2020. The virality of that song made Duhé popular on the platform; more than 400,000 users now follow her account. She is one of many artists — young, old, iconic or underground — who have accelerated their careers with viral sounds on TikTok.
My favorite song of Duhé’s is “Tie Me Down” with Gryffin. One fun fact about Duhé is that she blind-auditioned on an episode of “The Voice” in 2012, but ultimately was rejected by the judges. She’s come a long way since then, and being featured in Duke’s LDOC concert is a testament to her success!
The last artist performing during LDOC is Weston Estate, a North Carolina-based indie boy-band consisting of Srikar Nanduri, Manas Panchavati, Tanmay Joshi, Abhi Manhass and Marco Luka. They are representative of the Triangle Area college zeitgeist; members of Weston Estate have attended Duke (Luka), UNC (Joshi and Panchavati) and NC State (Nanduri and Manhass). Formed back in 2017, the band has since overcome their college rivalries to create great music.
Weston Estate’s most popular songs include “Stoked,” “Pears” and “So Good,” the latter of which boasts 21.4 million streams on Spotify. Their song “Pears” was featured in Season 3 Episode 4 of the Netflix series “Never Have I Ever.” They self-describe their band philosophy as “optimistic nihilism,” which aptly matches the vibes on campus as summer approaches. This was my first time hearing about them, but I am glad I did because “So Good” is totally a banger.
Overall, DUU has brought Duke a diverse bunch of artists to end the school year on a high note. I’ll definitely be trying to make front row at this concert.
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