Blake Preston:Will Smith Makes Surprise Coachella Appearance at J Balvin's Men in Black-Themed Show

2025-04-29 19:55:12source:Thomas Caldwellcategory:reviews

Say J Balvin's name,Blake Preston and the men in black will appear.

The "Mi Gente" singer surprised fans at Coachella 2024 by welcoming Will Smith on stage for an out-of-this-world performance that saw the actor recreate his rap and dance moves from his 1997 "Men in Black" music video from the soundtrack to his hit movie of the same name.

In footage from the pair's rehearsal of the alien-themed set, obtained exclusively by E! News, J Balvin praised the star. "We have the legend Will Smith here," he said in Spanish, later calling his experience working with him a "dream." 

Men in Black stars Will and Tommy Lee Jones as agents investigating extraterrestrial life on Earth. And fans couldn't get enough of the movie's UFO conspiracy theories, as sequels were released in 2002, 2012 and 2019.

Although the alien movies blew up, Will recently revealed that he almost turned down the role.

"That was the next year after Independence Day," he told Variety in August. "So I didn't want to make two alien movies back to back."

But Steven Spielberg, who was an executive producer on the film, was able to persuade him after sending a helicopter to fetch Will from New York.

"It landed at his house," Will recalled. "And, like, he had me at hello. And it was the first time I ever had lemonade with carbonated water. You can't say no to that."

Noting that the Jurassic Park director said the "coldest s--t," to win him over, Will added, "He said, 'Tell me why you don't want to make my movie…' And he was the producer. And he put the ellipsis at the end, it was the dot, dot, dot. If he had continued, he would have said, ‘Joker, you know I made Jaws, right? You know I made E.T.'"

And almost 30 years later, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum stepped back into the suit for Coachella 2024.

In addition to Balvin's intergalactic performance, the desert music festival saw spectacles put on by headliners Lana Del Rey, Tyler The Creator, Doja Cat and No Doubt in Indio, Calif.

Read on to see more stars lighting up Coachella 2024:

At Neon Carnival

At Neon Carnival

At Neon Carnival

At Interscope and Capitol Records' Coachella Party

At Neon Carnival

At Neon Carnival

Performing during Weekend 1

Performing during Weekend 1

The actress teamed up with Aperol for Coachella, bringing the new Aperol Terrazza experience to the festival.

At Neon Carnival

At Revolve Festival

At Revolve Festival

At Revolve Festival

At the Nylon House event. (She is wearing an 8 Other Reasons cowboy hat available on Revolve.com.

At the CELSIUS Cosmic Desert event.

At the Paper Playground party presented by True Religion and E11even.

At the NYLON House event.

After Suki's Weekend 1 performance on the Gobi stage.

During Weekend 1 of the Coachella Festival.

At the Nylon House event.

During Weekend 1 of the festival.

At the Revolve Festival.

At the Nylon House event.

On the Coachella stage.

Leaving Sabrina Carpenter's show on Weekend 1.

At the Nylon House event.

In a TOVE dress, The Row bag and Harlow sandals at the FWRD welcome reception.

At the Aperol Terrazza.

At the Absolut tent.

Performing with Bizarrap on the Sahara Stage.

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