Will Smith crashes Coachella with a surprise ‘Men in Black’ performance with J Balvin
He’s back in “Black.”
Will Smith arrived at Coachella for a surprise performance dressed in a suit and sunglasses — like his famous “Men in Black” character, Agent J — as aliens danced around him.
The Oscar-winning actor, 55, made his showstopping appearance during J Balvin’s Sunday night set at the Indio, California, music festival.
The crowd was stunned, but reacted with enthusiasm.
“J Balvin randomly brought out Will Smith at Coachella, look how happy he was,” one fan said on X, formerly Twitter.
“Will Smith still got it. He wowed the crowd as he surprisingly performed men in black with J Balvin,” another fan said.
“Balvin really brought out the fresh prince??” another astonished onlooker marveled.
During his surprise musical performance, Smith sang his 1997 hit “Men in Black” from the movie, as green aliens danced in the background and a giant alien face decorated the stage behind him.
Smith also did dance moves from the original music video.
Balvin’s set had an extraterrestrial theme. Smith made his surprise appearance towards the end of his set, dressed in his iconic “Men in Black” look.
Keeping with the “Men in Black” theme, Smith ended his performance by taking out a memory-erasing neuralyzer and disappearing as suddenly as he had appeared.
Smith starred in all three “MIB” movies about the agents who monitor alien activity, and use memory-erasing devices on anyone who witnesses it. He played Agent J, a fast-talking former NYPD detective who gets recruited by the older and more seasoned Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones).
The original “Men in Black” song played over the first movie’s credits, and it was from Smith’s debut solo album “Big Willie Style.”
Smith took home a Grammy for it in 1998.
“Y’all will never make me hate this man. i’m sorry,” another viewer wrote — perhaps referring to the controversy around Smith after he slapped Chris Rock on live TV at the 2022 Oscars, resulting in Smith getting a 10-year ban from the award show.
“Will Smith will never not be a legend no matter happens in his personal life. Look at the stage presence and crowd reaction to someone who stopped performing years ago… insane,” another fan commented.
The fan was referring to Smith’s rocky relationship with his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, 52, who revealed in 2023 that the couple has secretly been separated for seven years. Pinkett Smith, and their 25-year-old son, Jaden Smith, were both in the audience to watch the performance.
“The way you can actually hear Will Smith rap and it’s not 90% backing track like most of the Coachella clips I’ve seen,” another fan remarked about his performance.
“Old school rappers were built different.”
Smith was at Coachella to promote the fourth “Bad Boys” movie, “Ride or Die,” premiering June 7. He previously joined Jaden onstage at Coachella in 2019 to perform “Icon.”
