Global Citizen returned to Central Park’s Great Lawn on Saturday (9/27) for its 2025 NYC edition (if you weren’t there in person, maybe you watched the livestream on Veeps or YouTube). Shakira headlined, playing hits like “Hips Don’t Lie,” “Whenever, Wherever,” and “Underneath Your Clothes,” and on before her was Rosé of BLACKPINK, whose first solo festival performance included a cover of The Cranberries’ “Linger.”
Cardi B was a late addition to the lineup, replacing The Weeknd, and she gave “ErrTime” from her sophomore album Am I the Drama? its live debut during her short set. She also played “Outside” off the new album, and two tracks off Invasion of Privacy, “Bodak Yellow” and “I Like It.”
Also performing at Global Citizen 2025 were Elyanna, Camilo, Ayra Starr (who played her own set and came out to join Rema later in the evening), Mariah the Scientist, and Tyla. See pictures by Toby Tenenbaum below.
According to organizers, this year’s edition “gathered 60,000 global citizens on the Great Lawn, after taking a record-breaking 4.3 million actions, for an incredible day of music and impact. The flagship event from Global Citizen, the world’s largest movement to end extreme poverty, mobilized $280 million in commitments to protect 25 million hectares of the Amazon rainforest; over $30 million raised for access to education and sports for children in over 200 communities worldwide through the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund; and clean energy access provided to 4.6 million homes across Africa.”
“The Global Citizen Festival is about the collective impact of our artists, global citizens, private sector leaders, and government officials to defeat extreme poverty,” Global Citizen co-founder and CEO Hugh Evans said in a statement. “Together, this year’s campaign has broken all action-taking records. We’re proud to celebrate the achievements of this evening, but the work to end extreme poverty doesn’t stop here. As our movement grows, from Central Park to the Amazon Basin and the G20, Global Citizen will continue to drive action towards achieving our mission.”