PARTYNEXTDOOR headlined the inaugural TouchGrass Music Festival in Orlando on October 3, topping a lineup built around internet culture. The Mississauga singer closed the one-day debut at the Orlando Amphitheater, giving a first-year festival a Canadian R&B headliner with the catalog to carry a finale.
A Festival Born Online
TouchGrass is produced by the collective behind TouchGrass TV, a group of streamers and creators who met online and built the event to turn digital communities into a real room. The name comes from the familiar internet instruction to log off and touch grass, and organizers describe the concept as a response to audiences who spend their lives on feeds but still crave shared experiences in person. In the festival’s own announcement materials, the mission is stated plainly:
A cultural experience and music fest where online communities can make IRL memories that last a lifetime.
The debut ran from noon to 11 p.m. across two stages at the Orlando Amphitheater, the outdoor lakeside venue at the Central Florida Fairgrounds with a capacity of roughly 10,000. The bill paired PARTYNEXTDOOR with Atlanta lyricist JID, Portland’s Aminé, and a run of rap and R&B names including Monaleo, Flo Milli, TiaCorine, DDG and Cochise. Chris Patrick, Armani White, Jenevieve, Wynne, Bizzy Crook, Slayr, Trim and Sosocamo filled out a lineup that grew considerably from the version first announced in the spring. Programming beyond the stages included the Bae Brigade Battle hosted by Storymode Bae and Girls Love Karaoke, plus DJ sets and special guests.
The Night Belonged To The Headliner
Post-event reviews agreed on the shape of the day. JID delivered a lyrical showcase, Flo Milli ran through a hit-filled set and Monaleo brought early energy, but the night peaked when the headliner finally took the stage. According to Couch Pilgrim’s review of the debut, the crowd waited through an hour-long delay before PARTYNEXTDOOR’s set, and the patience paid off: a surprise appearance from Trippie Redd and a fireworks finale closed the festival. Where the day’s earlier sets pushed for raw crowd participation, his performance took a slower and more atmospheric route, turning a big outdoor crowd into something closer to a collective singalong. It was a deliberate contrast, and it worked as a wind-down for an audience that had been on its feet since noon. Hip-HopVibe’s recap reached a similar conclusion, calling his headlining performance the night’s biggest moment while crediting the two-stage setup for keeping the day moving. For a festival navigating weather disruptions and first-edition logistics, reviewers also noted the production held together without major technical failures.
A Career Built For Moments Like This
Festival organizers looking for a closer could hardly pick a safer pair of hands. Born Jahron Brathwaite in Mississauga, PARTYNEXTDOOR became the first artist signed to Drake’s OVO Sound in 2013 and helped define the hazy, nocturnal R&B sound that came out of the Toronto area in the decade that followed. His pen travelled even further than his own records: he co-wrote Rihanna’s “Work,” which spent nine consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016, and contributed to records by Kanye West, Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Post Malone. His fourth solo album, PARTYNEXTDOOR 4, arrived in April 2024 and debuted in the top ten of the Billboard 200. Then came $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, his collaborative album with Drake, released on February 14, 2025. It debuted at number one on both the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Canadian Albums chart and spun off “Somebody Loves Me,” “Die Trying” featuring Yebba and “Nokia.” The “Somebody Loves Me” rollout alone spawned nineteen music videos released through Drake’s YouTube channel in August 2025, and a Pt. 2 with Cash Cobain followed in September. TouchGrass was not even his only Florida stage that weekend: he played LIV Nightclub in Miami Beach on October 2, the night before the festival.
Closing the first TouchGrass fits the pattern of his last two years: a writer and performer whose work anchors other stars’ biggest moments, stepping into the top line himself. If the debut becomes an annual event, as early reviews suggest it could, its first headliner will be remembered as the Mississauga artist who turned an internet joke into a full day of live music, and then sent everyone home under fireworks.
