The Hottest Accessory At Coachella Is... Earplugs

Coachella isn’t just playing human pinball as you hustle from one stage to another — it’s some of the finest people-watching a terrace-culture-poor nation has to offer. And while my extended look-see unearthed a lot of the usual posturing but little true personal style, I did recognize one interesting pattern this year: lots and lots of Loop earplugs.

While I was invited to the festival as a guest of the brand — it collaborated with Coachella on a limited-edition pair in dusk-until-dawn orange and blue — I’m not exaggerating when I say that I spotted the highly recognizable rings nestled into ears everywhere: at the Aperol Spritz Piazza, under the Gobi Tent for Arca, and generally milling about on the grounds. (Loop co-founder Maarten Bodewes tells NYLON he even noticed attendees with earlier models.)

Why? If you’ve been to a concert lately, you’ll know that hearing protection, once reserved for my music-industry pals who would turn up at gigs with custom squishy inserts, is hot. You could attribute this to wellness mania, but it’s also clear that the market is meeting consumers where they are — which is to say at a place where they’ll wear the safety gear, provided that it’s cute.

As I learned while testing out my own set of Loop x Coachella Experience 2s for the weekend, the new-gen earplugs are very much not an eyesore; they just look like you have quasi double daith piercings. My real daith piercing, however, prevented the outer ring of my left Loop from laying completely flat, but that didn’t seem to impact the noise-dampening qualities (though the fit is a different story if I have jewelry in my conch). The slim connector cord magnetically closes around your neck to vaguely resemble a bolo tie (on-theme) and didn’t clash too terribly with any of my shoddily prepared outfits.

Loop x Coachella Experience 2

Loop Earplugs -

Loop x Coachella Link

Loop Earplugs -

The effect on sound quality was almost as unobtrusive. During performances that I didn’t much care about, aka the oontz-oontz-y ones where you can feel your ribcage rattling, the Loops worked like an IRL volume button. Though muffled, my companions’ conversations were still mostly coherent, and I could respond with a matching degree of loudness (I’m pretty sure). There was one unexpected side effect: The earplugs can act as a deterrent against strange men with a moderate success rate, depending on how convincing your “Sorry, can’t hear you!” is.

Only during Charli XCX’s set did I feel like I was experiencing a bit of auditory FOMO. I’ve seen her quite a few times, but this was the first where she sounded like she was singing underwater, which was both trippy and mildly frustrating; it can feel isolating to have a different sensory experience than most people around you. But then, I just popped the earplugs out for my favorite songs so I could enjoy them fully... and put them back in for the more interlude-y tracks. That’s the discussion you have to have with yourself: When do I want to be able to take in the music with all its nuance? In what instances do I care more about being physically able to continue hearing any music at all? I ride for Charli, so for her big Brat victory lap, I knew it was worth it to have a little hearing damage as a treat.