Natasha Bedingfield To Headline Yardfest 2025

Updated March 25, 2025, at 4:00 a.m.

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield will headline Yardfest 2025, Harvard College’s annual outdoor spring concert, the College Events Board announced Monday — shortly after The Crimson reported Bedingfield was in talks to perform at the event.

Yardfest will also feature student bands Yardbops, Stryk9, and Big Tuesday as opening acts. The student bands competed to perform at the College Events Board’s annual Battle for Yardfest competition on March 7.

“Best known for her iconic 2004 hit, ‘Unwritten,’ Natasha Bedingfield has re-emerged nearly 20 years later to remind us all of the feel-good virality of the 2000s,” the CEB wrote in a statement posted to Instagram.

No announcement was made until weeks after the Battle for Yardfest — a wait that has become normal since Yardfest resumed after the pandemic. The Dean of Students Office assistant director of student programs, Miguel Tejada, suggested in an email to The Crimson on March 6 that a contract with a headliner had not yet been signed.

“We are still waiting to finalize our contract,” Tejada wrote at the time.

College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo declined to comment in early March on whether Bedingfield was in talks with Harvard and whether a contract had been finalized.

Bedingfield is best known for her songs “Unwritten” and “Pocketful of Sunshine,” which were both released in the 2000s. In 2023, “Unwritten” regained popularity after it was featured in the romantic-comedy film “Anyone But You,” reaching number 16 for global Spotify streams in Feb. 2024.

Bedingfield’s media representatives did not respond to a request for comment confirming her performance.

Last year, R&B singer-songwriter Tinashe performed the main act at Yardfest. Five days after her Yard performance, Tinashe released the song “Nasty,” which reached number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June.

Tinashe’s performance drew enthusiastic reactions from undergraduates. But students have frequently complained about Yardfest headliners, asking why the College can’t bring on higher-profile artists.

DSO administrators have said that’s because Yardfest performers are paid through the College’s Student Activities Fee — which undergrads have increasingly opted out of, placing financial strain on SAF-funded events and student organizations.

“We’re never going to get the headliners that you all want for Crimson Jam and Yardfest,” Associate Dean for Student Engagement Jason R. Meier said in a February 2024 interview. “Everyone was like, ‘Oh, get Ice Spice’ last year. Ice Spice was going for a cool half a million dollars last year, without an album yet.”

Yardfest will be held on April 6 in Tercentenary Theatre.

Clarification: March 25, 2025

A previous version of this article stated that the Battle for Yardfest traditionally closes out with the announcement of the headlining artist. To clarify, prior to the pandemic, the Yardfest headliner was typically announced the day of Battle for Yardfest. In recent years, the headliner has been announced later.

—Staff writers Sophia Y. King and Anneliese S. Mattox contributed reporting.

—Staff writer Darcy G Lin can be reached at darcy.lin@thecrimson.com.