• Bella Thorne threw an invite-only, alien-inspired Coachella after-party last Friday.
• Insider got exclusive access to the event, which featured performances from Diplo and Big Sean.
• Celebrities like Timothée Chalamet, Lil Nas X, and Tana Mongeau were also in attendance.

Late Friday night, the day Coachella kicked off in Indio, California, celebrity guests began flooding the red carpet at Bella Thorne's after-party.

The exclusive soirée, which Thorne began planning in November, was located a short drive from the festival in Bermuda Dunes. 

"Because of everything with Covid, we started planning later in the year than we really wanted to, just because we needed to know if Coachella and any events were going to happen this year," event director Michael Cohen told Insider.

His team at Infused Group got the go-ahead in October when Coachella announced that it would no longer require proof of vaccination to attend.

"I really wanted it to feel like a mini EDC," Thorne told Insider, referring to the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas.

The "Shake It" singer said she plans to continue hosting the event to make it more elaborate and exciting each year.

"Our whole original vision for this was, in the next four to five years, we want to be able to compete with Neon Carnival," Cohen agreed.

"This was our third event myself and Bella did together. Next year, we are going to go even bigger," he added.

The event's theme was an alien invasion.

Thorne said she was spurred to go with an alien theme because her sister reminds her of "a little mini alien."

"And we were in the desert, so it fit really well," Cohen added.

The Drip Dome, a small lounge inspired by a UFO, was built in less than 24 hours.

Cohen said the Drip Dome was a last-minute addition to the party because they had a major vendor fall through, adding that it was a big hit for Instagram photos and other forms of content creation.

Cohen said Thorne is the only "singular individual of this stature" who pulled off a party like this.

Every year at Coachella, there's a variety of branded events and after-parties that celebrities and VIP guests are invited to attend. But as Cohen noted, it's rare for a celebrity to be hosting one alone.

"Everything else is like, a big Revolve party," he told Insider. "So I was like, 'Bella, you could do this and you could be the only person, like a singular individual of this stature, to really pull something off like this.'"

"Overall, compared to all the other parties we attended this past weekend, ours felt the most authentic," he added. "It was a grassroots event at the end of the day. The only goal was to create an unparalleled experience for our attendees."

Thorne's own cannabis line Forbidden Flowers helped sponsor the event.

Thorne launched Forbidden Flowers in October 2019 in conjunction with Glass House Group, a fast-growing cannabis company.

Her party boasted a massive art car by Rynobus — or "huge smoking bus," as Thorne called it — so guests could play video games and smoke marijuana in peace.

Cohen said the bus was "a huge highlight" of the party.

"People were staying in there the entire event so I was like, yeah, that's awesome," he said.

"We gave out, like, 15 pounds of weed," Thorne said.

"We were just like, 'Everybody smoke, smoke here, smoke there, smoke!' It was amazing," she told Insider. "It's always great when you walk home with weed from a party."

Tana Mongeau could be spotted hanging out in the VIP area.

The popular YouTuber and influencer, who previously dated Thorne, was one of many famous attendees.

The guest list included Timothée Chalamet, Lil Nas X, Post Malone, Jhené Aiko, and Jared Leto.

According to Cohen, his team originally envisioned a 400-person cap, but they ended up welcoming about 500. He said the invite-only event was designed to minimize a "fan presence."

Thorne also said she specifically asked people not to take unwanted photos of her guests or "be in their face."

"I just don't want anybody feeling like that at my party," she told Insider.

Bertha the elephant, a mainstay at Burning Man, was also in attendance.

"Bertha goes around in all the really big festivals, mainly Burning Man," Cohen explained. "During all these festivals, people bring different gifts to Bertha, and Bertha is supposed to grow, figuratively, and change colors."

"The community of Bertha is kind of worldwide," he added.

Performers included JAUZ, Ghastly, Myles O'Neal, and Thorne's sister Dani, who goes by the stage name COM3T.

Thorne said she emphasized the importance of sound quality during the planning phase.

"I knew that the stage production was one of the most important things so that our artists felt comfortable, and that everything was right for them so that they could put on their best performance," Thorne told Insider.

"Sometimes you have some sound issues. They even have them at Coachella," she continued. "And we didn't have any production issues. That made me so, so happy."

Diplo appeared around 2 a.m. for a headlining set.

The American DJ and producer had just come from a surprise set at Coachella's Do LaB stage.

Thorne and Diplo are close friends.

"When we were curating the lineup, we really wanted to get people who were good in the party scene," Cohen told Insider. "Also, Bella and Diplo have a really good relationship. So we thought he would be the perfect person to get."

"He was really excited about it all too," Cohen added. "He had a really great time."

The night also featured a surprise performance from Big Sean.

"Nobody knew Big Sean was going to come out, so that definitely set a tone," Thorne told Insider.

"People just started running, like a fucking mob, running, just going so fast as soon as they heard him from the speakers," she continued, describing the moment as "euphoric."

Thorne said she "didn't really have a great time" because she was "working the whole entire time."

"But what made me so happy was seeing everybody else have a fucking blast," Thorne told Insider.

"I was definitely working, couldn't really say hi to many people, and that's OK," she continued. "But so many people texted me that they had just the best fucking time, so that made me excited."

Follow along with Insider's Coachella coverage here.

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