AMHERST — In the age of online dating, University of Massachusetts Amherst students are apparently tops when it comes to “swiping right.”
On Wednesday, the university was announced as the winner of a contest by the dating/hookup app Tinder to host a concert with the hip-hop megastar Cardi B. UMass Amherst beat out 63 other universities in a bid to see who could rack up the most “swipe rights” on the app — an action users perform to “like” and connect with other users.
The concert will take place April 25 at the Mullins Center. Tickets will be available starting Thursday at 10 a.m. and will be available to UMass Amherst students only.
Cardi B, whose legal name is Belcalis Almanzar, is a rapper and former stripper who rose to prominence on social media before her 2017 single “Bodak Yellow” became a smash hit, making Cardi B only the second solo female rap artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song won Single of the Year at last year’s BET Hip Hop Awards, and was nominated for two Grammy Awards.
Cardi B, who is from the Bronx, released her highly anticipated debut studio album, “Invasion of Privacy,” April 6, and it debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. She also announced during on April 7 during a performance on Saturday Night Live that she is pregnant and expecting her first child with fiancé Offset, a fellow rapper and member of the Atlanta-based hip-hop trio Migos.
This will not be Cardi B’s first time in Amherst; she performed at Amherst College’s nightlife venue, The Powerhouse, in November of 2016.
“Amherst College was lit!” she said on Twitter after that concert.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.