In this article we examine the politics of urban aesthetics and elite-driven development in African cities through the case of Beautifying Sheger, a high-profile riverside redevelopment project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Promoted to create a clean, green and globally competitive capital, the project reflects the new ruling party’s urban sociotechnical imaginary. Yet beneath this vision lies a contested terrain shaped by aesthetic governance, spatial exclusion and social inequality. In this article, we draw on large-scale textual analysis of discussions across three online platforms to explore how the public interprets and contests the project. Topic and sentiment modeling reveals divergent public attitudes towards the political, economic, social and physical dimensions of the project, with perceptions shifting in response to emerging national crises, which underscores the fragility of aesthetic legitimacy and the volatility of elite-led urban visions. Close readings of online discussions further show how top-down beautification efforts facilitated by state elites, foreign donors and transnational experts often sideline local voices and bypass participatory planning. By situating Beautifying Sheger within broader genealogies of aesthetic politics in the global South, our article contributes to critical debates on urban infrastructure, state power and citizen agency, and calls for more inclusive and context-sensitive urban design and planning intervention.