Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Santigold cancels US tour: “I will not continue to sacrifice myself for an industry that has become unsustainable”

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 27 September 2022

Santigold has announced that she is cancelling all of her upcoming tour dates because she “will not continue to sacrifice myself for an industry that has become unsustainable for, and uninterested in, the welfare of the artists it is built upon”.

The musician was due to tour the US In October and November in support of her new album ‘Spirituals’, which was released earlier this month. However, that tour will now not go ahead.

In a lengthy statement, she told fans: “For the past several years we have all been through immense challenges, some physical, some mental, some spiritual, some economic”.

“And yet, as we have begun to trudge on, much of the toll of that experience has been left untended as we rush back in, attempting to make up for lost time, to reconnect, catch up on bills unpaid, to escape the insanity that had begun to set in. For many of us, the landscapes we are re-entering are not the same”.

“As a touring musician, I don’t think anyone anticipated the new reality that awaited us”, she goes on. “After sitting idle (not being able to do shows) for the past couple years, many of us like everyone else, earning no or little income during that time, every musician that could, rushed back out immediately when it was deemed safe to do shows”.

“We were met with the height of inflation – gas, tour buses, hotels and flight costs skyrocketed – many of our tried-and-true venues unavailable due to a flooded market of artists trying to book shows in the same cities, and positive test results constantly halting schedules with devastating financial consequences. All of that on top of the already-tapped mental, spiritual, physical and emotional resources of just having made it through the past few years. Some of us are finding ourselves simply unable to make it work”.

“In my case, I have tried and tried, looked at what it would take from every angle, and I simply don’t have it”, she says. “I can’t make it work. I’m actually going to elaborate on it more later because I think it’s important for people to know the truth of what it’s like out here for artists and I don’t believe enough of us are talking about it publicly”.

“But for now”, she reveals, “I want to tell you that for me it has taken a toll – through anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, vertigo, chronic pain, and missing crucial time with my children.

“In the place that I’m in, in the place that the music business is in, it feels like I’ve been hanging on, trying to make it to the ever-distant finish line, but my vehicle’s been falling apart the whole time – the bumper fell off, the wheels one at a time, the steering wheel, and finally the whole bottom fell out”.

“And here I am thinking, ‘Should I just hold the doors up and run?’ And my little heart that has been working way beyond its limits, my whole body in fact and my soul too, are screaming at me ‘NO muthafucka! Pull. The fuck. Over!’”

“I’m coming to you with the honesty that is inherent in my music”, she finishes. “How could I release ‘Spirituals’, an album about honouring yourself and refusing to cross your own boundaries, and not take this opportunity to do just that for myself?”

“I want you to understand that I am proud to be cancelling this tour when it means that I am proclaiming that I, the person who writes the songs, is as important to me as the songs. I will not continue to sacrifice myself for an industry that has become unsustainable for, and uninterested in, the welfare of the artists it is built upon”.

As well as receiving refunds, anyone who purchased tickets for the cancelled shows will also be able to join a VIP membership service providing “access to early releases and announcements, and options to purchase special merch and other exclusive experiences”.