Grammy-nominated artist JP Saxe has been forced to axe his entire tour unless he sells 20,000 tickets immediately after he ‘aimed too high’.
The Canadian singer, 32, is best known for his hit song If The World Was Ending, which he released in 2019 with vocals from Julia Michaels.
The track landed him a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year 2021 but lost out to I Can’t Breathe by H.E.R.
Four years on, and he’s taken to social media to confess he had overestimated how many tickets he could sell to his latest tour.
‘I’m extremely embarrassed to tell you this, but I’m going to tell you anyway,’ he began in a video posted to social media.
‘If I don’t sell 20 or so thousand tickets to my tour in the next 48 hours, it’s going to be cancelled.
‘If we’re just not in a place yet to sell out these 2,000-, 3,000-cap venues – that’s fine. It’s always been my goal to connect deeply, not widely, and I stand by that.’
The Make Yourself At Home tour was due to start next month with 32-dates scheduled across America, ending in October.
He urged fans who might be waiting until the last minute to purchase tickets to act now so it could go ahead.
‘Just in case you were waiting till the week of or night of to buy a ticket – that approach just isn’t going to work, because there won’t be a show to buy a ticket to,’ JP continued.
‘So whether that happens or not, I’m grateful to you for caring about my songs, and I hold on to a sliver of hope that I will see you in the fall.’
After his message, an influx of ‘a few thousand extra’ ticket sales came in but it still hasn’t been enough to save the tour.
‘I am beyond grateful to every one of you who bought one,’ JP said in a follow-up video once the 48hour deadline had passed.
‘Those few thousand tickets are a reminder that being transparent in failure sometimes can be more powerful than the façade of success – a reminder of how wonderful it can be to ask for help and watch a community come together.’
With a smile, he added: ‘This really was the nicest the internet has ever been to me.’
Apologising to those who wanted to come, JP confirmed purchases would be refunded in full ‘with a small side of immense gratitude from a dorky ginger Canadian’.
He then went on to write about the experience for Variety, explaining that honesty is not always seen as the best policy in the industry but it was important to him.
Rather than an ‘ego-saving explanation’, the I Don’t Miss You singer admitted he had ‘aimed too high – my bad.’
‘Self-image is delicate on a good day, fragile on a bad one,’ he wrote. ‘Applause for success is great.
‘But there is something more interesting about be applauded for honesty in failure. It’s not as good for my ego — but maybe i’ts better for my growth’.
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