Yungblud has abruptly pulled out of a music festival in Calgary taking place this weekend, stating that he is “taking time off” and “working on myself”.
The British musician, 28, had been scheduled to perform at Canada’s Cowboys Music Festival on Sunday 12 July, amid a wider world tour in promotion of his 2025 album Idols.
Cowboys festival shared three statements on Instagram announcing the news – from Yungblud himself (real name Dominic Harrison), his management team, and festival organisers.
“Reluctantly we have made the decision as a team to pull Yungblud from the Cowboys Music Festival in Calgary this Sunday,” said the artist’s management. “We are sorry for any disappointment this may cause, these are not decisions we take lightly.”
They added that all other scheduled shows coming up on the musician’s tour are set to go ahead as planned.
Yungblud, meanwhile, said: “To all my fans in Canada I apologise for not being there with you this weekend. I’m currently in a place where I’m working on myself and taking time off at home in the UK.”
He added: “I’m taking this extremely seriously and facing head on what’s going on for the good of the long term. I will never take any of this for granted and I will see you all soon. I love you all.”
The vocalist recently shared a clip of himself performing at BludFest in Czechia last month, when he was seen breaking down in tears onstage.
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“Recently, I’ve been really struggling,” he wrote, “and this moment is a byproduct of my body releasing the wave of emotion that has hit me in the past year that I’ve been unable to process.
“I’m not gonna lie to you when I got off this stage I felt elated but 20 minutes later when I was in the shower on my own I had a breakdown.”
He wrote that the “amount of hate and disbelief” from “strangers on the internet” and “bitter musicians” had taken its toll on his mental health. “I have felt in pain a lot and I don’t know why for a long time,” he said.
“Being an artist in this day and age is so strange because everything moves so quickly,” he wrote. “You never get to sit in what happens for more than a couple hours therefore you fail to navigate or process anything you feel both good or bad at all.”
The statement followed online criticism over allegations of being him an “industry plant” – a term used to describe artists whose popularity is artificially inflated through the manipulations of record labels.
He seemingly referenced an article published last month in Blunt magazine that came to his defence, headlined “Yungblud Isn’t An Industry Plant – The Internet Just Missed The Grind”.
“I read an article the yesterday morning that felt validating to me,” he wrote in last week’s post. “It’s strange because the press don’t usually like to compliment me. Writers and influencers get more clicks out of negativity around me.
“I don’t complain about it because I think that’s just the space that I take up for them, that’s the kind of artist I am and that’s the way of the world.”
In the final statement following his festival cancellation, Cowboys Music Festival said: “Our thoughts are with Dom (YUNGBLUD). We are sending him all our love and support, and wish him nothing but the very best during this time.
“We want him to know and feel the true love he has here in Canada.”