PinkPantheress Explains Canceled Shows in New Zane Lowe Interview

PinkPantheress opened up about the moment she realized she needed to step away from music and cancel a bunch of tour dates in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1.

Last August, the singer-songwriter abruptly called off all her remaining shows for the year, including festival appearances and dates opening for Olivia Rodrigo and Coldplay. PinkPantheress told Lowe she definitely faced some resistance from her team over the decision, especially considering the size of the shows, what they could mean for her burgeoning career, and the payday.

While PinkPantheress acknowledged “the opportunity for backlash” as one potential repercussion, she said the money she lost out on was “the least of my concerns.” The need to focus on her health at that moment was too great to ignore for any reason.

“I think it was when I started cutting my hair with razor blades where I realized, you know what? I’m actually going to stop now… I’m going to probably take a step back and chill,” PinkPantheress said. 

The musician admitted she sometimes has a tendency to push through tough periods, which is how she ended up losing much of the hearing in her right ear. But, she said, she generally doesn’t suffer form “any kind of lapse in judgements when it comes to myself” — but that’s what made her desire to cut her hair feel so acute. 

“I had an impulse to literally get follicles of hair off me,” she said, adding. “I was full up. There was something that I needed to address, and so I had to leave. And I did that for my own good. And obviously it was a very sad moment for people that wanted to see me but couldn’t see me. But obviously, what goes around comes around, and I’ll be back again.”

To that end, PinkPantheress definitely is back and set to release her new mixtape, Fancy That, this Friday, May 9. It marks her first major release in two years, following her 2023 debut album, Heaven Knows. So far, she’s released a pair of singles from the mixtape, “Tonight” and “Stateside.”