Singer blames team for late tour cancellation

FKA twigs has apologised to fans after pulling out of her North American tour at the last minute over visa issues.

She was due to perform in Chicago on Wednesday with further dates planned in New York and Toronto.

Posting on Instagram, the Cellophane singer blamed members of her team for not getting the visa needed for US immigration sorted before she was due to travel.

“Production did not fill out the paperwork in a timely manner,” she says in a video, recorded while sitting on the floor.

She explains that because of the way the team was set to travel through the US, her performance in neighbouring Canada would be postponed too.

The artist now says those dates will be rescheduled, a decision she’s called “heartbreaking”.

In the same video, the Cheltenham-born performer, real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett, suggests this isn’t the only problem she’s had with her production team on her Eusexua tour.

She’s been performing in the UK with shows in Manchester and London which she says have been “absolutely incredible”.

But when it comes to her team, she says “behind the scenes it has been challenging with production and putting on the tour together”.

She didn’t go into further detail outside of the problems with her US visa.

FKA twigs is also due to perform in San Francisco and Coachella festival in California next month, but hasn’t said yet whether these shows will go ahead.

She promised fans she’ll come back “harder and stronger than ever” even if she’s disappointed now.

“I feel super let down,” she says.

Other artists have previously complained of rising costs and waiting times for the visas they need to tour in the US.

Last April, the cost of some visas doubled to over $1,000 (£800) per person. That’s before additional fees needed to fast-track applications, which some artists say is increasingly the only way to meet deadlines.

Speaking at the time, Irish singer-songwriter CMAT said she loses money when touring the US because of costs but it’s important perform there to build a successful global career.

The US Embassy previously told BBC Newsbeat it doesn’t make any money from visa charges and the price increases were down to its own rising costs and a backlog in processing applications.

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