Musician
Stephen Sanchez
has cancelled his upcoming
Australian and New Zealand tour
, sharing a lengthy post online about why – but fans are less than impressed.
The 23-year-old singer, who hit global fame after his songs
High
and
Until I Found You
became popular on
TikTok
, took aim at “heavily pornographic”
pop music
as he explained why he pulled out of the tour.
The American pop star
shared the news on Instagram
on Tuesday, after his second album Love, Love, Love failed to rocket up the charts.
“I’m sitting in an
airport
trying to express feelings that need so much context and so many details for everyone to understand in full,” the lengthy text post started.
“The cancellation of the NZ/AU tour without explanation has left some of you with questions and I imagine some frustrated feelings as well.”
Sanchez noted that he is aware fans had hotels and flights booked, which is obviously frustrating, and revealed that an “unannounced US tour” was also going to be cancelled too.
“This part I can’t make everyone understand,” he continued.
“I spent the majority of 2025 working on
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE
. In short, what felt like never ending conflict, stress, anxiety and overall deeply negative energy surrounding the process and lead up to this album’s release absolutely ruined this music for me.
“It affected me so much that I wanted to quit making music altogether.”
But instead of stepping away, he went on his European and UK tour, hoping it would change his feelings, which it did not.
“Instead, I went on the EU/UK tour because I thought it would change my feelings towards this album, it unfortunately did not
“I am incredibly lucky to be doing this job as much as you’ve allowed me to. But, when all was said and done, what did make things better for me was to be home, to see my family and my friends outside of a green room, to have actual time to find purpose in making music again beyond just trying to make everyone happy all the time,” he wrote.
As the post continued, Sanchez took aim at other music that was released while he was creating the album.
“What made things even more discouraging for me was hearing some of the popular music that was coming out during the time I was working on this album,” he continued.
“Music that people were somehow getting bought into every day. Disgusting, heavily pornographic lyrics, nothing driving people to do anything, to see anything different in a way that helps others along.
“So much of it felt dividing or shallow or filled with lust, not love.”
Sanchez added that he’s sick of musicians sharing every part of their life online and doing things just in an attempt to “go viral”.
“I’m so sick of that,” he wrote.
He finished the post by saying he would return to music “when I feel that I’ve created that space for myself”.
Fans initially flocked to the comments on the post,
slamming him for the reason behind the cancelled tour
and his thoughts about other musicians.
The comments have since been turned off on his post and disappeared, but many fans questioned if low ticket sales were behind the sudden cancellation.
Others praised him for stepping back and putting himself first.
Sanchez was due to kick off the tour in New Zealand on Saturday July 11 in Christchurch, with seven shows scheduled between there and Australia, wrapping up in Perth on July 28.
Stephen Sanchez cancels Australia and NZ tour after fan confusion
