Alex Warren Speaks Out After Dropping Out of P.E.I’s Sommo Festival: ‘I Just Want Time Off’

Alex Warren is doing something unordinary for a pop star.

Yesterday (September 3), organizers of P.E.I’s Sommo Festival shared that the “Ordinary” singer withdrew from the event due to “a recently booked scheduling conflict,” in a now-deleted social post.

"With the festival being next week, as you can imagine, this leaves us in a difficult position," they wrote. "We are working hard to complete the lineup, and you'll be the first to know when we do."

Warren was set to join the East Coast two-day festival from September 13-14, with headliners Hozier and Alanis Morissette, and support from Ducks Ltd., PVRIS, Alice Merton, Chiara Savasta, Michael Marcagi, Hollow Coves and more.

Later that night, the chart-topping star took to TikTok to share his perspective — and set the record straight.

“Four weeks ago, I asked for time off. I’m going through a lot of stuff, I’ve been touring all year, I have rehearsals on my birthday — so I wanted a week off. A week off where I could go see a therapist, spend time with my family and sleep in my own bed, because I haven’t been able to do that,” Warren shared.

He continued: “My team had told me that I’d have to cancel a show or two, and I said, ‘that’s totally fine. I don’t care how much we lose, I don’t care what the f–k happens, I just want time off.” Last month, Warren performed an afternoon set at Montreal's Osheaga.

Warren gets into the specifics of his cancelled set at Sommo Fest, sharing that his team had tried to work with the festival organizers to withdraw from his originally scheduled September 14 slot. “[The festival] was trying to get me to stay, but I just wanted this time to have to myself and spend time with my family.”

Since this initial conversation was “weeks ago,” according to Warren, he assumed that everything was taken care of — until the festival made their announcement yesterday. “The festival posted that I had a commitment, and that I had something that was bigger and better and made more money, or whatever the heck.”

“I find out that they’re sending DMs to people [saying] that I decided to take on a talk show instead of going to their show, and that’s not the case, that’s not true. Then I find out that they’re liking hate comments and DM-ing my fans.”

Despite being advised not to discuss the topic, Warren says his fans deserve answers.

“To P.E.I, I’m sorry. This isn’t some bulls–t, cop out. This isn’t some thing where it’s like ‘oh he’s blaming someone else. Truly, I had no idea this was gonna happen. If that was the case, I would’ve tried to carve out time somewhere else.”

Warren isn’t the first artist to drop out of Sommo Fest. In May, country star Cameron Whitcomb dropped out of the festival, citing “a scheduling conflict.”

Since Warren’s post, the festival organizers have removed their social media posts related to Warren, but this hasn’t stopped fans from commenting on other photos.

“You turning off comments only shows y'all knew you were in the wrong in the first place. You should not be putting on a music festival if this is how you're going to treat your artists. Disgusting,” wrote one user.

“As if you were liking hate comments towards one of the most genuine artists out there 😂” said another.

Sommo Festival has yet to release a statement responding to Warren’s post.