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Why Canceling My Tour Relaunched and Revived My Career As an Independent Artist, by JP Saxe (Guest Column)
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter JP Saxe has written a follow-up guest column for Variety reflecting on how cancelling his headlining tour a year ago, after poor ticket sales, ended up reshaping and reviving his career. Rather than treating the setback as a failure to recover from, Saxe describes it as a turning point that pushed him away from a self-imposed expectation of ever-escalating success and towards a more independent, self-defined approach to his work as a musician.
In the year since the cancellation, Saxe has performed with the Jonas Brothers, contributed songwriting to Nick Jonas's 2026 album "Sunday Best", and served as direct support on Megan Moroney's sold-out arena tour. He has also left Arista Records after six years and two albums to become an independent artist, launching this new chapter with the single "When I Lose You" ahead of his forthcoming album "Okay Piano Guy", due for release on 23 October.
In short
- JP Saxe reflects on how cancelling his tour ultimately revived his career
- He's gone independent after six years with Arista Records
- New album "Okay Piano Guy" arrives 23 October
Explained simply
JP Saxe is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter who cancelled his headlining tour about a year ago after struggling to sell tickets. Rather than treating this as a career failure, Saxe has reframed the setback as a positive turning point that fundamentally changed his approach to music.
Before the cancellation, Saxe felt pressure to continually increase his commercial success whilst working within a major record label structure. The tour cancellation forced him to step back and reconsider what kind of career he actually wanted as an artist.
In the months since, Saxe has performed with the Jonas Brothers and contributed songwriting to Nick Jonas's recent album, whilst also serving as support on major arena tours. Most significantly, he left his six-year deal with Arista Records to pursue his career as an independent artist.
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