Kehlani spent Aug. 26, 2026, telling fans she wouldn’t be performing that night — she had just left the hospital.
In an Instagram statement posted that day, the singer said that after “two off days feeling completely normal,” she was “up all night unable to swallow & in so much pain.” She wrote that she had “just left the hospital” and was “not cleared to sing for the next two shows.”
Those two shows were part of the Kehlani World Tour: North America, which kicked off Aug. 6 in Minneapolis. The postponed dates are Camden, New Jersey (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, originally Aug. 26) and Columbia, Maryland, in the Washington, D.C. area (Merriweather Post Pavilion, originally Aug. 27). Ticketmaster and the venues listed both shows as postponed, with existing tickets to be honored once a new date is announced — though some outlets described the dates as canceled outright.
Kehlani has not said what caused the pain and swallowing trouble, and neither she nor her team has disclosed a diagnosis. Her team said in the statement that they were “working on a solution” for the affected dates, and Kehlani said the tour would “pick back up in Virginia” — matching the tour’s next scheduled stop, the Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront in Richmond, on Aug. 29.
Key facts
- Who: Kehlani
- What: Postponed two stops on the Kehlani World Tour: North America after being hospitalized; said she wasn’t cleared to sing
- Where: Camden, New Jersey (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion) and Columbia, Maryland (Merriweather Post Pavilion)
- When postponed: Originally scheduled for Aug. 26 and Aug. 27, 2026
- Cause: Not disclosed; she described being unable to swallow and in pain
- Tickets: Existing tickets to be honored once new dates are announced
- Next show: Tour set to resume Aug. 29 in Richmond, Virginia
Why this tour matters right now
The tour is built around Kehlani’s self-titled fifth studio album, which came out April 24, 2026, on her 31st birthday, via Atlantic Records. The 17-track record features guests including Usher, Lil Wayne and Cardi B, and it debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart — which Billboard reported was the biggest 2026 debut week for an R&B album by a woman.
The album’s lead single, “Folded,” gave Kehlani her first career Grammy wins in February, taking Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards after seven nominations. The song also spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart and peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100, her first top-10 hit.
Kehlani has spoken publicly in the past, including in an Aug. 20 Billboard interview, about living with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder and about the routine she uses to manage it. No report has connected that history to the swallowing and pain that sent her to the hospital this week.
What happens next
The tour’s official schedule listed Aug. 29 in Richmond as the next show, but as of August 28, 2026, that show had not yet happened. No new dates have yet been announced for the Camden and Columbia shows; fans holding tickets to either are advised to hold onto them and watch for an announcement, since both venues said existing tickets will carry over to the rescheduled dates.