Sam Smith Suffers ‘Vocal Emergency,’ Cancels iHeartRadio Festival Appearance

Sam Smith was forced to cancel his set at the iHeartRadio Music Festival Friday just minutes before he was supposed to take the stage due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Smith was supposed to play a 25 minute set starting at 8:05 p.m., though minutes before an announcement was heard from the stage.

“Due to unforeseen circumstances which transpired after his rehearsal, it became clear that Sam Smith would unfortunately not be able to perform tonight,” host Ryan Seacrest said in the announcement, as reported by Variety. “We love Sam. Sam has been a part of our i Heart family for many, many years.”

Smith’s team also released a statement on the unexpected schedule change, which led to Childish Gambino performing at an earlier time.

“Sam is extremely sorry he is unable to perform at tonight’s show and wants to apologize to his fans,” the statement to the outlet read, revealing no details as to what led to the cancellation.

Smith himself posted his own statement regarding the cancellation via Twitter on Friday night, about half an hour after he was supposed to perform.

“Dear all, Due to unforeseen circumstances which transpired after rehearsal, it became clear that I’m sadly unable to perform at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Vegas tonight. I am so so sorry about this and I want to apologise to all my fans. All my love, always. Sam x,” the tweet read.

Variety reports that right after rehearsing for his performance, Smith inexplicably lost his voice.

The “Too Good At Goodbyes” singer had reportedly been complaining about having a pain in his throat, and since the concert was broadcast live on iHeartRadio stations, they canceled his performance.

After the cancellation, Smith reportedly left Vegas for Boston for treatment. According to the outlet, Massachusetts General Hospital’s Dr. Steven Zeiltes is an expert on vocal cords and node damage. The physician has treated acts such as Adele, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Julie Andrews.

Smith returned to social media on Saturday afternoon and tweeted a photo of himself at the doctor’s office, with a smile on his face, once again apologizing for having to miss his performance.

“Hello beautiful people. Thank you for your lovely messages. Just been to see my voice doctor in Boston after last night’s scare in Vegas, everything is luckily ok but I need to rest it this week in preparation for the start of Asia tour. I’m sorry everyone. All my love, Sam xx,” he wrote.

Wishing Sam a speedy recovery.