According to Lauryn, she really does care about her fans but she needed some extra time to get her energy right for the performance.
She writes the following on her official Facebook page:
I don’t show up late to shows because I don’t care. And I have nothing but Love and respect for my fans. The challenge is aligning my energy with the time, taking something that isn’t easily classified or contained, and trying to make it available for others. I don’t have an on/off switch. I am at my best when I am open, rested, sensitive and liberated to express myself as truthfully as possible. For every performance that I’ve arrived to late, there have been countless others where I’ve performed in excess of two hours, beyond what I am contracted to do, pouring everything out on the stage.
Because I care so deeply about the artistic process, I scrutinize, have perfectionist tendencies, and want space made for spontaneity, which is not an easy process, with the many moving parts on the road. Some days we are more successful than others re time. However, the vitality that is infused into the performances is always appreciated by the audiences, who may not know exactly what it took to accomplish. What hasn’t been touched upon by the media, I’m sure, are the hundreds of people who rushed the stage and stayed in excess of an hour after the show ended last night, just to connect.
Our challenge is to figure out the best way to accommodate the vitality, spontaneity, and spirit that make the performances worthwhile and special to begin with, while also making that experience available and accessible to others. If I didn’t Love and respect the art, I wouldn’t be doing this. The audience and I should have that in common.
My true audience knows emphatically that I care. It isn’t possible to affect people in any deep and meaningful way without putting sacrificial time in.
I have nothing but Love and appreciation for the fans in Atlanta, and regret not being able to give you a full show. We are figuring out a plan to make it up to you, and will announce details as soon as we have them.
Girl bye.
She’s really full of herself.
She’s pretentious as f-ck. All her a-s had to do was show up to the performance on time just like she showed up to the sound check on time. She ain’t the only artist out here that has fans so why the f-ck does she speak as if she is? No matter how you’re feeling, you have a job to do like the rest of us. And when you f-ck up, you will get called out like everyone else. F-ck outta here.
Her fans made her feel like she could do no wrong so I fault them for this more than I do her. Even now a lot of them are defending her on Facebook. Now let that had been anyone else, and they would be calling that artist out.
I’m not surprised by her response. She truly doesn’t think she did anything wrong.
Did one of her stans write this for her? It’s full of excuses. An artist should not be blaming the media for their tardiness to a show. Nor should an artist who has been around as long as Lauryn think it’s acceptable to be three hours late because they needed to get their energy right. Michael Jackson comes to mind because he truly hated touring but he would always give his fans a show. And it didn’t take him three hours of lateness to do it.
It’s so weird to see someone be so arrogant and rude to their fans and they only had one really good album. Oh well. I know I won’t be giving her any of my coins.
There have been artists who have performed sick for their fans and even pregnant. And they still managed to be on time. This is a silly excuse.
Girl get yo A-s there on time and start the concert on time. If you stay late to do photos and handshakes, so be it but just give the fans what they paid for a great concert that starts on time.
Honestly I was never a fan for this very reason. She is very arrogant and it’s a turn off for me. She also is the one artist hoteps cling to in order to put down black women who don’t fit in the box they want us in. She’s the face of respectability politics for black women.
Meh, all she really had to do was not show up three hours late. It’s simple really.
She acts like this was an isolated incident. She has been doing this for years! I went to see her in SF around 2013. She was about 2 hrs late. The thing is… I knew she would be late because of blogs about her previous performances, so I showed up late.. but I still had to wait an hour. While it was nostalgic and inexpensive I didn’t not appreciate waiting
All she needed to say was an apology. If I was a fan and paid to see her on Friday and read that I would be done with her.