She’s got 44.6 million followers on Instagram and 10.3 million on Twitter – so why is Camilla Cabello struggling to fill arenas on her upcoming tour?
Almost a month after tickets went on sale to the general public, at least 8,300 remain unsold for Cabello’s Romance Tour shows in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal – including more than 1,200 VIP packages.
These numbers include tickets offered by Ticketmaster and reseller StubHub but don’t include thousands snatched up by scalpers and third-party resellers.
The problem is evidently not unique to Canada. UK website Hits Daily Double reported this week on an unnamed female artist “who’s had a couple of massive hits but has discovered to her dismay—and that of her team—that her new tour is in deep trouble.”
Cabello announced in November that her Romance Tour will come to Rogers Arena in Vancouver on July 29 and make stops at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on Sept. 4 and at Place Bell in the Montreal area on Sept. 12.
In 2018, Cabello played the same three cities – but in venues with a combined capacity of about 8,200. By comparison, the three Romance Tour venues in Canada have a total capacity of almost 48,000. Has Cabello's popularity increased nearly six-fold in the last 20 months?
Her record label Epic was likely banking on her sophomore album Romance surpassing the success of her 2018 debut Camila. But, so far, singles off the new album have fizzled. “Shameless” and “Liar” peaked at No. 60 and No. 52 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100 and the chart dated Dec. 14 includes only Cabello’s duet with Shawn Mendes, “Señorita” (it's at No. 15).
(Cabello has had only one solo single reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 – “Never Be The Same” made it to No. 6 in May 2018. Her four other Top 20 hits were collaborations or featured another artist: “I Know What You Did Last Summer," “Señorita," “Bad Things” and "Havana.")
Where Romance will rank on the Billboard 200 after its first week won't be known until Sunday but Billboard said this week it is facing competition from albums by Roddy Ricch and The Who. To bolster first-week sales figures, Romance was bundled with concert tickets and her label made the album available on Amazon Music for only $5.99 U.S. for two days.
According to Billboard, Cabello's Romance "is looking for a No. 3 entry ... It could start with around 70,000 to 75,000 units."
MORE: "Señorita" Tops List Of 2019's Most-Liked Music Videos
So, why are Cabello's fans not packing arenas to see her live?
As of Dec. 12, Ticketmaster had more than 2,000 tickets still available for Cabello’s Vancouver show, including a little more than 500 of the cheapest seats, priced at $51.30 each.
There are more than 200 standard floor seats remaining up for grabs, from $115.80 seats at the back of the arena to a $322.93 platinum seat three rows from the main stage and a pair of $305.25 seats in the fourth row. Roughly 450 VIP package seats remain unsold at the front of the arena – including $314.55 “Dream Of You” Package seats and $429.35 “Havana Package” seats.
Another 450 tickets are being offered on StubHub, including 91 floor seats.
In Toronto, Ticketmaster currently has eight standard floor seats ($118.50 to $469.46) and 288 VIP package seats available ($314.55 to $429.35). There are another 2,100 unsold seats throughout the venue. StubHub has another 655 tickets up for grabs, including 67 floor seats.
Place Bell in Laval, just north of Montreal, is a smaller arena but it’s also not even close to being at capacity.
There are 200 standard floor seats, priced between $113.25 and $396.12, still unsold – as well as 311 unsold VIP package seats ranging from $314.55 to $429.35. (An additional 175 VIP package seats, at $314.55 each, are available in the lower bowl.) Only around 50 of the cheapest seats ($51.50 to $80.25) are still available but there are more than 1,000 unsold in the lower bowl, where tickets are $113.25.
StubHub is currently offering just under 200 tickets in all price ranges, including more than 40 floor seats.
According to a music industry insider, there could be a spike in ticket sales after Christmas, when many young fans have extra cash. If large blocks of seats remain empty as the concerts get closer, they can be filled through discount offers and giveaways.
A rep for Sony Music Canada did not respond to a request for comment.