Pharrell Williams has canceled his annual music festival, Something In the Water, hours after tickets for the Virginia-based event went on sale.
Though fans lined up for early access to tickets for locals, organizers confirmed that the event was officially cancelled and rescheduled for April 2025 mere hours later. Williams posted a statement to the official Instagram page for the event.
“Virginia doesn’t deserve better, Virginia deserves THE BEST. So SOMETHING IN THE WATER has to match that. It just isn’t ready yet. That’s why we have decided we must postpone this year’s SOMETHING IN THE WATER that was due to take place in October,” the statement reads. “This is not a Pharrell festival, this is the state of Virginia’s festival so it has to be the best.”
The festival has not been without its fair share of issues since its inception as this seems to be the latest in its growing pains. In 2021, Williams moved the festival to Washington, DC following the Virginia Beach police department’s mishandling of the killing of his cousin, Donovon Lynch. The following year, SITW returned to its location of origin, but inclement weather caused the cancellation of an entire day of the festival.