Veteran pop singer Britney Spears announced “an indefinite work hiatus” on Friday, cancelling her new Las Vegas residency, ‘Britney: Domination,’ that was set to run at the Park MGM resort beginning in February.
“I don’t even know where to start with this, because this is so tough for me to say,” Spears, 37, wrote on social media. “I will not be performing my new show Domination.” She cited the health of her father, Jamie Spears, whom she said “almost died” two months ago.
Representatives for Spears said her father’s colon spontaneously ruptured, causing him to spend 28 days in the hospital. “We’re all so grateful that he came out of it alive, but he still has a long road ahead of him,” the singer wrote. “We have a very special relationship and I want to be with my family at this time just like they have always been there for me.”
Jamie Spears has played an outsize role in his daughter’s music and merchandising career since 2008, after she suffered an infamous and prolonged public breakdown. Since then, her father and a lawyer, Andrew Wallet, have overseen Spears’ life and finances via a court-approved conservatorship, known sometimes as a guardianship, designed for people who cannot take care of themselves — typically the old, the infirm and the mentally disabled. (Though much of Spears’ arrangement is kept private in a Los Angeles probate court because of her fame, filings have cited an undisclosed mental illness and substance abuse as the reasons for the decade-long conservatorship.)
Spears, one of the best-selling artists of all time, last released an album, ‘Glory,’ in 2016. Though she has also toured and appeared on television since the conservatorship took effect, Spears’ primary project in recent years has been a tightly controlled, greatest hits Las Vegas residency. Beginning in 2013, ‘Britney: Piece of Me’ ran for four years at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, grossing a reported $138 million (Dh506.8 million) across nearly 250 shows.
Traditionally the domain of performers in the twilight of their careers, Vegas residencies have become a more common revenue source for pop acts since the success of shows by Spears and Celine Dion, with similar productions in recent years from Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and the Backstreet Boys. Lady Gaga’s ‘Enigma’ residency will run at the Park MGM throughout this year.
Representatives for Spears said ‘Domination’ was “on hold until further notice,” but added that Jamie Spears was expected to make a full recovery.
In October, Wallet, the lawyer and co-conservator, cited the expected success of the new Vegas show as he requested his fee for overseeing Spears’ business be raised to $426,000 a year.
He said in court filings that the singer’s estate, which had been “nearly out of funds,” had raised its worth to at least $20 million since 2014, because of the singer’s “increased well being and her capacity to be engaged.” He added, “The next several years promise to be very lucrative.”
