Concern Grows After Singer Vanished Months Ago, Abruptly Canceling Mother’s Day Show Due to ‘Unforeseen Circumstances’
Since Grammy-winning songbird Anita Baker canceled her Mother’s Day concert in Atlanta, concerned fans have been wondering where she is and if she’s OK.
The cancellation of her show at the State Farm Arena was announced six minutes before she was supposed to go on due to “unforeseen circumstances” and left fans disappointed and angry. At the time, furious fans flooded the internet blasting the Detroit native for being “unprofessional.”
So many were furious that she messed up their special day, but now the tone of the X fervor is a little different. Now, when people tweet about her, they express their concern, as she’s seemingly disappeared from the public spotlight since then.
Since October, many of her supporters on social media, rather than frustration, have expressed genuine concern for Baker’s well-being, hoping everything is fine.
A quick search shows that while the “Caught Up in the Rapture” singer has made a few retweets on her X account, she hasn’t addressed the situation, shared any updates, or performed live, leaving her followers in the dark and flooding Black Twitter with one question, “Where’s Anita?”
“Alright now that this election b.s. is over, onto more important topics: WHERE THE HELL IS ANITA BAKER?!” one person tweeted.
Alright now that this election b.s. is over, onto more important topics:
WHERE THE HELL IS ANITA BAKER?!
— CanBi (@CandelinaBianca) November 6, 2024
Another person asked, “Where is Anita Baker? We ain’t heard from her since she canceled that Atlanta show?”
Someone else referenced the holiday show, writing on Oct. 2, “We STILL ain’t heard a peep about Anita Baker since the cancelled Mother’s Day show.”
“Finding out James Amos died 45 days ago but we had no clue made me wonder where the hell is Anita Baker?” one X user posted on Oct. 3.
Finding out James Amos died 45 days ago but we had no clue made me wonder where the hell is Anita Baker?
— Jay Lee’s Corner on YouTube (@JayLeesCorner) October 3, 2024
The Soul Train Award winner has always done things her way, and her life in the spotlight has had long breaks before.
After dominating the R&B scene with her soulful ballads in the ’80s and ’90s, she took a lengthy 10-year hiatus to focus on her family and care for her biological mother, who put her up for adoption when she was a child, according to a 2020 Essence article.
This decision to stay away was also influenced by her inability to write new music and her desire to gain full ownership of her music, which she finally achieved in 2021 with help from Chance the Rapper, giving her the creative freedom and control of her catalog that the singer/songwriter/producer had long sought throughout her career.
Tonight Ms. @IAMANITABAKER introduced @chancetherapper and acknowledged his helping her regain control of her master recordings! Wow! #AnitaBaker pic.twitter.com/GrSBpvDfJq
— Lonnell Williams (@3LWTV) May 29, 2022
Baker returned to touring in 2022, thrilling fans who hadn’t seen her perform live in decades.
However, her touring schedule has had its bumps. Besides the Atlanta show, there were earlier setbacks, including issues with her former opening act, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, which made ugly headlines as both artists fans took to social media to drag the other chart-topper.
In May 2023, during the 40th-anniversary tour celebrating her hit debut solo project, “The Songstress,” an event planner allegedly told Babyface that he could not perform so that Baker could have a full set — after the show was delayed for hours.
This did not stop her from performing the rest of the shows, with fans loving her deep-throated alto and her sensual songs performances.
One fan, sitting in the front row of one of her concerts, loved her show so much, they whipped out their phone recorded her. She asked the fan to stop recording, singing during her set, “Turn off the camera, baby. I don’t know who you are. Move back, get ’em back.”
The fan did not stop and as a result, the “Sweet Love” diva had the person removed.
Still, the Mother’s Day mystery still has fans wanting to know if she is OK.
Since the show cancellation, Baker has left a digital fingerprint six times, solely on the X platform and all retweets.
In August, she retweeted a post that read, “@IAMANITABAKER Your Team & True Fans are standing by whenever you’re ready to Speak.”
— Anita Baker (@IAMANITABAKER) August 1, 2024
Her quote was simply a mic emoji.
Fans are hoping she lets them know something soon. In a time when fans get access to their star’s personal lives on a daily, her disappearance without a trace has them frazzled and not knowing what to do.
