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Singapore: Taylor Swift took a well-deserved break the past couple of days after rocking the first set of her six sold-out shows in Singapore. Unfortunately, there were no public viewings. She's supposedly holed up in her hotel suite to get over a simple cough that sent local Swifties on a turbulent TikTok where Tay Tay burns herself.
However, Swift's parallel story, which no foreign affairs think tank has certainly placed on the 2024 geopolitical calendar, has been rolling along uninterrupted. Singapore apparently upset some of its neighbors (most notably Thailand and the Philippines) when it paid the mega-star team for exclusive regional concert rights.
That means no SWIFT in Bangkok or Manila – or anywhere in Southeast Asia, except the distinctly wealthy and cunning city-state at the end of the Malay Peninsula.
Consequently, Swifties came from far and wide to spend their hard-earned money on Singapore's exceptional food scene and expensive hotels. I happened to be on a flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning, when it became clear that the plane was full of concertgoers returning home from Swift's first three-hour show the night before.
Her songs echoed from tiny mobile phone speakers as passengers rewatched footage of the concert with their girlfriends and partners. By the time we reached cruise altitude, most of the Swifties were asleep, including my Filipino colleague Sean. When he woke up, I asked him if it was frustrating to have to travel so far and spend so much (undeclared) money in Singapore. “Oh, it's just that,” he said. “And now all Southeast Asian countries are arguing about this.”
Singapore reportedly paid Taylor Swift at least $3 million to ensure she would not perform anywhere else in Southeast Asia. credit: Jason South
In a speech at a business forum last month, Thai Prime Minister Sritha Thavisin saw fit to reveal that he had inside information that pesky Singaporeans were paying SWIFT up to $3 million ($4.6 million) per view to keep for themselves. (Singapore has denied this figure, and there is speculation that the amount was a full exclusive fee, not per show. Either way, it's a secret.)
Philippine Representative Joey Salceda followed this up by calling on his country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a memorandum to Singapore to please clarify. He said Singapore's great speed ran counter to “the relationships based on consensus and solidarity on which ASEAN was founded.” “Our two countries are good friends. That is why such actions hurt.”
