Taylor Swift has descended on Southeast Asia, or at least a small part of it: All six of her sold-out shows are in Singapore, the region’s richest nation.
Many of her fans in this part of the world, home to more than 600 million people, are disappointed. But the Singapore leg of Ms. Swift’s wildly popular Eras Tour, which began last weekend and ends Saturday, is a coup of soft power and a boost to the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery.
The emissions – and the unknown price Singapore paid to host them – have also sparked diplomatic tension with two of its neighbours, Thailand and the Philippines.
Last month, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said publicly that Singapore had paid Ms. Swift up to $3 million per show on the condition that she not perform anywhere else in Southeast Asia. A lawmaker in the Philippines later said this was not “what good neighbors do.”
Singapore pushed back. First the culture minister told her the true value of the exclusivity deal – which he declined to name – was “nowhere near that high”. The country’s former ambassador-general later called the criticism “sour grapes.” And on Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters he did not view the deal as diplomatically “unfriendly.”
But that was no consolation to disappointed fans.
“Sometimes I think, ‘When am I going to live this?’ said Sherin Nya Tamara, 26, a Swift fan in Jakarta, Indonesia, who has liked the singer since 2011 but has never seen her perform live. “I was hoping there would be extra dates and Jakarta included, but no.”
At a time when Southeast Asian governments are grappling with tensions in the South China Sea and the fallout from a brutal war in Myanmar, among other serious issues, the controversy over Ms. Swift’s shows in Singapore is “kind of refreshing,” Susan Harris said. Rimer. , a law professor who has studied soft power in the region.
“It’s nice to see them arguing about something so fun, I guess, rather than really, deeply difficult things,” added Professor Harris Rimer, who teaches at Griffith University in Australia. “But it shows that there is tension, jealousy and competition.”
Ms. Swift’s concerts in Singapore, which follow her stops in Japan and Australia, would be a big deal anyway. But they took on geopolitical overtones last month when Mr Srettha told a business forum that Singapore had paid the artist up to $3 million per show to guarantee they would be the only stops on her Southeast Asian tour.
Mr Srettha said he learned the details of Singapore’s grant to the artist from the concert organiser, AEG Presents. Representatives for the promoter and Ms. Swift did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
An exclusivity agreement around a concert, a type of non-compete agreement known as a “radius clause,” is common practice in the music industry, said Susan Abramovich, head of entertainment and sports law at international law firm Gowling WLG.
“That said, this territorial exclusivity is usually measured in hundreds of miles from a city rather than covering entire neighboring countries,” he said, adding that the scope of the Singapore deal was a kind of “Taylor-style enlargement” of the industry standard.
It was not well received outside of Singapore.
Late last month, a lawmaker in the Philippines made headlines for saying he asked the country’s Foreign Ministry to discuss the exclusivity clause with the Singapore government, saying it had come at the expense of neighboring countries.
The lawmaker, Rep. Joey Salceda, said this week that he raised the issue after realizing how difficult and expensive it would be for Filipinos, including his staff members, to attend the concerts.
“The basic principles of ASEAN are solidarity and consensus,” he said in an interview, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “What happened? They even used their tourism board to block other nations.”
Asked on Tuesday how much the grant was worth, the Singapore government did not immediately respond to the question. But the Tourism Board and the Culture Ministry said in a joint statement that Ms Swift’s concerts, for which more than 300,000 tickets had been sold, would likely “bring significant benefits” to the domestic economy.
Prime Minister Lee was also asked about the grant on Tuesday at an ASEAN conference in Australia. He said it had been funded by a post-Covid tourism recovery effort and he did not see the exclusivity clause as “unfriendly” to other countries.
“If we hadn’t made such a deal, would it have come to some other place in Southeast Asia or more places in Southeast Asia?” he said speaking in Melbourne. “Maybe, maybe not.”
News of the regional reaction to the grant was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal, The Diplomat and other news outlets.
Professor Harris Rimer said that, apart from financial incentives, Singapore is a logical place for Swift to play in Southeast Asia, in part because it is safe for young female fans and has excellent transport links to the rest of the region. He said Ms Swift’s glamorous mystique also fit well with Singapore’s efforts to project itself as the “glamour kitty of Asia”.
“I don’t think he needs Singapore’s money at this point,” he added.
Some Swifties have come to terms with the singer’s limited itinerary in their area. Mostly.
Jose Bunachita, 30, a writer in the Philippine city of Cebu, said he saw Ms. Swift in Japan last month and that his 11-day trip there cost about $1,500. “I had the time of my life singing my heart out,” she said.
However, she said, “I also feel like it would be a more fun experience if the majority of the concert goers were fellow Filipino Swifties.”
Sui-Lee Wee contributed to the report.
