SingaporeHas Taylor Swift to Itself This Week, and the Neighbors Are Complaining
TaylorSwift has descended on Southeast Asia, or one small part of it at least: All ofher six sold-out shows are in Singapore, the region’s wealthiest nation.
Many ofher fans in this part of the world, which is home to more than 600 millionpeople, are disappointed. But the Singapore leg of Ms. Swift’s wildly popularEras Tour, which began last weekend and ends on Saturday, is a soft power coupand a boost for the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery.
The shows— and the undisclosed price that Singapore paid to host them — have alsogenerated diplomatic tension with two of its neighbors, Thailand and thePhilippines.
Lastmonth, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin of Thailand said publicly that Singapore had paid Ms. Swift up to $3million per show on the condition that she play nowhereelse in Southeast Asia. A lawmaker in the Philippines later said thatwas not “what good neighbors do.”
Singaporepushed back. First its culture minister said the actual value of theexclusivity deal — which he declined to name — was “nowhere as high.” Thecountry’s former ambassador at large later called the criticism “sour grapes.”And on Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters that he did notsee the deal as diplomatically “unfriendly.”
But thatwas no solace to dejected fans.
“Isometimes think ‘When will I get to experience this?’” said Sherin Nya Tamara,26, a Swift fan in Jakarta, Indonesia, who has liked the singer since 2011 buthas never seen her perform live. “I was hoping there would be additional datesand that Jakarta would be included, but nope.”
At a timewhen Southeast Asian governments are dealing with tensions over the South ChinaSea and the fallout from a brutal war in Myanmar, among other serious issues,the controversy over Ms. Swift’s Singapore shows is “kind of refreshing,” saidSusan Harris Rimmer, a law professor who has studied soft power in the region.
“It’snice to see them arguing about something this fun, I guess, instead of really,deeply difficult things,” added Professor Harris Rimmer, who teaches at Griffith University inAustralia. “But it does show there is tension and jealousy and rivalry.”
Ms.Swift’s concerts in Singapore, which follow her stops in Japan and Australia,would have been a big deal anyway. But they took on geopolitical overtones last month, when Mr. Srettha said at a business forum thatSingapore had paid the artist as much as $3 million per show in order toguarantee that they would be her only tour stops in Southeast Asia.
Mr. Srettha said that he had learned thedetails of Singapore’s grant to the artist from the concert promoter, AEGPresents. Representatives for the promoter and for Ms. Swift did notimmediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Anexclusivity deal around a concert, a kind of noncompete agreement known as a “radius clause,” is standard practice in themusic industry, said Susan Abramovitch, the head of the entertainment and sports law division at theinternational law firm Gowling WLG.
“Thatbeing said, this territorial exclusivity is more typically measured in hundredsof miles from a city rather than covering entire neighboring countries,” shesaid, adding that the scope of the Singapore deal was a kind of “Taylor-esque magnification” of the industry standard.
It hasn’tbeen received well outside Singapore.
Late lastmonth, a lawmaker in the Philippines generated headlines by saying that he hadasked the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs to discuss the exclusivity clause with the Singaporeangovernment, saying that it had come at the expense of neighboring countries.
Thelawmaker, Rep. Joey Salceda,said this week that he had raised the issue after realizing how difficult andexpensive it would be for Filipinos, including members of his own staff, toattend the concerts.
“ASEAN’score principles are solidarity and consensus,” he said in an interview,referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “What happened? Theyeven used their tourism board to block other nations.”
Asked onTuesday how much the grant was worth, the Singaporean government did notdirectly address the question. But the Tourism Board and the Culture Ministrysaid in a joint statement that Ms. Swift’s concerts, for which more than300,000 tickets had been sold, would likely “generate significant benefits” forthe domestic economy.
PrimeMinister Lee was also asked about the grant on Tuesday at an ASEAN conferencein Australia. He said it had been funded by a post-Covid tourism recoveryeffort and that he did not see the exclusivity clause as being “unfriendly” toother countries.
“Ifwe had not made such an arrangement, would she have come to someplace else inSoutheast Asia or more places in Southeast Asia?” he said, speaking inMelbourne. “Maybe, maybe not.”
News ofthe regional backlash to the grant was reported earlier by The Wall StreetJournal, The Diplomat and other news outlets.
ProfessorHarris Rimmer said that, financial incentives aside, Singapore is a logicalplace for Swift to play in Southeast Asia, in part because it is safe for youngfemale fans and has excellent transport links to the rest of the region. Shesaid Ms. Swift’s glamorous mystique also fits nicely with Singapore’s effortsto promote itself as the “glamour kitten of Asia.”
“Idon’t think she needs Singapore’s money, at this point,” she added.
SomeSwifties have made their peace with the singer’s limited itinerary in theirregion. Mostly.
JoseBunachita, 30, a writer in the Philippine city of Cebu, said that he saw Ms.Swift in Japan last month, and that his 11-day trip there had cost around$1,500. “I had the time of my life singing my heart out,” he said.
Still, hesaid, “I also feel like it would have been more of a fun experience if amajority of the concertgoers had been fellow Filipino Swifties.”
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