- Taylor Swift kicked off a sold-out six-night stopover of her Elas tour in Singapore on Saturday.
- Due to an exclusive contract, this is the only venue in Southeast Asia where she will perform.
- A Philippine lawmaker criticized the move, saying, “This is not the behavior of a good neighbor.”
There's a feud between Singapore and neighboring government officials, and it's all about Taylor Swift.
Ahead of her six sold-out shows in the city-state, which open on Saturday, a Philippine lawmaker has revealed the exclusive deal that Singaporean authorities allegedly brokered with her to keep her from participating in The Eras tour. criticized. To other parts of the region.
On Wednesday, Philippine representative Joey Salceda filed a complaint with the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) over a subsidy granted by the Singaporean government in exchange for agreeing not to perform in other parts of Southeast Asia during his sold-out world tour. local media reported. report.
According to The Straits Times, Mr Salceda said: “AEG was allegedly given a subsidy of about $3 million by the Singapore government to hold a concert in Singapore. It wasn't sponsored,” he said.
He said this was “not something a good neighbor would do,” adding: “Our two countries are good friends. That's why acts like this hurt.”
According to GMA Network, Salceda said that while the subsidies had significantly boosted Singapore's economy, they were “at the expense of neighboring countries, failing to attract foreign concert-goers to their own countries and forcing fans to travel to Singapore.” I had to,” he said.
He added that the Philippines should not “just let things like this go by.”
The Grammy Award-winning artist, who recently announced that he will be releasing a new studio album in April, will perform six performances at Singapore's 55,000-seat National Stadium from March 2 to 9.
Salceda's criticism comes after the Thai prime minister announced that Singapore brokered the deal, which would prevent Swift from taking part in a tour of nine other Association of Southeast Asian Nations regions, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar. This is in response to what was revealed. , and Vietnam.
Speaking at the iBusiness Forum 2024 in Bangkok in February, Sureta Tabisin said she was informed of the agreement by promoter AEG after asking why her world tour was not being canceled in her home country, according to Sky News. Ta. Swift had never performed in Thailand before, but she was scheduled to perform there in 2014, but it was eventually canceled due to political turmoil.
He claimed to have been told that the Singapore government would offer between $2 million and $3 million per performance in exchange for exclusivity.
However, according to BBC News, Singapore's CNA suggested it could cost as little as S$2 million for all six nights.
Swift's stay in Singapore is expected to bring economic benefits to the city-state. Angel Zhong, associate professor of finance at RMIT University, estimates that the recent tour of Australia has boosted the economy by $558 million (via Forbes).
