Singapore is Taylor Swift's only stop in Southeast Asia; PM says deal wasn't a hostile act to neighbors
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday an incentive provided to Taylor Swift to make Singapore the only stop in Southeast Asia on her world tour was not a hostile act towards its neighbors.
Taylor Swift stole the show at an Asian summit Tuesday when Singapore’s leader defended his tiny country’s lucrative concert deal that could cause bad blood with neighboring nations.
Singapore is a key member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-nation bloc known as ASEAN. Its three-day summit was expected to focus on member Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis and conflicts in the South China Sea.
Instead, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was grilled on the summit’s sidelines about an exclusive deal his city-state struck with Swift that prevents the singer from taking her Eras Tour to any other stop in Southeast Asia.
Swift is performing six concerts from March 2 to 9 in Singapore, and some Southeast Asian neighbors complain that the Singapore deal deprives them of the tourism boom her concerts bring to hosts. Her Eras Tour shattered records when it reportedly surpassed $1 billion last year, and her film adaptation of the tour quickly took No. 1 at the box office and became the highest-grossing concert film to date.
The Singaporean leader confirmed Tuesday that Swift was provided with “certain incentives” in exchange for making Singapore her only Southeast Asian destination on her Eras Tour.
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