MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — — 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’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was called on during a key regional summit on Tuesday to defend an exclusive deal his city-state struck with Taylor Swift that prevents the pop star taking her current Eras Tour to anywhere else in Southeast Asia.
Swift is performing six concerts from March 2 to 9 in Singapore under an exclusive deal that has been criticized by some Southeast Asian neighbors who complain they have been deprived of the tourist boom that her concerts have brought elsewhere.
In a sign of the international phenomenon that Swift has become, the veteran Singaporean statesman was asked by a journalist to confirm the deal and to comment on whether it undermined the spirit of cooperation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-nation bloc known by the acronym ASEAN of which Singapore is a key member.
Lee was at a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a 60-year-old self-professed Swiftie who has revealed that Swift took second place in his 2023 Spotify Wrapped list after her fellow U.S. diva Lana Del Ray. The wrap is the steaming giant’s annual feature that tallies the songs a listener has played the most over the past year.
Albanese is hosting the ASEAN summit in the Australian city of Melbourne that marks 50 years since Australia became the bloc’s first external partner.
Other questions at the news conference covered issues including increasing tensions in the South China Sea, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the likelihood of China joining in a regional free trade pact known by the unwieldy acronym CPTPP.
Lee confirmed that Swift was provided with “certain incentives” from a government fund established to rebuild the tourism industry after COVID-19 disruptions to make Singapore her only Southeast Asian destination. He did not say how much the deal cost.
He said he did not regard the deal as unfriendly toward his ASEAN neighbors.
“It has turned out to be a very successful arrangement. I don’t see that as being unfriendly,“ Lee said.
Lee did not directly answer when asked if he had encountered “bad blood” among other leaders due to the deal.
Lees suggested that if Singapore hadn’t struck an exclusive deal, a neighboring country might have done so.
“Sometimes one country makes a deal, sometimes another country does. I don’t explicitly say ‘you will come here only on condition that you’ll not go to other places,’” Lee said.
Swift’s representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thailand’s Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin, brought attention to the deal in February with a public claim that a promoter told him the Singaporean government subsidized the concerts with around $2 million to $3 million per show with a condition that the artist not play anywhere else in Southeast Asia.
Srettha said that if he had known about the deal before, he was confident he would be able to pull off something similar.
But Thailand doesn’t hold it against Singapore, said Prommin Lertsuridej, the Secretary-General of the Prime Minister. He told reporters in a group interview Monday that Thailand took what Singapore did as an example, and while Thailand already has some laws in place to allow such incentive packages, the government is working to remove red tape and make Thailand a more attractive venue for international events.
“We learn from each other,” Prommin said, adding that he admired Singapore for being able to come up with and achieve this “good business idea.”
In February, Indonesian Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno took to Instagram to apologize to Swift’s fans, saying: “International music events, such as Taylor Swift concerts, do have a big impact on a country’s economy. But I’m sorry Swifties, Taylor Swift hasn’t stopped by in Indonesia yet. Bought out by Singapore. However, this is a lesson for us.”
Raisa Christy, a 37-year-old fan living in Jakarta, Indonesia, said she regretted that Swift’s closest stop by far was in Singapore. However, she believes it’s the only spot in the region that has the capabilities and infrastructure that meet Swift’s standards.
Lee said that, while he didn’t know what Australia’s arrangements were, he expected it similarly made “mutually acceptable, sensible arrangements” with Swift when she performed in Melbourne and Sydney — one of which Australia’s prime minister attended — before flying to Singapore.
Swift’s representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other questions at the news conference covered increasing tensions in the South China Sea, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the likelihood of China joining in a regional free trade pact.
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