Singapore PM defends exclusive Taylor Swift deal that saw county pay hitmaker ‘$3M per show’ to only perform in his country

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has defended an exclusive deal struck with Taylor Swift that prevents the pop star from taking her current Eras Tour elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Swift fans have flocked to Singapore, spending thousands of dollars on travel and accommodation, just to see her on the Southeast Asian leg of her Eras Tour.

Singapore is paying the 34-year-old $3 million per show to perform nowhere else in the region, as a ploy to boost tourism in the city-state after the pandemic.

‘It has proven to be a very successful scheme. I don’t see that as unkind,” Lee said.

Swift will perform six concerts in Singapore from March 2 to 9 under an exclusive deal that has been criticized by some Southeast Asian neighbors who complain they are deprived of the tourist boom her concerts have sparked elsewhere.

More than 300,000 tickets have been sold for Swift’s shows in Singapore.

In a sign of the international phenomenon Swift has become, the veteran Singaporean statesman was asked by a journalist to confirm the deal and comment on whether it undermined the spirit of cooperation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“(Our) agencies have negotiated an arrangement with her to come to Singapore and perform and to make Singapore her only stop in Southeast Asia,” Lee told a news conference in Melbourne, according to the Guardian.

Lee was at a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a 60-year-old self-described Swiftie who has revealed that Swift ranked second on his 2023 Spotify Wrapped list, behind fellow American diva Lana Del Rey.

Albanese is hosting the ASEAN summit in the Australian city of Melbourne, which marks 50 years since Australia became the bloc’s first external partner.

Other questions at the news conference touched on topics including rising tensions in the South China Sea, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the likelihood that China would join a regional free trade pact known by the cumbersome acronym CPTPP.

Lee confirmed that Swift received “certain incentives” from a government fund set up to rebuild the tourism industry after COVID-19 disruptions, to make Singapore its only Southeast Asian destination. He would not say how much the deal would cost.

He said he did not view the deal as unfriendly to its ASEAN neighbors.

Lee did not immediately answer a question about whether he had encountered “bad blood” among other leaders because of the deal.

He suggested that if Singapore had not struck an exclusive deal, a neighboring country might have done so.

‘Sometimes one country makes a deal, sometimes another country does. I’m not explicitly saying, ‘You only come here on the condition that you don’t go to other places,'” Lee said.

Swift’s rep did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lee said he expected Australia to similarly reach “mutually acceptable, sensible arrangements” with Swift when she performed in Sydney and Melbourne before flying to Singapore. Lee said he did not know what the arrangements were for Australia.

‘If that is what needs to happen to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome that, from Singapore’s perspective, serves not only to grow the economy but also to attract visitors and goodwill from across the attract world, region, I don’t see why not,” Lee said.

“If we had not made such an arrangement, would she have come to somewhere else in Southeast Asia or to more places in Southeast Asia? Maybe maybe not. These are things she will decide,” Lee added.

Albanese attended one of Swift’s concerts in Sydney last month.