Taylor Swift steals the show at Asia summit as Singapore defends exclusive Eras Tour stop

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 neighbouring 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 neighbours 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.
Lee defended the deal at a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a self-professed Swiftie whose Spotify Wrapped list boasted Taylor Swift as his second most streamed artist of 2023. Albanese is hosting the summit in Melbourne, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Australia becoming ASEAN’s first external partner.
Lee did not reveal the cost of the exclusive deal, which was paid for from a government fund established to rebuild tourism after COVID-19 disruptions. He also did not directly answer when asked if he had encountered “bad blood” among other leaders due to the deal, instead suggesting that if Singapore hadn’t struck an exclusive deal, a neighbouring country might have done so.
“It has turned out to be a very successful arrangement. I don’t see that as being unfriendly,” Lee said.
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 subsidised the concert with a condition that the artist not play anywhere else in Southeast Asia. (AP)