According to the Western media always eager to find clouds in Singapore’s silver linings, Tong caused Bad Blood with our regional neighbours, with Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin openly grumbling about this arrangement and Joey Salceda, a lawmaker from the Philippines, where Swift owns a sizeable fan base, declaring that “this is not what good neighbours do”. Heartbreak for the politicians perhaps, but Swifties still descended from as far as China and India.
The Eras Tour, already the highest-grossing concert ever, further added to its gross takings of more than US$1 billion ($1.34 billion) after the marketing and money-minting machine, otherwise known as Taylor Swift, rolled into the Garden City and sang for six nights.
In the lead-up to the six pulsating nights at the Singapore Sports Hub, there was a bit of Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince. Minister Edwin Tong personally led a multi-agency team from the Singapore government to Los Angeles to woo the Princess to perform here exclusively within the Asean countries, in return for an undisclosed sum of money.
