The bizarre reason Taylor Swift is only performing in Singapore and no other southeast Asian countries on her Eras tour

Taylor Swift fans are gearing up for the US pop mega star’s shows in Singapore next month.

The 34-year-old Cruel Summer songstress was awarded a grant to perform in the city-state in March, headlining six sold-out shows on the island country. But it will be her only stop in Southeast Asia, due to one interesting reason.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told a business forum in February that Singapore had paid Swift approximately 100 million baht (AUD$4.2million) per show, allegedly on condition that Singapore would be Swift’s only show in Southeast Asia. [AEG] didn’t tell me the exact figure but they said the Singapore government offers subsidies of between $3million and $4.6million,  Srettha said publicly at a business forum in Bangkok. But the Singaporean government is clever. They told [organizers] not to hold any other shows in [south-east] Asia.

The highly-anticipated shows will be a potential boon to the economy. Singapore’s tourism board and culture ministry did not disclose the amount of the grant, but referred to the economic benefits brought by Swift’s concerts around the world due to her popularity in a statement on Tuesday. They said the ministry had worked with concert promoter AEG Presents to get Swift to perform in Singapore. It is likely to generate significant benefits to the Singapore economy, especially to tourism activities such as hospitality, retail, travel and dining, as has happened in other cities in which Taylor Swift has performed,  they said.

Singapore has seen a boom in concerts since pandemic lock downs ended, with big names like Black-pink, Cold play and Ed Sheeran playing sold-out shows. The Singapore government has not commented on the exclusivity clause, though AEG has said Swift’s sole concert stop in Southeast Asia will be on the island nation, with VIP tickets going for S$1,228 (AUD$1,395).

In the broader Asian continent, Swift also performed in Tokyo, earlier in February. Her Singapore concerts will span March 2 to March 9. Over 300,000 tickets were sold to fans who queued overnight in the blistering tropical heat.