 "The geopolitical showdown over Taylor Swift mania")
Taylor Swift is truly going through an imperial phase of her life, a phase that no artist can match up to. And ‘Taylormania’ is real. Though this kind of mania is not entirely new.
According to reports we have seen this kind of mania before too with The Rolling Stones (1972, 1980, 1989), Led Zeppelin (1971-75), Elton John (1971-1975), Michael Jackson (1983-1992), Madonna (1986-1992), U2 (1987-1992 and also perhaps during the 360 Tour of 2009-11), and both Backstreet Boys and NSYNC (1996-2001). Billy Joel remarked, “The only thing I can compare it to is the phenomenon of Beatlemania in the 60s.”
The geopolitical showdown
But what is new is the geopolitical showdown. And we cannot agree that the queen of pop is at the peak of her career cannot perform in Thailand or Bangkok. As the emarca.com reports rightly puts it, “From the glow of Singapore, a nation that stood as a beacon of promise, a singular destination was dictated for the artist’s fans. However, in the far corners of Southeast Asia, a storm of longing and discontent was raging. The Philippines and Thailand, lands that longed for Swift’s magic touch, saw their hopes dashed by a political deal.”
But why this geo-political tussle and what is the problem with Taylor Swift concerts? The Marca report further says that at the iBusiness Forum 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand’s Prime Minister expressed doubts about his nation’s omission from the tour, as he unraveled the intricate weave of a million-dollar deal. Sadly, this prohibited Swift from extending her music to other lands.
Taylor Swift struck a deal with Singapore not to perform in any other Southeast Asian country. stole the show at an Asian summit Tuesday when Singapore’s leader was prompted to defend his tiny country’s exclusive concert deal with the singer that risks bad blood in the region by preventing her from performing in neighboring 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 a lucrative and 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 neighbors 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.
(With added inputs from AP)
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