A to Z of 2024: Friendship bracelets and The Eras Tour mania
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Fans exchanging friendship bracelets near the National Stadium on March 2, the first day of American pop star Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concerts in Singapore.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE – Hotels, restaurants and other hospitality providers are the typical beneficiaries of concert tourism.
But another retail player experienced an unexpected boost from American pop star Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concerts in Singapore in March:
Once the niche province of crafters, bead shops in Singapore and other parts of the world found themselves swarmed by Swifties – fans of the 35-year-old singer-songwriter – looking to make friendship bracelets to trade during the concerts.
The trend began during the United States leg of The Eras Tour in 2023, and was inspired by a lyric from Swift’s 2022 song, You’re On Your Own, Kid: “So, make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.”
Many bead shops across Singapore were depleted of their inventory by the time the opening-night show at the National Stadium rolled around on March 2, and that remained the case weeks after.
Hardcore Swifties continued to make and trade friendship bracelets among themselves, likely in perpetuity.
But the frenzy of early 2024 was remarkable because it seemed like all of Singapore was getting in on the action. Even the hype around the Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix night races has never quite reached the fever pitch of The Eras Tour mania.
For a few magical weeks in February and March, Singapore became Swiftapore.
Fashion retailers did a roaring trade in clothing and accessories that would help Swifties assemble their all-important concert outfits, and Marina Bay Sands turned its nightly Spectra light-and-water show into a Swift-themed spectacle set
The beloved Milo van, which appears only during school athletic events, even showed up at the National Stadium on selected nights to quench the thirst of concertgoers.
Big-name fans in local Swift fandom, such as influencer Clara Li (@clara.says on Instagram and TikTok) and Filipino drag queen Taylor Sheesh,
Even ST got in on the fever, publishing nine full-page infographics that charted the course of Swift’s entire career and which came together to form a mosaic image of the singer.
Swift seemed to be the ruling force in the cultural zeitgeist – or, as she sings in the 2022 song Anti-Hero, the “monster on the hill... slowly lurching toward your favourite city”.
Whether her next tour is as big of a seismic phenomenon as this one has been, Singapore’s The Eras Tour mania of early 2024 will always be a special, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
People made the friendship bracelets, and they took the moment and tasted it.
