Life Power List 2024: Pop star Taylor Swift and the year Singapore became Swiftapore
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American pop star Taylor Swift performs at the National Stadium, on March 2.
ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
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SINGAPORE – “Who’s afraid of little old me?” American pop star Taylor Swift howls on her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD).
United States President-elect Donald Trump might have been just a wee bit afraid of the 35-year-old singer-songwriter in 2024.
“I hate Taylor Swift!” he wrote on social media
A funny response, if one recalls that Swift released a song about him, titled You Need To Calm Down, back in 2019.
Ultimately, Trump taking umbrage was unnecessary, as he went on to win the presidential race.
Nevertheless, his fear of Swift’s outsized influence – an even more dominant force in pop culture in 2024 than ever – was not unwarranted.
TTPD, released on April 19, became the most streamed album on major streaming services – including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music – while she was the top-streamed artiste of the year.
TTPD also earned five nominations for the Grammy Awards to be held in February 2025.
Even if it nets zero wins at the ceremony, Swift already made Grammy history in 2024 when her 10th album, Midnights, won Album of the Year – the event’s most prestigious category. It was her fourth time clinching the accolade, an unprecedented feat.
In the same week in September that Swift endorsed Ms Harris’ presidential bid – generating dozens of think pieces about her political influence – she won seven “moon man” statues at the MTV Video Music Awards. This made her the most-awarded solo artiste in the event’s 40-year history, having racked up 30 trophies since 2009.
In December, she followed that feat with a haul of 10 prizes at the annual Billboard Music Awards, which made her the most decorated artiste in that awards show as well, with an all-time tally of 49 wins.
Taylor Swift accepts the award for Video of the Year at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards in New York, on Sept 11.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Meanwhile, Swift’s The Eras Tour concerts, which kicked off in March 2023, continued to mount mini-invasions of various cities around the world in 2024, before concluding in Vancouver, Canada, on Dec 8. More than 10 million people attended the 149 shows, including the 63,000 who showed up at the National Stadium during Swift’s sixth and last Singapore show on March 9 – making it the largest concert ever staged here.
The Eras Tour became the top-grossing tour of all time, with more than US$2 billion (S$2.68 billion) in ticket sales. There were significant economic windfalls for everyone involved – Swift paid out US$197 million in bonuses to everyone on tour with her, from caterers to hairstylists – except maybe the countries that missed out on hosting her.
It was revealed in February that Singapore – led by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong – orchestrated a deal to ensure that Singapore was the only regional stop for The Eras Tour.
But, surely, even Mr Tong could not have predicted the way that Singapore transformed into Singapore (Taylor’s Version) – Swiftapore, if you will – for those 10 days in March that the superstar and her crew rolled into town.
Economists estimated a boost of up to $500 million in tourism receipts for Singapore’s economy. That would have recouped the reported US$2 million to US$3 million of government subsidies given to entice the tour, to make the city-state the only stop in South-east Asia.
As the country geared up for Swift’s arrival in March, Teh (tea) became “Tay” – at least at selected Heavenly Wang cafe outlets – and otherwise-sleepy bead shops had their inventories emptied out as fans went into overdrive making friendship bracelets to trade during the concerts.
Over 1,000 people turned up for a free and unofficial sing-along hosted by Jewel Changi Airport. Swift did not make an appearance and there were no freebies. It was just a space for people to revel in their Swiftie fandom, and they happily filled it.
Just as many fans camped outside the National Stadium during the concerts every night, even though they did not have tickets, just for a chance to listen from a distance to Swift lyrics such as “it was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well”.
By the end of 2024, Swift topped yet another list: namely, the Google Search terms used by people in Singapore over the course of the year.
Swift’s influence is particularly notable given the fact that it has always been a young person’s game – and she is an “old-timer” in the ruthless eyes of pop culture.
As she herself pointed out in her 2020 documentary film Miss Americana: “We do exist in this society where women in entertainment are discarded in an elephants graveyard by the time they’re 35.”
Yet, Swift is under no threat of being shoved out of the spotlight, despite turning 35 on Dec 13. Her contingent of loyal fans grows every day, and they are not limited to the millennials or Gen Zs who grew up with her.
For instance, there is Primary 5 pupil Giselle Heng, the lucky Singaporean fan chosen for the “22 hat” moment during Swift’s opening night concert here on March 2. The star created the tradition of giving away the fedora she wears while performing 22, the hit from her album Red (2012).
The young fan is just one of the many girls who continue to join the Swiftie ranks – inspired by their own Swiftie mothers or drawn to the singer’s early catalogue of easy and family-friendly pop hits, such as Love Story (2008).
These admirers follow Swift’s every move, such as dissecting her lyrics down to every last letter. Her erstwhile paramour, English musician Matty Healy, now cannot even talk about his alleged favourite song – Downtown Lights by Scottish band The Blue Nile, which Swift name-dropped in her TTPD song Guilty As Sin – without inviting sniggers and comments from overly invested Swifties.
As one X user, with the display name “taylor swift is my wife”, wrote in November: “Matty Healy (is) posting Downtown Lights (1989) onto his story and I am reacting totally normally about it.”
Meanwhile, American football player Travis Kelce is having a banner year in the spotlight, in large part due to his status as Swift’s current boyfriend.
He attended selected Eras Tour concerts in Australia, Singapore and Europe, and even joined her on stage in London in June. She was a visible presence on the sidelines of his games, such as the Super Bowl championship in February.
In August, Kelce and his brother Jason signed a US$100 million podcast deal with the Wondery podcast subscription service, which is owned by tech giant Amazon. At the time, Wondery’s chief executive Jen Sergeant told trade outlet Variety that the podcast has “become a cultural phenomenon” and that the brothers are “in that cultural zeitgeist”.
She did not mention Swift, but there is no doubt that Kelce’s presence in the global “cultural zeitgeist” is entirely down to his connection with Swift. After all, there are plenty of other successful American football players who are obscure names outside the US – such as Kelce’s teammate, Patrick Mahomes.
After an intense two years of touring and looming large over pop culture, chances are high that Swift will want to take a break in 2025.
But she is unlikely to go fully radio-silent, since she still has two more releases pending in her Taylor’s Version masters re-recordings – including her self-titled debut album from 2006 and Reputation (2017).
There is also a film-directing project that was inked back in December 2022, which will reportedly see Swift directing a full-length feature film based on her own original script.
One thing the world can be sure of is that Swift’s next big move will not be anything people expect, and it will likely make as many headlines – and break as many records – as her various endeavours in 2024.
As Swift wrote in her recently released The Eras Tour Book, which was the fastest-selling new release of 2024, with 800,000 copies sold within a week of its Nov 29 release date: “There’s nothing I hate more than doing what I’ve always done.”
