Taylor Swift kicked off a “sold-out” six-night leg of The Eras Tour over the weekend at Singapore National Stadium – her only stop in Southeast Asia.

 

 

 

Performing more than 40 songs from her sophomore album Fearless (2008) to her most recent release Midnights (2022), the 34-year-old singer captivated an audience of more than 50,000 people during her 3.5-hour concert at the National Stadium in the Lion Island.

Taylor Swift during her performance on the night of March 2 at Singapore National Stadium

The decision to bring The Eras Tour to Singapore means a lot to Taylor Swift

During the “Evermore” era, Taylor sang Marjorie – a song dedicated to her grandmother Marjorie Finlay and shared her family’s connection to Singapore.

“My mom actually spent most of her childhood with her parents and sister growing up in Singapore,” Swift revealed as she played gentle chords on the piano.

The singer continued: “So a lot of times when we come here to travel, my mother will take me past her old house and where she used to go to school, and so, I heard about Singapore.” so many”.

Taylor told The Straits Times in a 2014 interview that her maternal grandfather worked for an engineering company and moved the family here for work.

At her concert in Singapore, Swift told the audience that her decision to bring her tour to Singapore was “essentially honoring” her family and that it meant a lot.

The singer asked the audience to sing along and hold up their phones throughout the song. “I already love you, tonight we will have a fun night” – she added.

Taylor previously toured Singapore in 2011, 2014 and 2015.

But surprisingly, she was not the first member of her family to perform here – a 1968 article in The Straits Times showed that her grandmother Marjorie had performed as a soprano in the opera The Bartered Bride at the Victoria Theatre.

Another highlight of the night included Swift’s song Love Story as many eyes turned to the audience instead of the singer herself.

While there were those who didn’t spot any proposals during the romantic performance, other concert attendees did.

Calling it “the sweetest proposal,” a video uploaded by TikTok user Cheekybreakfasts shows the two men taking turns getting down on one knee to propose to each other.

One lucky girl also got to go on stage and exchange her friendship bracelet with Swift.

The Straits Times reported that the girl, Giselle Heng (11), has been a fan of Swift for six years and attended the show with her eight-year-old sister.

 

 

 

The embrace of friendship and the enthusiastic crowd

The tradition of exchanging friendship bracelets was started by fans early on in The Eras Tour and press reporters spotted some concertgoers making new friends and giving their bracelets to each other before the show.

Taylor Swift’s fans made friends while exchanging bracelets at a concert

While the concert was going on, the majority of fans – especially those closest to the stage – stood up for the entire 3.5-hour show.

Some mothers even carried their children into large areas of the stadium so they could get a better look.

While Swift performed her biggest hits, some audience members spilled into the aisles and security staff were only able to bring them back after the song ended.

However, the downside to the excitement was that many audience members held up their phones and tablets to record the entire song, blocking the view of the stage.

Swift performed her second concert at the National Stadium on the evening of March 3, with further shows on March 4, 7 and 9.

After Coldplay in January, she is the second artist to perform 6 headlining concerts at this venue.

Taylor Swift fans bring Singapore an estimated amount of more than 350 million USD

Chua Hak Bin – economist at Maybank – estimates that 7/10 of the 300,000 live audiences watching Swift’s 6 concerts came from abroad and they spent from 260 million to 370 million USD on hotels, meals, and shopping. shopping and entertainment.

Meanwhile, Edmund Ong – General Director of Trip.com Singapore – said that from March 1 to 9, airfares to Singapore nearly tripled while the number of hotel reservations increased nearly 5 times.

According to estimates, 7/10 of the 300,000 live audiences watching Taylor Swift’s 6 concerts came from abroad.

Bookings for attractions and tours have increased by more than 2,300%.