If you saw a rumour floating online that Taylor Swift was paid by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to sing our national anthem “Majulah Singapura” as one of her “surprise songs” during her shows here, you were not alone.

Even Tan Kin Lian, former CEO of NTUC Income and one of three candidates for Singapore’s 2023 presidential election, entertained the possibility that it was real.

On March 5, 2024, Tan wrote on his public Facebook page:

“I recall reading a report that the Singapore Tourism Board paid a large sum for Taylor Swift to sing the national anthem at her concert.

Is this report true? Did Taylor sing the national anthem and was paid separately?

I am not able to locate the report, so I could be mistaken.”

It’s not real

Mothership contacted Tan for comment, who had since learned that the rumour was not true:

“I was told that the original message was a satire and was fake. I dropped the matter,” he said to Mothership on March 6.

He added that he checked the rumour with Google Gemini, an AI model, which confirmed there were no news reports about the alleged payment.

“Lesson – it is important to check the facts before forming any opinion,” Tan added.

Another Singaporean politician, Goh Meng Seng, apparently heard the same rumour.

He commented on Tan’s post, saying that he didn’t think it was true.
 Screenshot from Tan Kin Lian’s Facebook page
Tan may have spotted a message someone shared in the Telegram chat group, “Tan Kin Lian for President 2023.”

A user on March 2 shared a screenshot of a satirical post about STB supposedly paying Swift millions to sing the national anthem.

However, the screenshot did not give any indication that it was a satirical story.

Someone who may have just glanced at the message could have mistaken it for an actual report.

The facts

If one wants to know more about the deal the Singapore government struck with Swift, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong revealed more in Parliament on March 4.

Tong said that due to business confidentiality reasons, the government can’t reveal the exact size of the grant to Swift in exchange for her exclusive Southeast Asian shows in Singapore.

But he clarified that the actual size of the grant is “not anywhere as high as speculated”.

CNA reported that it understood the figure is closer to being between US$2 million to US$3 million, or S$2.6 million to S$4 million, in total for all six shows.

Tong also made the point that the economic benefits to Singapore, such as spending from overseas tourists flying in for the show, were assessed to outweigh the initial grant.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also said, in a press conference in Australia, that Singapore’s Tourism Development Fund provided incentives to Swift, which is a “post Covid” effort to boost tourism in Singapore after the pandemic.

But there was no extra money paid for Swift to belt out a rousing rendition of Zubir Said’s masterpiece.

For those curious, here were the actual surprise songs that Swift performed in her first three Singapore shows.

Night 1: I Don’t Wanna Live Forever & Dress

Night 2: Clean & Evermore

Night 3: Foolish One & Tell Me Why

Top image from Lee Wei Lin and Tan Kin Lian’s Facebook page.