Singapore Says Taylor Swift Gig Grant Not as High as Speculated 

Filipino fan of US singer Taylor Swift, Aliza Ponciano, wears friendship bracelets as she queues to enter the National Stadium on the first day of her concert in Singapore, 02 March 2024. (EPA)
Filipino fan of US singer Taylor Swift, Aliza Ponciano, wears friendship bracelets as she queues to enter the National Stadium on the first day of her concert in Singapore, 02 March 2024. (EPA)
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Singapore Says Taylor Swift Gig Grant Not as High as Speculated 

Filipino fan of US singer Taylor Swift, Aliza Ponciano, wears friendship bracelets as she queues to enter the National Stadium on the first day of her concert in Singapore, 02 March 2024. (EPA)
Filipino fan of US singer Taylor Swift, Aliza Ponciano, wears friendship bracelets as she queues to enter the National Stadium on the first day of her concert in Singapore, 02 March 2024. (EPA)

Singapore said Monday its grant to Taylor Swift for her concerts in the city was nowhere near as high as speculated, following media reports that the superstar was offered millions of dollars per gig.

Around 300,000 people from Singapore and around the region are expected to attend the six sold-out shows that began March 2 -- but some neighbors were not happy about being left off The Eras Tour.

Some, including reportedly the Thai prime minister, have said that Swift was paid millions to keep her from performing anywhere else in the region.

"There has been some online speculation as to the size of the grant. I can say that it is not accurate and not anywhere as high as speculated," Singapore's culture minister Edwin Tong told parliament.

"Due to business confidentiality reasons, we cannot reveal the specific size of the grant or the conditions of the grant."

Tong added that the "economic benefits to Singapore are assessed to be significant and outweigh the size of the grant".

Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin had reportedly said, citing a concert promoter, that Singapore offered Swift up to US$3 million per concert if she did not play anywhere else in Southeast Asia.

A lawmaker in the Philippines also criticized Singapore, reportedly saying this was not "what good neighbors do".

Tong played down the role the grant may have played in convincing Swift to perform only in Singapore.

"Promoters of top artists will do their own calculation and assess where they want to perform and for how long," he said, citing Singapore's location and infrastructure as key factors.

Since the end of pandemic curbs, a number of top artists have performed in Singapore, including Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Blackpink and Harry Styles.



Beyoncé's Performance Highlighted Netflix's NFL debut on Christmas Day

 32-time Grammy winner Beyoncé. (The AP/File Photo)
32-time Grammy winner Beyoncé. (The AP/File Photo)
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Beyoncé's Performance Highlighted Netflix's NFL debut on Christmas Day

 32-time Grammy winner Beyoncé. (The AP/File Photo)
32-time Grammy winner Beyoncé. (The AP/File Photo)

Beyoncé provided more excitement than either game during Netflix’s NFL debut on Christmas Day.

Riding into her halftime appearance on a white horse, the 32-time Grammy winner rocked her hometown Houston crowd with a nearly 13-minute performance on Wednesday.

She surprised fans by bringing along Shaboozey to perform “Sweet Honey Buckiin” and Post Malone joined her for “Levii's Jeans.”

The action on the field didn't live up to expectations as the NFL showcased four of the AFC's top five teams, The AP reported.

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce exposed a glitch in Pittsburgh's defense during Kansas City's 29-10 rout in the first game.

The broadcast itself went off just fine, quickly becoming the second-most popular live title on Netflix to date, according to NFL Media.

Lamar Jackson and the Ravens led C.J. Stroud and the Texans to 17-2 at halftime before Beyoncé stole the show.

Mariah Carey opened Wednesday’s doubleheader with a taped performance of “All I Want for Christmas is You” and then the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs trounced the Steelers to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

There were no signs of any major streaming issues during the game after Netflix experienced minor blunders at the start of the pregame show. The broadcast opened with roughly 10 seconds of silence because it appeared studio host Kay Adams’ microphone wasn’t turned on.

Beyoncé's live performance at NRG Stadium was supposed to be the biggest test for the streaming giant and it seemed to go off without a hitch.

Mahomes threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns and Kelce had eight catches for 84 yards and one score as the Chiefs (15-1) earned a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The Steelers (10-6) have lost three straight games and may have to settle for a wild-card spot instead of an AFC North title.

Netflix agreed to a three-year contract in May to broadcast Christmas Day games. The NFL is expected to give the streaming service one of its biggest days since the site launched in 1998.

Netflix’s 282.3 million subscribers in more than 190 countries could stream the games, marking the first time one outlet distributed an NFL game globally. Netflix had the games available in five languages — English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German.

Netflix had problems streaming the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on Nov. 14. The bout peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, including 38 million concurrent streams in the United States. According to the website Down Detector, nearly 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to and during the fight.

There were fewer complaints on Wednesday.

According to NFL Media, viewers in all 50 states tuned in within minutes of the pregame show going live and viewers from nearly 200 countries watched the first game. Before the Ravens-Texans kicked off, Netflix reported that it eclipsed its peak concurrent viewers of any Christmas in the past four years.

The NFL was playing its first games on a Wednesday since the Steelers and Ravens were forced to play on Dec. 2, 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The only other time the league played on a Wednesday since 1948 was in 2012 when the Giants and Cowboys met in the season opener.

Commercials Netflix promoted its own programming in addition to the usual slew of advertisements. The first teaser trailer for “Happy Gilmore 2” was released before kickoff. Adam Sandler is back as Happy Gilmore for the sports comedy that hits the streaming service in 2025. Travis Kelce also was featured in a trailer filled with cameos by celebrities, including Bad Bunny and Kid Cudi.

New Christmas tradition The NFL played its first games on Christmas Day in 1971 with a pair of divisional playoff games. The league avoided playing on Dec. 25 from 1972-88 and shifted its full slate of games to Saturday if Christmas fell on a Sunday. Since 1989, there have been 30 games on Christmas, never more than three on that day. But the NFL went out of its way to schedule two games on Wednesday to accommodate its $150 million deal with Netflix.

Broadcasting teams J.J. Watt, a three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year and brother of Steelers four-time All-Pro edge rusher T.J. Watt, and former NFL wide receiver Nate Burleson shared analyst duties for the Chiefs-Steelers game, with Ian Eagle on play-by-play.

“I’m extremely proud of him and also slightly concerned he’s getting close to a lot of my records,” J.J. Watt said of his younger brother at the start of the broadcast.

Noah Eagle, Ian’s son, was on play-by-play for the Ravens-Texans game, with former NFL tight end Greg Olsen in the analyst seat.

Not a first This wasn’t the first time NFL games aired exclusively on a streaming service. The league’s Thursday night games are in their third season on Amazon Prime Video, Peacock streamed the Packers-Eagles game in São Paulo, Brazil, in Week 1 and Prime Video will stream a wild-card game. Also, the “Sunday Ticket” package moved to YouTube TV last year.

The largest audience for a streamed-exclusive NFL game was 23 million on Peacock for last season’s AFC wild-card game between the Miami Dolphins and the Chiefs.