SINGAPORE – In a sea of excitable young women with friendship bracelets, 57-year-old polytechnic lecturer Allan Lee stood out for being one of the few middle-aged men vying for The Straits Times’ (ST) limited-edition, nine-part infographic poster about American superstar Taylor Swift, ahead of her six-night show here at the National Stadium from March 2 to 9. 

Mr Lee, who took part in a contest to win the poster for his daughter, is a “Swiftie Dad” – the father of a Swift fan. 

The contest, which ran from Feb 14 to 23, asked ST’s TikTok followers to post themselves trying out its special TikTok filter to win the poster. The filter randomly matched users to a music “era”, or one album, covered in Swift’s Eras Tour set list.

Posters were given to a limited number of winners.

His daughter Athena Lee, a 26-year-old account executive at a social media agency, who came down to ST’s office to collect the poster with her father, says: “I don’t have TikTok and I thought that if I posted, I will just be another Swiftie girl, whereas my dad will stand out. And it worked. I’m very thankful to my dad.”

She has a VIP 1 ticket to Swift’s March 9 show here, which set her back $1,228.

The poster is a composite of nine full-page infographics, which combine to form an image of Swift. They were published in the national broadsheet over nine days from Feb 17 to 25. Each infographic represents one era of Swift’s career.

Mr Lee, an ST subscriber and reader, collected the infographics from the newspaper every morning and left them on his daughter’s bedside table. He also entered virtual queues to buy Swift’s concert merchandise and register for free tickets to watch The Eras Tour Light & Water Show organised by Marina Bay Sands. 

He says: “My daughter is not that crazy over many stars, so I want to support what she loves. I also think Taylor Swift is very talented and hardworking, and hopefully my daughter can emulate that too.”

Aside from Swiftie Dad, mum Amelia Tan is also a winner. The 33-year-old marketing manager, who has two sons, aged four and five months old, banked her hopes on getting a poster. 

While she knew about the infographics, she could not collect them as she was travelling in Australia from Feb 17 to 25 to attend Swift’s Feb 24 show at Sydney’s Accor Stadium. 

In the hope of getting the poster, she took part in the contest. It took her more than 10 tries of the filter to land on her favourite Swift album – Fearless (2008). She donned a sparkly gold outfit – the colour that defines Fearless – to match the filter. 

She found out she had won when she was on her way to watch the Sydney show.

Ms Tan, who will also be attending the March 8 show, says: “My husband and I are revamping our study now to split it into two sides. I’ve been thinking of decorating my side with Taylor Swift merchandise, so this poster is very timely.”

Polytechnic student Priya Dash discovered the infographics while flipping through the newspaper, which her parents subscribe to. The 17-year-old, whose older sister is also a Swiftie, chanced upon the Fearless infographic published on Feb 17 and collected all nine pieces over the next few days. 

She says: “At first, my sister and I were confused about what the lines cutting across the infographics are, then we realised that when you merge everything together, it forms this really nice composite of Taylor.”

As a freelance illustrator, Ms Yan Min Zoe appreciates how much work went into the infographics. In a TikTok video she made about the infographics, she read out the names of ST correspondent Yamini Chinnuswamy and executive infographics journalist Billy Ker, who helmed the project. 

The 28-year-old, who bought the newspaper to collect the infographics, says: “I really appreciate the level of detail of the artwork and the many Easter eggs for fans to find. I also enjoyed the factoids that Singaporeans would care about, like the one about Marjorie, Taylor’s maternal grandmother, who once performed opera at Singapore’s Victoria Theatre.”

Another winner is events operations executive Muhammad Darwisy, who is attending a whopping five out of the six shows Swift will stage in Singapore. 

A die-hard Swiftie who spent more than $2,000 on his tickets and made 100 friendship bracelets to exchange with other fans at the concert, the 24-year-old’s entry for the TikTok filter contest featured a gigantic friendship bracelet he made.

Swifties exchange friendship bracelets due to a line from Swift’s song, You’re On Your Own, Kid, from her 10th album Midnights (2022), which references the accessory.

He says: “I’m not usually someone who displays posters, but this one is so pretty, I love it. I will hang it up on my wall.”

• If you missed ST’s giveaway of the collectible A1-sized posters combining all nine infographics, there is still a chance to get hold of one. ST’s social team will be roving outside the National Stadium on March 2, giving out goodies such as the posters, stickers and friendship bracelets. Follow ST’s TikTok account @straitstimes for more details.