Singaporean man gives away his $2,500 Taylor Swift concert tickets to person with the best 'love story'
PHOTO: Screengrab/Instagram/mattzachliu, screengrab/Instagram/alvenna_13
PUBLISHED ONNovember 25, 2023 7:44 AM
Are you ready for it? Yes, that's a line from one of Taylor Swift's songs.
When news broke that Taylor Swift will be performing in Singapore, her only stop in Southeast Asia, for The Eras Tour, all hell broke loose with people vying for the concert tickets.
Unfortunately, not all Swifties managed to secure their spot at the highly anticipated six-day concert taking place from March 2 to 4 and 7 to 9.
Amidst scalpers selling tickets at exorbitant prices and scams, one lucky Swiftie managed to secure a pair of VIP 1 tickets, worth almost $2,500, even at this late stage.
This was thanks to one Singaporean man, Matthew Zachary Liu, who - in an Instagram giveaway post on Nov 18 - generously offered to give away his own tickets but with one condition.
To win the exclusive tickets, one had to share their best Love Story or Fearless experience, and the giveaway host would pick from one of the top-five liked entries.
On Saturday (Nov 25), the lucky winner of the giveaway was Instagram user Alvenna_13, who goes by Venna.
Venna went all out, submitting her story of growth and self-love in the comments section of the Instagram giveaway post.
In her very-descriptive and heartfelt entry, she mentioned that she has been a Swiftie for more than a decade, and how Taylor Swift songs have helped her face the challenges she went through in 2018.
She connected with fellow Swifties online, and in the midst of it all, she found a way to hold space for herself.
"Without her [Taylor Swift], I'm nowhere near who I am today," she mentioned in her entry.
Unfortunately, she couldn't snag the tickets for The Eras Tour, and mentioned how she didn't have the means to experience The Red tour in 2014 when Taylor visited her home country in Malaysia.
'Respect the hustle'
The host of the giveaway, Matthew, mentioned that he was giving away said pair of tickets as he was still recovering from a broken hand injury, which he said would take six months to fully heal.
After a slew of entries, with more than 200 comments, he ultimately picked Venna as the winner, mentioning he respects "the hustle of this person overcoming their life's challenges and still going all out for what they want with the support of people rooting for her".
AsiaOne has reached out to Alvena for more details.
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