In response to Taylor Swift saying, “We’re never getting back together”, her dancer goes “Hannor, abuden?”, sending the crowd into raptures. Each night of the singer’s six-day concert in Singapore featured a different Singlish expression that elicited wild shrieks from the crowd. At their Singapore concerts this year, K-pop stars IU and Cha Eun Woo busted out some Singlish too.

These are examples of how Singlish has turned into a marketing tool and a marketable product, says an NTU prof. And it turns out we’re not the only ones lapping it up – Singlish has also been used to sell Singapore’s unique culture abroad, as evidenced by “Singlish”, a popular speakeasy in New York City boasting concoctions like Chope and Ho Seh Boh.

This story was published in the Jul-Aug 2024 issue of HEY!. To read it and other stories from this issue in print, click here.