Young people learn mostly from stories. Today’s youth are little different from their counterparts centuries ago. Both would have learned about their place in society, social rules and the consequences of breaking them, and that chasing after impossible goals promises great rewards. The difference is that today’s stories are told by the media, and the subjects are real-life people rather than mythological beings. The odd thing about young people in my society is that they are rather realistic and tend to separate the myth from the real people whom the media paint as celebrities. So while they are understandably curious about their favourite celebrities and the gossip that the media generates around them, celebrities’ stories tend to have a limited effect on young Singaporeans, who – for better or worse – are more grounded than flighty in their aspirations for life.
Older people worry that the portrayal of celebrities and their lifestyles of excess in the media might influence their children with unrealistic expectations of life. From media portrayals, they view celebrities’ wealth and extravagance as unearned and undeserved, being attained from what they consider are leisure activities rather than “serious” work. Whether it’s music, acting or sport, society associates professionals in the field as not having contributed anything “practical” or “useful”, like gathering resources or shoring up the village defences. Not wanting the young to go down such stigmatised pathways, the young get actively steered away towards more “respectable” and “stable” ways of earning a living.
Other negative examples for celebrity lifestyles also raise the hackles of older audiences. News of morally outrageous behaviour, addictions, scandals, broken families resulting in multiple marriages, and losing control over their offspring, along with the disrespect of the law and suffering the consequences thereafter are also motivations for parents to exert a stronger influence than the media over their children, directing youthful ambitions towards the fields of law, medicine, education, business, computing, bio-whatever-they-call-it-now, rather than the arts. It’s not like people in these safer professions don’t get themselves in similar trouble, it’s that they’re less in the news for it.
Young Singaporeans do still take some positive lessons from celebrity stories. They learn that few celebrities are instant successes. They quote Michael Jordan saying that he failed many times which is how he became a success. They know that being an Oscar recipient or an NBA champion is only the tip of the iceberg while below the surface there is an entire foundation of pain and sacrifice, but also resilience and drive to reach lofty goals. Which is why – and often at the prodding of their parents – most take a more realistic path towards financial security with dreams little bigger than a securing good job, raising a small family, and retiring modestly. While there’s always the nagging question of what might have been, the default is to follow the “best practices” of people they know personally who have made successful professional careers for themselves. Nobody needs a Grammy to put food on the table.
Furthermore – and this is not a data point meant for the exam – I’m speaking from experience because I teach young Singaporeans who, consistently across multiple cohorts, tell me their ambitions are in medicine or law. I’ve had maybe three students whom I know pursue careers in the arts, and none that I know of pursuing careers in professional sports. So while young Singaporeans are, like everyone else, big fans of foreign celebrities who arrive in Singapore to perform, few to none seem as interested in emulating their stellar career trajectories and extravagant lifestyles.
It’s not that young Singaporeans lack ambition. Singaporean culture and to a large extent local media seem to make a point to compartmentalize celebrity hype away from the reality of celebrities as people. Culturally, Singapore does not glamorize local entertainers or sports-people beyond an annual award ceremony, and modest cash incentives for exceptional performance. Likewise, local news is presented calmly, restrained and matter-of-fact, regardless of whether the report is about a financial crisis or a celebrity scandal. So, like everyone else, Singaporeans young and old go crazy during media-hyped fan events like the Taylor Swift, and Blackpink World Tours of 2025 (and the hype is building for BTS in late 2026), and screaming fans almost cosplay to welcome their favourite celebrities at public meet-ups. Yet outside of organised events, Singaporeans generally leave celebrities their space when they come here to enjoy their time off. Maria Sharapova, David Beckham, and even Star War’s Daisy Ridley have posted Instagram selfies in iconic locations in Singapore but they are only mentioned in the local press days after they’ve left. Lady Gaga’s entourage visiting Lau Pa Sat looked a bit staged, but again, apart from curious heads turning, diners left them alone. There’s even a story of John Lennon visiting Singapore when he was still around, and apparently one young Singaporean woman recognised him and mustered enough courage to ask for a photo, which he graciously obliged. Again, the media only picked up on the photo after the fact. On one hand, Singaporeans are generally unbothered about celebrities in their midst. On the other, perhaps our media restraint explains what makes Singapore a popular destination for celebrities taking a break.
Good or bad, celebrity influence on young Singaporeans can be said to be less powerful than it is possibly anywhere else. There is a deep-seated realism that drives the young here to work hard and build secure careers over seeking the over-the-top excesses of celebrities as they are often portrayed in the media. The lessons they do take are that celebrities work really hard to reach the pinnacles of their careers, and so too do they need to work hard, though on a safer path, and preferably with definite career progression built-in. Singaporeans know the difference between a flashy billboard portrayal of a star promoting the next big entertainment event, and the real person behind the image – and give them the respect that every other person deserves, no matter their IMDb standing. Perhaps the biggest difference is that Singaporean parents loom larger and are more real to their children than celebrities in the news.
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Inspired by Singapore-Cambridge GCE ‘A’ Level H1 General Paper (Paper 1) 2025 Question #4