Taufik Batisah shares why he's staging his first, and possibly final, solo concert

CNA

08-07-2025

It's official: After weeks of teasing, Singaporean singer Taufik Batisah has confirmed that he will indeed stage his first-ever solo concert, One Last Dance, on Oct 25, 2025 at The Star Theatre.
Speaking in a mix of English and Malay to members of the media on Monday afternoon (Jul 7) at his fried chicken joint, Chix Hot Chicken, Taufik candidly divulged his reasons for finally pulling the trigger on the much-requested concert.
Joining Taufik Batisah at the light-hearted session was singer Sufi Rashid – who is also the founder of the concert's organiser, SAH Entertainment.
Taufik Batisah admitted that in recent years, he has been "more focused" on his other ventures, such as real estate and his interior design company.
That is not to say that the Singapore Idol winner has discarded his singing roots; he still enjoys performing and has been a constant presence on television till today.
Taufik shared that during property viewings and at his restaurant, there would always be clients and customers who say that they had voted for him during Singapore Idol and ask him if he ever plans to release new music or hold a concert. After all, the last time he released new music was in 2014.
"So [staging a concert] was always at the back of my head," Taufik said.
He revealed that a few years ago, he and Sufi had talked about staging one. However, things did not work out.
"As a promoter, we have considerations like dates and the concept," chimed Sufi.
"Especially when you're gonna work with a conceptual person like [Taufik], you have to make sure that there's storytelling...It has to be such that when people buy tickets, it's worth it."
He added: "We don't want people to come to us, saying 'Why must we buy tickets when we can just watch Taufik in Mediacorp?'"
Fast forward a few years, Taufik has decided that now is the time to finally stage the concert, after seeing SAH Entertainment's track record – and after much prodding from his fans and wife.
One Last Dance will be the first time that SAH Entertainment stages a concert for a Singaporean artiste. It previously held concerts for global and regional acts such as Ne-Yo and Siti Nurhaliza. Sufi revealed that he plans to hold concerts for other Singaporean artistes, saying: "This is part of my contribution to support industry artistes in Singapore, not just for who they are but also their talent."
The team shared that, for now, One Last Dance has 31 songs on its set list, though that number might get reduced to fit the concert runtime.
Taufik himself is aware that certain songs from his repertoire appeal to certain age demographics.
For instance, he notes that his 2006 song Sesuatu Janji (A Promise) is now viral in TikTok among Malay-speaking users in the region.
"I want to take [the audience] on a journey on what they have given me for the past 20 years," said Taufik.
"Ultimately, this is a concert for the supporters, [to thank them] for the privilege of performing on stage and listening to my songs which they made popular."
As the session became more introspective, Taufik finally addressed the elephant in the room: Why does the name of his inaugural concert allude to a finality?
In a pensive tone, he shared: "When I joined real estate in 2019, I was consciously making an effort to be out of the [entertainment] industry.
"It took me so long to wanna do a concert [and] to find the right person to do it with."
According to Taufik, One Last Dance could very well be his first and final concert.
"I feel that as someone from Singapore, as someone from a small country, as someone who's a minority, it's hard to last in the entertainment industry," said Taufik.
"I've seen cases where artistes, both in the acting and music fields, don't make financial preparations to retire and end up defeated. This makes me very sad."
In Taufik's view, because the industry is small, there is only a certain period of time when an artiste will be relevant.
"You need to prepare for the moment when you're no longer relevant...You need to be aware that this will happen," he admitted.
"In my mind, this concert is my last concert, unless God blesses me with a longer career in music."
Citing a desire to focus on his other endeavours, Taufik added: "I want to be able to take care of my family. I'm being very, very practical. In all honesty, I'm doing this concert for my fans."
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Tickets for One Last Dance will go on sale on Wednesday (Jul 9) via Sistic, with prices ranging between S$78 and S$228.