Taufik Batisah reveals why his wife pushed him to hold a concert: ‘My plan was to just quietly fade away’

Fresh off his first solo concert – two decades in the making – Taufik Batisah is taking stock of how far he’s come, from reality TV fame to becoming one of the nation’s most enduring performers.  

The 43-year-old performed to a sold-out crowd of 5,000 at The Star Theatre last month, with fans singing along to every hit. But here’s the twist – that concert may have been his last major one, as Taufik turns his attention to his business ventures.  

Now, 20 years after being crowned the first Singapore Idol, he reflects on his journey, his entrepreneurial path, and how Singapore’s music scene has evolved.

Why did this concert take 20 years to materialise?

My manager is my wife. She told me it's about time I did a concert – don't just simply fade away. My plan was just to quietly fade away and do my other businesses. She said I owed it to my fans. I'm grateful to her for pushing me. 

It was a magical night. The whole concert went well. I felt really, really blessed.

What did you hope fans took away from the concert?

It was important to me that the concert didn’t just encompass music. I wanted the concert to be something that we can all learn from – a source of reminder how important family is and how life is not a promise. So, before the people we love take their leave, it’s really important for us to care for them, to appreciate them. 

Our parents will get old, they will change. We can't expect our parents to always be the same two individuals who raised us, who are responsible and strong, to remain the same forever. They’re going to start to forget things, get weaker, have issues and problems. It's our turn to return the favour – be patient, spend time (with them) and do our very best to just give back. 

What's next on your agenda? Is there a new chapter that fans can look forward to?

Concentrate on my businesses! I added one more (business recently), an interior design company called Ivory Cove. 

You’ve built such a multi-faceted career – music, acting, real estate, restaurateur. How do you juggle all those different hats?

So, I'm just trying to make the process seamless – from purchasing a property at Batisah Realtors to renovating your property at Ivory Cove, then having dinner with your friends at Chix Hot Chicken. I'm trying to make it a one-stop shop. (laughs)

It is a lot of stress and a lot of skills in compartmentalising. But I have a great team in all of my businesses. 

I believe it's really important for us to diversify, to not focus on just one source of income, especially in this day and age, with inflation, with the cost of living increasing. It's important to have your own hedge against inflation and increasing prices of property, cars, everything. You have to be ahead of it and have other sources of income. And that's what I've been doing for the past many years.

It has been more than 20 years since you won Singapore Idol in 2004. What's your biggest accomplishment since then?

It's definitely bringing my family closer together. I think that's my greatest achievement. Besides the fans and their support over the years, which I'm really grateful for, is the understanding that family is everything. 

The (Singapore Idol) competition brought my parents closer together when they had been divorced for years. Got my brothers closer together. Now, even my in-laws and my parents are very close. We all get tired, we get stressed, but the goal is work hard for our family and that makes it all worthwhile.

You've witnessed the evolution of Singapore's music scene from the beginning. What do you think has changed over the past two decades?

It has changed tremendously in terms of the middle person. Back in the day, it was record labels or music managers with the power to create someone's career. But now, you don't need a label. You – you have the power with all of the platforms, with social media, to put your music out there. It’s great – it makes an equal playing field for everyone to get their music or their brand across. Not just in Singapore but the entire world.

But performing live is still very important. Don’t get used to just performing behind the camera at home, just churning out content. You need to perform live, feel the energy from the audience. That's something I hope a lot of our local artistes will have more opportunities to do. I hope the government gives a lot more support to our local musicians because we have amazing talents right here in Singapore.