Singapore Grand Prix 2026 draws A-list performances and celebrity appearances

The haze that settled over Marina Bay did little to quiet the noise. Across three days in October, the Singapore Grand Prix 2026 became less a racing event and more a convergence—a moment when the city's streets filled with performers, athletes, actors, and the kind of celebrities whose presence alone generates social media currents.

The music started Friday at Padang Stage with K-pop group Cortis, a quintet making their first-ever Singapore appearance. Their set proved infectious enough to overcome early friction: social media had already flagged fan misbehavior and confrontations with security in the hours before they took the stage. But Cortis delivered, their energy and catalog of hits like RedRed and Fashion carrying the opening day. Homegrown Mandopop star JJ Lin closed out Friday's performances with crowd favorites including If Only and Careful With Fate, a song that had found a second life as the theme for a popular Chinese drama.

Saturday belonged to The Killers. The Las Vegas band, despite their more than two decades together, had never staged a standalone concert in Singapore—a gap that seemed increasingly inexplicable once Brandon Flowers took the stage. Drenched in humidity and sweat, Flowers moved through the band's catalog with precision: Human, Read My Mind, Mr Brightside. The crowds sang along to every word. It was a performance that raised an obvious question: why had it taken this long for them to play the city on their own terms?

Sunday brought the weekend's heaviest hitters. Janet Jackson commanded the Wharf Stage, executing choreography to All Nite (Don't Stop) and Feedback with the control of someone who had performed these songs thousands of times. When she reached Scream—her collaboration with Michael Jackson—the crowd's reaction was the largest of the entire weekend. The music video played as she moved through the song, a moment that seemed to compress decades of pop history into a single performance.

Lana Del Rey took the Padang Stage roughly twenty minutes behind schedule, but the delay mattered little. Her set was visually elaborate in ways the other performances had not been: a cottage, a giant swing, production design that matched the melancholic precision of her voice. She moved through Summertime Sadness and Born To Die, songs that had become part of the cultural furniture. For many in the crowd, it was her first Singapore show, and the applause suggested there would be demand for a return.

But the racing itself was almost secondary to the celebrity presence that saturated the weekend. Kim Kardashian arrived to support her boyfriend Lewis Hamilton, who was racing for Ferrari. She spent the weekend in the Ferrari garage and paddock, present for Hamilton's second-place finish in Saturday's sprint race and his sixth-place result in the main Grand Prix. She also visited Hamilton's pop-up store at Marina Bay Sands, a lifestyle brand activation that drew its own attention.

The paddock and brand events around the circuit became a catalog of global fame. Sandara Park from 2NE1 posed with drivers Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad at a Reserve party. Stray Kids members Bang Chan and Felix attended separate brand collaborations with Aston Martin and Ferrari. Got7's BamBam appeared at an Adidas Thailand and Mercedes partnership event. Shinee's Minho found time to run ten kilometers around Sentosa despite the humidity, later posting about the experience in Korean on Instagram. Other K-pop figures in attendance included members of Meovv, Ive's Jang Wonyoung, Twice's Tzuyu, and CNBlue's Jung Yong-hwa.

The entertainment world was not alone. South Korean actor Jung Hae-in, Chinese actor Gong Jun, and Taiwanese singer Jam Hsiao (who attended as a guest of luxury watchmaker Richard Mille, accompanied by his wife Summer Lin) moved through the circuit. French footballer Paul Pogba, a World Cup winner, was in town as a Mercedes guest. Former NBA players Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul attended. Romeo Beckham, son of David and Victoria Beckham, was there as an F1 guest. Chinese Olympic freestyle skiing champion Eileen Gu was photographed with the race trophy on Sunday and had a speaking engagement scheduled at Singapore Management University the following Monday as part of a leadership series.

The Killers' Brandon Flowers, between sets, found time to eat mee goreng at an open-air hawker center in the same heat that had soaked him during his performance. Swedish pop star Zara Larsson discovered a new favorite snack in salted egg fish skin from local brands Irvins and The Golden Duck Co, buying several bags before departure. JJ Lin spent the weekend with his mother and girlfriend, Chinese influencer Annalisa Qi Qi, enjoying the race as a spectator. The city had become a stage not just for performances, but for the casual moments that celebrities share when they are simply present in a place.