Mike Yung posted up Monday afternoon at a Brooklyn subway stop to do what he has done for decades — sing a love song.
As he crooned his way through Ed Sheeran’s latest single, “Eyes Closed,” with folded lyrics in hand, a man with red hair and his hands in his pockets slowly came up from behind.
Yung continued singing until he heard a familiar voice join in: “’Cause everywhere I look, I still see you.” Yung turned around to see that the voice belonged to Sheeran himself.
“Oh wow,” Yung said with a smile as he threw his arms around the pop star. “You just made my day — you’re the man.”
Rick McGuire, who runs the popular Instagram account @subwaycreatures, which aggregates bizarre, humorous and often surreal moments in New York City’s subway system, captured the encounter and posted it to his page. The video drew heavy media attention in recent days.
Sheeran’s label had tapped McGuire to set up the moment as promotion for the British pop star’s single and forthcoming album, “-,” (yes, the title is a minus sign). After all, Sheeran had started his career busking at age 18 with guitar in hand on the streets of London. Even so, McGuire maintained that Yung was out of the loop.
“The surprise is completely genuine,” McGuire told The Times on Wednesday. “He had no idea this was happening.”
Yung has been performing at New York subway stations for years and built renown among commuters and tourists. However, McGuire had only met Yung in 2016 when someone sent him a video of the singer performing the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody.” He shared it on his page and the video blew up, catching the eye of James Corden, who featured Yung on his “Late Late Show.”
The moment ballooned into an audition on Season 12 of “America’s Got Talent,” where Yung performed “Unchained Melody” and drew a standing ovation from notoriously taciturn judge Simon Cowell, along with fellow panelists Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum and the audience. Yung made it to the semifinals, where he performed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud,” a song that Yung also performs at his regular station at 23rd and Sixth Avenue.
Yung went on to raise enough money through Kickstarter to record an EP. He’s also gone on tour and continues to perform locally.
“I know that the things that I do is not done anymore — it’s very rare that you find somebody that sings like me without a microphone,” Yung told Pitchfork in a 2018 profile. “You have to love what you do. All of us are blessed, but I’m blessed to wake up in the morning and be able to sing at 7:30 a.m. when I have to.”
After Yung and Sheeran embraced, the pop star told him, “I f— love you” before prodding him to continue his performance. As Yung belted the chorus, Sheeran bobbed his head. People began to gather and film the unlikely duo. Sheeran joined Yung on the high notes of the chorus —”Eye-eye-eye-eyes closed” — as their voices filled the Church Avenue train station.
Before leaving, Sheeran whipped out a pair of tickets to his performance at Kings Theater and handed them to Yung.
“His story is pretty wild,” McGuire said of Yung. “So it’s just good to see a smile on his face.”
