R&B singer Ne-Yo. [Newsis]
R&B singer Ne-Yo. [Newsis]

A video of global R&B star Ne-Yo making a surprise appearance at a bar in Seoul's Yongsan district and performing his hit "So Sick" has gone viral.

Footage of Ne-Yo singing at the bar spread rapidly Sunday across online communities and social media.

In the video, Ne-Yo — wearing a black beanie, sunglasses and a denim jacket — took the mic and launched into "So Sick." Though the song is 20 years old, the bar's patrons sang along in a full-crowd chorus. They also serenaded Ne-Yo with "Happy Birthday" ahead of his birthday on Saturday.

The unexpected appearance of a global pop star drew a flood of reactions online, with comments including "Why is he in Yongsan?", "Is this AI?" and "It's wild that a legendary singer is busking in a Korean bar."

The surprise performance was staged in collaboration with JAYKEEOUT, a YouTube channel with about 2.3 million subscribers. The channel has built a following with its series in which a recorded track plays at a bar or restaurant as if from a speaker, only for the actual artist to suddenly appear and perform live. Previous participants in the series have included Lee Seung-gi and Highlight.

"So Sick" is a B-side from "In My Own Words," Ne-Yo's debut album released in 2005. The song cemented his identity as an R&B performer after he had first made his name as a songwriter, and it was a major hit in South Korea in the mid-to-late 2000s.

Last November, Ne-Yo co-founded Pacific Music Group (PMG), a Hong Kong-based music company, alongside Indian singer Sonu Nigam, rapper MC Jin and Jonathan Serbin, a former co-president of Warner Music Asia. PMG opened a South Korean office in March, signing artists including Tiffany Young and Bang Yong-guk, and established a Japanese subsidiary, PMG Japan, on Saturday.


dbsdn1110@heraldcorp.com