This past weekend (February 16), Ed Sheeran performed at the Singapore National Stadium on the eve of his birthday, but treated fans in the arena to a surprise performance with mandopop icon JJ Lin.
During his sold-out set – the highest-selling show in the venue’s history with over 60,000 tickets sold, per concert promoter AEG Presents – Sheeran brought out special guest JJ Lin to raucous applause. Sheeran played guitar as Lin launched into his hit song ‘Twilight’, sung in Mandarin.
However, fans got the surprise of a lifetime when Sheeran took to the mic during the song’s chorus to sing in Mandarin. Watch footage of the performance below.
Towards the end of the song, JJ Lin began singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Ed Sheeran. “Happy birthday to you, Ed Sheeran / Singapore loves you,” Lin sang as Sheeran laughed in surprise.
Ed Sheeran took to Instagram after the show to post a video of JJ Lin and himself running over the lyrics to the song 15 minutes before Sheeran started the show. Sheeran wrote: “I had the honour of having the amazing @jjlin on stage last night in Singapore.”
He continued: “Me and the band had learnt one of his biggest hits, ‘Twilight’, for the show, but because it was entirely in Mandarin, I felt like I didn’t want to mess it up, or be disrespectful by getting it wrong so the original plan was for us to play and JJ to sing.”
“10 mins before I went on JJ said he would sit and teach me some of the Mandarin and it was so fun to do live. My first time speaking and singing in Mandarin and deffo not the last. Thanks for all the love Singapore, honestly my fav show of the year so far, and thanks JJ, you rock x,” Sheeran concluded.
Following the Singapore show, Ed Sheeran is set to take his ‘+ – = ÷ x’ tour to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on February 24, followed by Jakarta, Indonesia on March 2, Manila, Philippines on March 9 and Mumbai, India on March 16.
See Ed Sheeran’s full list of ‘+ – = ÷ x’ Asia tour dates below.
FEBRUARY 2024
24 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Bukit Jalil National Stadium
MARCH 2024
02 – Jakarta, Indonesia, Gelora Bung Karno Stadium
09 – Manila, The Philippines, SMDC Festival Grounds
16 – Mumbai, India, Mahalaxmi Race Course
In other news, Sheeran recently reacted to the win of his first-ever Emmy, saying he “was not expecting” to take home the award.
The singer-songwriter was announced as the winner of the Emmy in the Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics category, thanks to the track he wrote for the TV show Ted Lasso.
“We won an Emmy last night,” Sheeran wrote, addressing the victory on social media. “I was not expecting to win at all, it was a real real surprise waking up to the news, I wish I had been there but I’m just about to kick off the Asia tour so had to be elsewhere sadly.”
