Ed Sheeran surprises New York City subway station singer Mike Yung

Ed Sheeran was in New York City for a show in Brooklyn, and he took the opportunity to surprise a local legend named Mike Yung.

Yung, 62, went viral in 2016 with a video of him singing Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers in a New York City subway station, which led to him appearing on America’s Got Talent and releasing a studio album in 2018.

The singer was filming a video in Brooklyn’s Church Street subway station on Monday, singing Sheeran’s new song Eyes Closed, when 32-year-old Sheeran surprised him himself.

Yung sang the chorus as Sheeran walked over and joined him, while Yung turned and hugged him.

Sheeran also surprised Yung with tickets to his Brooklyn show at the Kings Theater in Brooklyn, where he performed his new album Subtract in its entirety for the first time in America.

Yung and Sheeran sang side by side for a few moments, with Sheeran occasionally stopping and letting Yung continue.

They finished the song and Yung said “my day was good” when Sheeran asked if he could show him something.

He pulled out two tickets to his show a few blocks away from that station at Kings Theater in Brooklyn, as they embraced.

Yung also took to Instagram on Tuesday and shared photos with him and Sheeran on the subway platform along with the video.

He also shared a photo of the tickets Sheeran had given him, and a photo of the marquee featuring Ed Sheeran’s sold-out show.

He also shared a video from his seat in Sheeran singing Eyes Closed, with the audience watching in silence, unlike most major stadium shows.

Yung also shared two more videos of Sheeran singing songs from his upcoming Subtract album, titled Boat and Curtains.

Sheeran first revealed his Subtract album at the end of March, announcing a ‘mini-tour’, with shows in Manchester, London, Glasgow, Dublin and Paris, performing the full Subtract album.

His Monday night show at the Kings Theater marked his first time playing the album in America, sharing a video with fans sharing their thoughts on the performance on Instagram.

‘Played Subtract in full again last night, for the first time on American soil. It was emotional, but electric, I loved it. Thank you all so much for coming, less than a month before release, can’t wait,” Sheeran said in the caption.

One fan said it was “probably the most incredible experience of my life,” while another said it was “such an intimate experience” that you don’t normally get with an artist of his stature.

Another fan added that the audience was “really listening to what he was saying.”

Sheeran first announced the album in a heartfelt March 1 Instagram post, revealing that he had been working on the album for nearly a decade.

“I had been working on Subtract for ten years, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then, in early 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I looked at music and art,” he said.

Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me understand my feelings. I wrote without thinking about what the songs would be, I just wrote what tumbled out. And in just over a week, I’ve replaced ten years of work with my deepest, darkest thoughts,” Sheeran added.

‘Within a month my pregnant wife was told she had a tumour, and she could not be treated until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother of mine, died suddenly and I was in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I spiraled through fear, depression and anxiety. I felt like I was drowning, with my head submerged, looking up but unable to break through for air,” he continued.

“As an artist, I didn’t feel I could credibly put out a body of work that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I should be expressing myself at this point in my life. This album is just that. It opens the hatch to my soul. For the first time, I’m not trying to make an album that people will like, I’m just putting out something that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life. This is the diary entry from last February and my way of making sense of it. This is Subtraction,” he concluded.

Just days earlier, Sheeran took to Instagram to preview one of the new tracks on his Subtract album, titled Salt Water.

The hitmaker, 32, announced the release of his sixth studio album Subtract in February, saying it was inspired by personal tragedies he’s dealt with.

The emotional release is about his grief after the death of his friend Jamal Edwards and his depression and anxiety when his wife Cherry was diagnosed with a tumor while pregnant with their second child.

Post to his With 43.1 million Instagram followers on Monday, Ed shared a final sneak peak of his new track, Salt Water.

The A Team singer revealed that the song is deeply emotional, inspired by some of the “darkest times” of his life.

He wrote alongside the post, “Saltwater was written about some of the darkest nights to mornings, and the ‘what ifs’ that surround thoughts.

“It was the second song me and Aaron finished for Subtract and I really feel this and Boat figured out what the record was early on.”

Ed also shared an explainer video, in which he appeared to reference his battle with suicidal thoughts.

He continued, “Salt Water is kind of a dark song, it actually plays out what the last moments were supposed to be: jumping into cold salt water and feeling at 3 to 4 degrees that you’re free.”

“It was one of the first songs I wrote to pull off and finish on the English coast. I really think it’s a very nice song on the album and I hope you like it.’