Even if you weren’t at Ed Sheeran’s concert at the National Stadium last Friday (Feb 16), where he performed to a 60,000-strong crowd—his largest audience in Asia to date—you would know that he had one very special guest star.
The ginger-haired musician sent his fans into a flurry of excitement when he announced the appearance of a guest performer. Then the intro to JJ Lin’s Twilight (不为谁而作的歌) started, and the Singaporean singer strode on stage to belt out his hit song.
Just as we thought the cheers of the crowd couldn’t get any louder, Sheeran started singing part of the chorus in—wait for this—Mandarin.
Sheeran would go on to share a now-viral IG reel in which it was revealed that he learned the lyrics to the song a mere 10 minutes before he went on stage.
“Me and the band had learned 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 minutes before I went on, JJ said he would sit down and teach me some of the Mandarin, and it was so fun to do it live. This is my first time speaking and singing in Mandarin, and definitely not the last,” wrote Sheeran.
He went on to thank his audience for their love and also left a simple but sweet message to Lin: “Thanks, JJ, you rock.”
So how did this incredible collaboration come about?
When 8days.sg reached out to Lin’s team, we were told: “Ed and JJ used to be label mates and met some years back. They were big fans of each other’s music. Fast forward to 2024, and the timing seemed perfect to collaborate to give a special moment to the fans in Singapore, especially since Ed was celebrating his birthday here!”
Prior to releasing his 2023 album Happily, Painfully After under his own label, JFJ Productions, Lin was signed to Warner Music Taiwan.
Sheeran, on the other hand, was signed to Warner Music Group-owned Elektra Records before forming his own record label, Gingerbread Man Records.
With that being said, we seriously don’t know who to be more jealous of—Lin or Sheeran.