“Any requests?”: Watch Ed Sheeran serenade gobsmacked runner on London canals

18 September 2024, 16:26 | Updated: 19 September 2024, 08:21

It's not every day you get serenaded by the world's biggest pop star.

In fact, you could say it was once in a blue moon being bestowed with such a privilege as a member of the public.

But that's precisely what happened to one unwitting resident of London, who was just going about her business.

The pop star in question? None other than Ed Sheeran, who was filming a video of himself playing guitar on a canal boat.

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Whilst drifting along the London canal, an unsuspecting runner going for an evening jog happened to sneak into the camera shot.

At which moment, Ed turns to his left, and begins serenading the runner directly.

"Hi!" the 'Perfect' singer says charmingly in the Instagram video before waving at the passerby and asking "Any requests?"

Ed Sheeran plays a request to a runner

The runner - clearly enamoured by glancing across and seeing one of the UK's, if not the world's biggest stars - then stops to meet the speed of the boat.

She responds, saying: "Can you do 'Tenerife Sea'?", prompting Ed to kick off especially for her on his guitar.

Strumming away, the runner starts filming back, recording the unique moment to prove it wasn't a fever dream.

Once he finishes, Ed waves and wishes her farewell before she resumes her evening jog: "Have a good rest of your run."

The 'Shape Of You' star posted the video to his 48 million followers on Instagram, asking to identify the runner to see her perspective of the impromptu performance.

"Was filming a video on the canal today, played a request," he wrote. "If anyone knows the runner lemme know so we can have their POV video for the lols."

Lo and behold, within a matter of minutes, the runner was found on Instagram having shared the video almost immediately.

The runner was identified as local resident Nikki Atkins via her Instagram account.

Accompanying the footage on her own stories, she wrote: "@teddysphotos This was so unexpected and so so beautiful. Thank you thank you 🙏."

Akins concluded her post by adding, "This is why we run girls 🫡🏃‍♀️."

If that's not an incentive to get your running shoes on I don't know what is. Especially when you could cross paths with incredibly down-to-earth superstars like Ed Sheeran.