Paris does goosebumps like nowhere else. In Van’s full-length YouTube video, an orange upright piano is wheeled into a busy square, and a gentle intro blooms into a soaring street performance of “We Are the World.” Posted on May 30, 2025 to the channel “Van” (@vantoan_), the clip has racked up well over 2.3 million views as of this week—clearly, word got out.

The pianist is Van—short for Van Toan Lam—a Vietnamese-French musician whose social feeds are packed with spontaneous Paris moments and collabs. Around him, singers begin to stack harmonies one by one; you can spot the Sankofa Unit choir adding gospel weight and sparkle as the arrangement swells. Van’s own posts credit Sankofa Unit directly for the flash-mob vocals, and the choir’s pages show them to be a fixture of the Paris scene, from club stages to big-ticket collabs

Halfway through, the groove deepens: a drummer locks in the heartbeat, and a cellist threads warmth through the chord changes. Those aren’t anonymous ringers. The sticks belong to Stéphane Avellaneda—best known as the long-time touring drummer with blues-rock star Ana Popović—whose résumé spans stages across Europe and beyond. The cello lines come from Charles Gaugué (yes, with the accent), a Conservatoire-honed player whose feed swings from Brahms to pop collabs in Paris. Both artists are tagged by Van around the flash-mob posts, making their cameos more than hearsay.

And then there’s the moment everyone talks about: the crowd stops being “the crowd.” Phones lift, strangers lean in, and a sea of voices takes the chorus. Among the featured voices is Lou-ise Kim, a young French singer Van has highlighted on his socials—her clear, bright lead cutting through the city noise like a bell. It’s the kind of casting that turns a feel-good jam into a communal release. If you haven’t seen the other flashmob going viral in Paris, check out the video below.

It’s easy to see why this one hit the algorithm’s sweet spot. The ingredients are irresistible: a melody built for mass sing-alongs, a pianist who knows how to light a spark, a gospel choir that can lift concrete, and ringers with serious chops stepping in at exactly the right second. The result isn’t just “content”; it’s a short, public ritual of togetherness—proof that, in Paris, even a sidewalk can double as a concert hall. If you need receipts: the video and credits live on Van’s channel and feeds, and Sankofa Unit’s track record backs up every glorious harmony. Bring headphones—and maybe a tissue.