Like a local: Ed Sheeran sings Chinese song with JJ Lin, tries his hand at making teh tarik in Singapore

British singer Ed Sheeran celebrated his 33rd birthday in style - performing to a 60,000-strong crowd at the Singapore National Stadium and belting out a song with a special guest.

"I want to do something special tonight because this is my biggest show that I've ever done in Asia. And also, as I've said, it's my birthday," Ed said at the sold-out concert on Friday (Feb 16), which is part of the Asian leg of The +-=÷× (Mathematics) Tour.

As he invited Singaporean singer-songwriter JJ Lin on stage, the audience broke into deafening screams.

In a clip JJ shared on Instagram on Friday, the duo was seen singing a rendition of JJ's Chinese song Twilight.

And yes, Ed Sheeran sang all his parts in Mandarin. Impressive. 

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"Not just Mathematics, it was magical!!! Thanks for having me," JJ Lin said to Ed in his Instagram post. 

In the comments section, some netizens said they were stunned by the surprise collaboration, while others were overjoyed to catch two pop stars in the performance. 

Making teh tarik and eating hawker food 

Apart from belting out Chinese songs better than most Singaporeans, Ed also enjoyed some local food with his tour guide, Denise Teo, who is better known as Supercatkei. 

In fact, he tried his hand at making his own teh tarik. 

The singer flaunted his tea pulling skills in an Instagram video on Friday.

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Apparently, Ed was so good at it that his teh tarik teacher said: "Nice! You've done this before ah?" 

After gulping down their tea, Ed and Denise headed to Lau Pa Sat for some local fare. 

While he's "sort of" tried hawker food before, Ed shared that he hasn't tried "different ones at once". 

"I'm excited!" he said.

The pair then tucked into chicken rice, laksa, satay, kaya toast, kueh pie tee and rojak. 

"That is banging," Ed said as he slurped up some laksa. 

He didn't seem to enjoy the sugarcane drink as much and simply said: "That's decent." 

But overall, Ed enjoyed his meal, saying: "It's all really good." 

ALSO READ: Ed Sheeran reviews snacks from Thailand's 7-Eleven

melissateo@asiaone.com