If your FYP is anything like mine, then you constantly see Harry Daniels’s “Can I Sing For You” videos popping up on your feed. I’m obsessed with how he somehow catches every celeb and spontaneously sings to them while capturing their reactions. He has videos singing to everyone from Charli XCX to Vice President Kamala Harris. Tons of his hilarious videos have gone viral. Comedian Bowen Yang even parodied Daniels, doing the bit for SNL.
Daniels has truly become a fan-favorite TikToker. But are his videos not as random as they seem? Some might believe that Daniels plans his videos with celebs ahead of time, taking away the fun factor of him finding them organically and surprising them. So, the question remains: Are Daniels’s “Can I Sing For You” videos staged? Here’s what we know.
It all started when Daniels met pop star Sabrina Carpenter in 2022. He wanted her to remember him, so he asked to sing to her. The TikTok video did so well that he continued to do spontaneously sing to every celeb he met. And based on the reactions he’s gotten from celebs, some of his videos certainly aren’t planned. “I think every reaction’s a little bit awkward. I think that’s some of the initial charm and appeal of some of the videos,” Daniels told People in an October 2024 interview. “I’d say 98% of the time they’re very positive or neutral at the very least.” He spent years meeting artists at meet-and-greets and similar events, but now, Daniels gets invited to red carpets and A-list shows.
Daniels recently appeared on the Zach Sang Show and discussed his viral video with Kamala Harris, which he almost didn’t post. The video is old, but since the election hype made the VP a hot topic, he decided to finally post it. He also revealed that his videos with President Biden and former President Barack Obama weren’t pre-planned. Biden’s team tried setting up a video with him, but it originally didn’t work out with the president’s busy schedule. They invited him to a fundraiser in New York, where Daniels spotted the President himself. He sang for him and amazed his team with how he could get it done on his own. “It just did better than anything they probably would have ever tried to set up,” Daniels said.
Daniels is from New York, where many celebrities live and visit, so he’s been able to meet many people and make videos. Now that they’re reaching out to them, the sky’s the limit. So, some of his videos are planned, and some are not. For me, the pre-planned videos are still funny and don’t take anything away from my experience as a viewer.
Daniels just dropped his debut single, “I’m Him,” so now, maybe people will start singing to him. “I definitely want it to just be something fun that people can really just have a good time and that’ll break the ice for future releases,” Daniels told People. As Daniels says at the end of his videos, “Period! Well, Yes!”