Articles Lifestyle Mr Old Man A Fruit Vendor, a Lionel Richie Song, and the Power of a Little English By Mr Old Man Posted on 3 weeks ago 4 min read 0 0 33 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Reddit Share on Pinterest Share on Linkedin Share on Tumblr These days, Auntie Mai — a fruit vendor on Nha Trang beach in Vietnam — has suddenly become a social media sensation. The reason is simple: she sells fruit… by singing in English. One day, a British tourist named Louis, who runs the social media account Local Lou, happened to meet her while relaxing on the beach. He greeted her in English, and Auntie Mai replied by playfully singing a line inspired by Lionel Richie’s classic song Hello: “Hello, is it me you’re looking for? Mango, Pineapple, Banana, Watermelon…” Her fruit-selling line is simply brilliant. It begins like a gentle soft-rock ballad and suddenly turns into hard rock… fruit sales. After hearing that, even Lionel Richie might feel tempted to buy some fruit. Louis recorded the moment and shared it online. Later, musician David Scott — better known as The Kiffness — remixed the clip into a catchy musical piece that quickly spread across TikTok and other platforms. Just like that, Auntie Mai went from selling fruit on a beach to appearing on the global stage of the internet. If you’d like to hear the wonderfully remixed version featuring David Scott, you can listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO7kdnbW2eM According to The Kiffness, Louis later returned to Nha Trang to meet Auntie Mai again and share part of the royalty income from the video. No one knows the exact amount, but the viral fame alone will likely help her sell a lot more fruit. Stories like this remind me of another Vietnamese internet phenomenon — So Y Tiet, a young cow herder from Binh Dinh who once became globally famous simply for singing numbers in English while counting. For a while, international fans even invited him to perform his “counting songs” to celebrate birthdays — online, of course. Today he has a comfortable home and a happy family, thanks in part to his humor… and a little English. Hopefully Auntie Mai will also benefit from her unexpected fame. A small personal confession: Many years ago, Mr. Old Man himself got his first job at a bank partly because he knew a little English. Sometimes, a little English can open surprisingly big doors. — Mr. Old Man