Footage has emerged of a New York subway car erupting in an apparently spontaneous rendition of a hit 90s song.
The New York Subway system inspires strong feelings from travellers, some positive, some not so positive.
But rarely does it inspire such harmony.
It happened when a passenger walked onto the subway carriage playing the Backstreet Boy's catchy song I Want it That Way on a speaker.
Instead of pissing fellow passengers off, it appears to have struck a chord. A couple of passengers began to sing along. Before long the whole carriage had joined in.
From mass transit to the masses – the rendition of Backstreet Boys may not have been the most in-tune, but that didn't stop it spreading across the internet.
The video captured by Twitter user Joel Wertheimer, an attorney, has been viewed almost 3 million times.
Wertheimer wrote on Sunday, "Had a really tough week and tonight I was on the subway and some buy walks between train cars, shirtless, bumping a speaker.
"I wasn't in the mood for showtime particularly. But sometimes people and life surprises you and a little magic happens."
The music critics of Twitter have begrudgingly warmed to the subway acapella take on the 90s classic. "Easy to hate it but also easy to love it," wrote one twitter user.
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
New Yorkers have already championed the 30-second clip for capturing the spirit of the city.
"Everybody from different places and we all get along. That's how we New Yorkers do," wrote one twitter user.
Others, however, are suspicious of the harmonious and apparently well-choreographed instance of public transport bon homme.
With a 5.7 million daily riders, New York's Subway has been the setting for many previous viral video attempts.
In 2015 the video Pizza Rat – showing a greedy rodent on the subway carrying away a whole slice of pizza - became one of the most watched that year.
Having gained 10 million views, it was exposed as a hoax by the performance artist who claimed to have staged the Pizza Rat video as one of a series of viral videos using the subway as a rich backdrop for spreading her "art".
With a mass transit system that carries the population of New Zealand along its rails every day, there are almost endless possibilities for a "little magic" to happen.
