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Thanks to social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, its users get to benefit from it as a means to showcase their hidden talent, using the unique audio-visual features each one affords its legitimate users. Recently, the Toronto-based Jon Pooley has been gaining popularity on social media, and because of the way Instagram works these days, somehow his music would appear on my Instagram feed.

Pooley, whose Instagram handle is @theverifiedjon, was once a contestant on Canadian Idol. His family works in the music industry so music is no stranger to Pooley. Ultimately, he had to put his dreams of singing on hold because circumstances caused him to re-prioritise, as he had to provide for his spouse and children.

So, that’s when Pooley switched to become a bus driver under the Toronto Transit Commission, the main transport agency operating in Canada’s Toronto, Ontario.

Struggling to cope with his new role as a family man, amongst other issues, Pooley was inspired to not only seek professional help, but use social media as an outlet to express his creativity.

His latest post on 10 January 2025 is a bus driver version of Mario’s Let Me Love You (2004). Despite using a song that’s more than two-decades-old, Pooley’s creativity shines through and he was smart enough to ensure that his re-write of the lyrics went hand-in-hand with the beat, type of music, rhythm, overall vibe. Go ahead and (re-) watch it, it’s guaranteed to make you smile and/or laugh and even be in awe of his re-writing ability. To date, the video has garnered 3.2 million views.

It’s worth noting that Pooley also sings from time to time using the external speaker system of the bus, weaving new melodies, much to the delight of pedestrians. Respecting the level of professionalism the bus driver profession requires, he limits his singing when around passengers.

If you haven’t been frequently using public transport, especially the bus, hopefully this will spark your interest in taking the public bus once again. This is based on an actual comment on Instagram. Other cute comments read along the lines of: I actually don’t mind if my bus is late as I have a talented bus driver.

Pooley’s influences include Drake, Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson, and Maroon 5. You can find Pooley’s version(s) of some of their songs on his Instagram and TikTok.

Here’s to hoping there’ll be a Malaysian version of Pooley one day.

Note: Afford in this context refers to technological affordance, which is the potential of a technology to be used for a specific action, in order for the user to achieve a certain goal.