PARIS: The man behind a recent viral video featuring musicians playing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to stunned bystanders in a Paris square has revealed the meticulous work that went into his latest, even bigger production.

The “flash mob” Queen video has been viewed roughly 600 million times since being posted online in early September.

Backing singers appear at windows around the Place de la Contrescarpe, a child prodigy performs the famous guitar solo, and organiser Julien Cohen leads the troupe of 30 performers on a grand piano.

The 32-year-old Frenchman, who was already known as an online content creator, was the brains behind the idea and footed the 50,000-euro ($57,000) bill himself.

“I didn’t expect such success, but of course if I did it and invested so much in it, it’s because I believed in it,” he said.

His latest project is even bigger, featuring 100 classical musicians performing five different songs, including Believer by Imagine Dragons, on a boulevard in central Paris.

It cost 300,000 euros, and the first video — of the Christmas carol Carol of the Bells — has already been viewed more than nine million times on social media platforms since being published on Monday.

“It might seem like a race to get bigger and bigger, but I really enjoy doing ambitious things,” said the Cambridge University graduate, an admirer of the world’s most popular YouTuber, MrBeast.

YouTube’s biggest content creators, such as MrBeast are moving into more expensive productions that resemble the sort of big-budget creations previously reserved for television stations.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2025