NEED TO KNOW
A Northern Virginia-based mom was “shocked” when her toddler son belted a particular tune.
Rachel Vega tells PEOPLE that her typical mornings can only be described as “chaotic” because she works as a day trader. While she’s watching the market, she has to make sure her four children — Luke, 2, Eli, 8, Olivia, 10, and Aiden, 14 — are getting ready to leave the house. According to the mom of four, the car ride is no different.
“The car is usually loud with the kids competing over what song I should play,” Rachel, 32, tells PEOPLE.
One morning, in the midst of all the chaos, the family of six was stopped in their tracks by an unexpected singing selection from their smallest member.
In a now-viral video, Vega’s son Luke, whom she shares with husband Andrew, 35, can be heard belting out the lyrics to Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” The doting mom shares with PEOPLE that she and her family were “shocked” when they heard him singing along to the tune.
“We were shocked and smiled so big!” she says. “We’ve always loved Elton John as a family — my mom has even been to four of his concerts — so hearing a toddler belt his song with that much commitment made us melt.”
She adds, “My daughter grabbed her phone immediately to record from the back seat because it was too good.”
Courtesy of Rachel Vega
Vega says that the musical choices in the car are always changing. However, whenever her son Luke asks to hear the Elton John song, she tells PEOPLE that he “always wins.”
“Right now my middle two are in their Morgan Wallen era, but Luke will yell ‘Yellow!’ for ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ and he always wins because it’s so sweet, and the kids also love to sing with him,” she says. “He learned the lyrics just from us playing it over and over.”
As for how the toddler learned the tune, the proud mom says he organically learned it by continuously watching a TikTok.
“He first heard it when I showed him a prom transition video of my little sister. It was a video of her switching into a yellow dress on TikTok with Elton John playing in the background,” she explains. “He loves my little sister, so he wanted to keep watching it over and over, but he also fell in love with the song itself.”
“I would play the video and dance around the kitchen with him, and then we started playing the actual song in the house and eventually in the car,” she adds. “He picks up music so quickly that before we knew it, he was singing it along in the car.”
Courtesy of Rachel Vega
Vega tells PEOPLE that her mini music lover has several other favorite songs that he enjoys.
“Right now his other favorites are [Elton John’s] ‘Rocket Man,’ ‘Happy’ by Pharrell, and ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ by Taylor Swift,” she says.
Courtesy of Rachel Vega
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Since Vega originally uploaded the video, it has amassed over 3.3 million views on TikTok and over 125,000 likes on Instagram. She tells PEOPLE that the internet’s reaction to her son has been “nothing but sweet,” adding that people are even tagging John to get him to notice the video.
“It’s been nothing but sweet,” she tells PEOPLE of the reaction on social media. “People are tagging Elton John, hoping he sees it, which would be insane and so cool!”
“And the comments have been full of ‘great parenting’ [comments,] and I’m not going to lie, reading that made my whole week,” she adds. “I also have another viral clip of him as a baby reacting to my husband and I kissing, and it’s the sweetest. Everyone has been so kind on both videos.”
