New York City - He just wants to sing! Ethan Pugh (26) recently moved from Ohio to New York City. In order to get an apartment there, the penniless artist had to make some sacrifices. He experienced this first-hand when he wanted to perform one of his songs in front of the camera at the end of January. Instead, he unintentionally created a viral TikTok hit.

In the curious video, the 26-year-old has just started singing when something suddenly falls from the ceiling behind him.

Quite startled, the musician simply continues to sing to the beat: "A cockroach has just fallen from my ceiling and is lying on my bed. Where is it now?"

He then sets off in search of the animal and finally finds it in a pair of shorts. His singing now gives way to: "Oh my God!"

The comical mixture of singing and horror goes down really well with the audience. In addition to 2.7 million clicks, more than 375,000 likes have been collected since January 27.

Pugh explained his performance afterwards in a similarly funny way.

Why did he just keep singing? The US-American now said in an interview with Newsweek: "At that point the lyrics just flew out of me, and honestly I've never sung to get through a fight-or-flight situation before, so I think the adrenaline just took over!"

In his room, instead of a fire alarm, all he found when he moved in was a hole with wires, Pugh said. "But I'm an unsuccessful artist and this place met all the 'more important' criteria when it came to surviving in the city."

As he had never had to deal with insects in his room before, the "guest" was a surprise.

However, the animal is now history. "I'm not proud to have ended the life of this cockroach," says Pugh. But he can now sleep peacefully again.