Meet Lyka Rayat, The Lady Who Stole the Show at Ne-Yo's Concert

(SPOT.ph) Many people like to blab about “living out loud” and “dancing like no one’s watching.” Well, guess what, some people actually walk the talk. Count Julianne Lyka Raya among them. The 26-year-old cycling studio manager took on the dance challenge at Ne-Yo’s Manila concert last October 9 as if her life depended on it, and ended up stealing the show from the visiting R&B performer.

All Ne-Yo could do was stand there stunned, later reaching for a bottle of water, as Lyka moved around him, pulling off the greatest performance of her young life. Needless to say, her performance went viral, with the original video now somewhere at the 9-million views mark.

But the Lyka we meet via Zoom two days after is totally different from the Lyka we saw on the video where she is seen shimmying and twerking to Ne-Yo’s collab song with Bebe Rexha and Stefflon Don called “Push Back.” The Lyka we meet is calm and collected, as if she’s just gotten off a yoga session. Her voice is soft, her skin is glowing, and her long tresses secured by a headband and pulled back into a pony. She appears to be in her bedroom and looks more like she’s going to drop her skincare routine than a sick dance move.

What happened the night of the Ne-Yo show at the Araneta 

“I was hesitant at first because I was all alone. I was Miss Independent that day,” she tells SPOT.ph about her big moment at the Araneta Coliseum stage, while referencing one of her favorite Ne-Yo songs. “I went to the concert alone po, I was quiet lang ganyan.” But despite not having friends or family around, the crowd gave her all the support she needed.

Lyka wasn’t exactly paying attention to the pre-show goings on until she heard the host announce three girls from the audience will get the chance to meet Ne-Yo up onstage. All that the interested girls need to do is turn their phone’s flashlights on themselves, dance, twerk, and basically impress Ne-Yo who was watching from a screen backstage and will get to choose the lucky ladies.

“Naisip ko once in a lifetime lang ito so inol-out ko na,” says Lyka. “Sige go, kahit walang mag-flashlight sa akin, I’ll just do it, whatever. I got their attention fortunately and then they put the camera on me. Siyempre papansin tayo kay Ne-Yo. I just kept dancing kahit super pagod, kahit I didn’t have any water beside me. I just kept dancing lang, danced and danced, until the people around me spotlighted and hyped me.”

Lyka grew up listening to Ne-Yo’s hits. She’s been a fan of R&B and his music since grade school. “Even just the sound of it, super calming, just chill and relaxed, especially ‘Miss Independent’ and ‘Let Me Love You.’”

Chill and relaxed, of course, was not exactly how one would describe Lyka that night at the Araneta as soon as she committed to the challenge of dancing to meet her idol.

“Before we went up onstage doon ako kinabahan. But when I was up there na with the other girls, nawala kaba ko. I was more excited to meet Ne-Yo up close and nilet-lose ko lang lahat ng kaba and just really enjoyed the crowd and sharing the stage with Ne-Yo. I just kept thinking this is once in a lifetime. You’ll never know when this will happen again.”

A dancer at heart

Looking at her performance, some may think it’s a choreographed routine she’s surely whipped out before, but Lyka says it’s not. “The dance was just whatever na feel ko at that moment,” she tells SPOT.ph. “It was not rehearsed.” In fact, it was her first time to hear “Push Back.” But the girl’s got the moves, that’s for sure. And it turns out she’s really a dancer at heart. She’s been dancing since high school all the way up to her college years at the College of Saint Benilde where she took up Multimedia Arts. But since she started working, she only gets to dance once in a while and attend the occasional class.

Even Lyka’s other hobby is dance-related: figure-skating, which is actually her first love. She started figure-skating at 9 years old but she eventually had to give it up because it was just too expensive—the shoes, the costumes, the coach.

Does she dream of becoming a professional performer? “I actually love performing onstage so if I would be given the opportunity, I will take it na,” she says. “I love to show what I have to people. And siyempre sayang ang talent.” We couldn’t agree more.

Lyka says her folks were a little surprised seeing her dance at the Araneta, being the “slightly conservative” people they are (her mother is a vice president at a bank, her father is an OFW). But it didn’t take long before they expressed support—and pride, too, with her dad saying, “Yehey, my daughter’s viral.” But it was the crowd’s reaction that night that struck Lyka the most. After the very close encounter with Ne-Yo, the host escorted her back to her seat while the other concertgoers, including the ones at the VIP section, continued to cheer for her, congratulating her for the performance and saying she did really good. After the concert, people were asking to take pictures with Lyka.

“Obviously I was not used to it, I was overwhelmed. Even if I did that kind of dance people appreciated it, so it was…heartwarming. I just can’t believe what happened. I was filming but also processing what was happening. I was so happy, but shaking all throughout.”

And then she was back as Miss Independent, booked an Angkas ride home, and went back to work the next day. It took a while before she got to sleep the night of the show. The notifications were crazy. At the studio where she works, one of her favorite instructors was playing Ne-Yo tunes and Lyka started vibing with it. One of her co-workers took a video and posted it online. It got an easy million views on TikTok.

Days after the event, Lyka still couldn’t believe what happened. The crowd, the energy, Ne-Yo’s hug, kiss, that face towel. No wonder one of the questions Lyka’s been asked online is: What does Ne-Yo smell like? Which she gamely answers for Spot. “Sobrang bango po niya, even if he was sweating. He smelled so good.”

We tell Lyka about our observation that she’s so different from the Lyka at the Araneta. Where did she get the confidence to do that? “I just really love performing. Doon ko lang din kinuha yung confidence ko. I was so used to living in my own bubble and I was not getting any younger. Sabi ko, go lang. And from there, doon ko lang siya nakuha, yung confidence. You only live once so I just really enjoyed the moment. And hello, it’s Ne-Yo, you can’t show him you’re reserved or you’re shy.”