In the new Netflix thriller series “Beef,” Steven Yeun plays Danny Cho, a struggling contractor who feels responsible for the failure of his parents’ motel. In the first episode, he gets into a road rage incident with Amy Lau (played by Ali Wong), a successful and wealthy businessman who can’t help but feel a lot of anxiety about her life. It sets them both on a course towards mutual destruction, changing their lives and the lives of everyone they know forever.
During the series, Danny joins a Korean church in Orange County where the pastor is his girlfriend’s husband. At first, Danny’s involvement seems very self-interested, but he is captivated by his emotional response to the service and the music there. Later in the series, in episode seven, he even becomes a singer in the church praise band as well, performing “Amazing Grace” for the congregation. But fans may be wondering: is that really Yeun singing?
The answer is yes, Yeun sings himself in “Beef,” and there are a few places online where you can see him flexing his musical talent. In a March 2021 interview with W Magazine, he opened up about his karaoke song — O-Town’s “All or Nothing,” a truly inspiring choice — and sang two bars of it. Some celebrities in the magazine were also performing BTS’s “Dynamite” at the same time, and while most chose to speak the words, Yeun chose to sing.
There are also several videos of the “Walking Dead” star from his pre-fame days singing and playing guitar, including one from his college years. He also made videos covering songs by Ray Lamontagne and Alicia Keys.
“Beef” is not the first project to take advantage of Yeun’s singing skills. He appeared in a 2019 episode of “The Twilight Zone” where his character plays karaoke, according to a clip from TV Guide, although he didn’t make himself sound so good for the part. But now that we know Yeun has the voice and guitar skills to match, we can’t help but hope that a musical is just around the corner.
All 10 episodes of “Beef” are streaming now on Netflix.
