Woman who goes viral for singing ‘Work It’ is surprised by Missy Elliott on Ellen

Last month, Mary Halsey put on an epic performance of “Work It” by Missy Elliott that took the internet by storm. Halsey posted a video of herself performing the 2002 hit at a park, and it quickly went viral. Everyone thought the self-proclaimed “Funky White Sister” of Missy Elliott had a pretty hilarious spin on the tune.

Halsey’s viral internet fame scored her an invite to appear on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to perform the song, and she got the surprise of a lifetime when Missy Elliott herself joined her onstage. Watch the awesome moment unfold in the video below (though we’d like to warn you that the lyrics are a bit salty):

Before her performance, Halsey sat down to explain to DeGeneres how the viral video came to be. She said her performance was recorded at an annual “Karaoke Sunday” event at Goddard Memorial State Park in Warwick, Rhode Island. Halsey admitted that while she posted her video in the hopes that it would go viral, she never expected it would become as popular as it did. The video even attracted the attention of Elliott herself, who shared it on Twitter on Aug. 8, noting that Halsey “straight killed” her cover of the hip-hop classic:

Halsey told DeGeneres she’s been honing her performance of the song for 15 years, and revealed that she came up with the idea of proclaiming her moniker, “Missy’s Funky White Sister, in da house!” as a way to fill the time during the instrumental introduction of the song before the vocals kick in.

Halsey only misses a beat before jumping right back into her performance when Elliott joins her on stage and begins performing alongside her. At the end of the song, they embrace, and Halsey seems absolutely overjoyed at being able to sing with the star.

How awesome! We’re so glad that Halsey got this amazing opportunity!