It’s hard to believe that Ruben Liversage was only 16 years old when he belted out his version of “The Sound of Silence.” The deep, bellowing voice sounds like it belongs to someone much older – and the surprise of it all has caused a recording of his performance to go viral.

Since it was uploaded to YouTube in 2016, the video has been viewed over 1.5 million times.

Written by the legendary Paul Simon and released by Simon & Garfunkel in 1964, the song has been covered dozens of times. In fact, in 1999, the recording rights organization BMI identified “The Sound of Silence” the 18th most-performed song of the entire 20th century!

But Liversage’s version was inspired not by the original, but by one of its covers – the 2015 version from the heavy metal band Disturbed.

Disturbed’s cover of the iconic song certainly isn’t folk music. But lead singer David Draiman’s haunting metal tune – which covers a huge vocal range and starts out a full octave lower than the original – impressed even Paul Simon himself.

Simon even emailed Draiman compliments after the band performed “The Sound of Silence” on Conan and posted the clip on Facebook, calling it “wonderful.”

Draiman couldn’t help but brag about the e-mail, posting it to the band’s social media accounts.

Draiman responded:

“Mr. Simon, I am honored beyond words. We only hoped to pay homage and honor to the brilliance of one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Your compliment means the world to me/us and we are eternally grateful.”

And it wasn’t just Simon that enjoyed the metal version of his song – Disturbed’s cover of “The Sound Of Silence” was the first Conan clip ever to surpass 100 million views.

So now we know why Liversage’s version sounds so different – it’s a cover a cover.

The teen’s performance took place at his high school and he was accompanied by a group of lyrical dancers as well as a full chorus.

His white suit looks like a military uniform (but it isn’t) and he looks almost angelic on stage as the light bounces off of it.

He’s nearly obscured by the lights at first and we can only see the two dancers by his side.

Pretty fancy for a high school show!

As Liversage stepped into the light, more dancers joined the performance.

Of course, most people were just there to hear him sing. But despite that, they had an awful lot to say about the dancers being unnecessary.

We think it’s pretty cool that so many students got involved!

Sure, there’s a lot going on, especially once the choir joins in, but it’s likely meant to show off all the talent at the school. No one knew it would be entertaining hundreds of thousands of people!

The whole performance has a powerful effect and many commenters praised the students, and especially Liversage.

“This song has always evoked a strong emotional response in me. But damn, I’m crying like a baby! This young man is brilliantly performing one of my favorite songs!” said another commenter.

It’s no surprise that Liversage continued to sing. The South African performed for the next two years at his high school and the account that posted his original video (likely belonging to his mother) has uploaded his other performances.

Be sure to scroll down below to see his amazing cover of “The Sound of Silence” – and keep in mind that the performers are all teenagers!

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Source: Marika Liversage via YouTube, Paul Simon via Facebook