Have you ever stepped onto an MRT train to go on a journey of adulthood? On 3 October, more than 200 young Singaporeans gathered inside a stationary Circle Line carriage at Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station for Adulting Journey. Served Your Way, a new collaboration between Maybank Singapore and Stellar Ace that transformed one of the city’s most familiar spaces into a temporary stage.
The idea was simple yet novel: take the idea of the daily commute and turn it into a shared experience around the things that occupy young adulthood, dreams, relationships, the people we rely on and the pursuit of happiness. Rather than watching a performance from a conventional auditorium, the audience found themselves right in the middle of it, with performers moving through the carriage and inviting passengers to sing and clap along.
Getting a live performance into an MRT train is no small feat, either. The activation required considerable coordination and planning to turn a public transport environment into a safe and workable performance space. And while the train remained firmly stationary, the afternoon offered a playful reimagining of what an everyday journey could look like.
Shuttled onto the train, complete with sound system set up and live keyboard, the audiences settled themselves across the carriages. Actress, director and content creator Annette Lee opened the experience with Strangers’ Land, the theme song from her own film Dream Stall, released earlier this year. The song was a natural starting point for a conversation about growing up. Its focus on dreams and the courage to pursue them gave Lee an opportunity to reflect on her own journey and the significance of finally seeing one of her ambitions come to life.
There was something particularly fitting about hearing that story inside an MRT carriage. So much of adult life is made up of ordinary journeys, travelling to work, heading home, moving between commitments, while somewhere in between, people are quietly trying to work out what they want their lives to become. Lee brought that idea into the carriage, inviting passengers to think about their own dreams and what they hoped to achieve. It was an uncomplicated question, but one that opened the door for the audience to participate rather than simply watch.
Content creator Jenn Chia then joined Lee for Bruno Mars’ Count on Me, shifting the conversation from personal ambition towards the people who help us along the way. The song is built around a reassuring idea: that when life becomes difficult, there are people who will be there to help you through it. For an experience centred on young adulthood, it offered a gentle reminder that growing up does not necessarily mean doing everything alone.
Passengers were encouraged to think about who they could count on in their own lives, with Lee and Chia inviting the audience to sing and clap along. The performers worked around the tight confines of the carriage, while dancers incorporated the MRT poles and narrow spaces into their choreography. It was an unusual setting for a live performance, and the performers made the most of it. Rather than trying to hide the train, they embraced it, as they turned its familiar features into part of the staging and making the audience itself part of the environment.
The experience closed with both Annette and Jenn performing Pharrell Williams’ Happy, perhaps the most immediately recognisable expression of the afternoon’s optimistic spirit. After dreams and the people we depend on, the final song brought everyone together around something much simpler: happiness. Again, passengers were encouraged to clap and sing along, with the energy gradually shifting towards a communal celebration.
The choice also reflected the lighter side of Maybank’s Served Your Way campaign, which is built around the idea that people experience life not simply through financial products, but through aspirations, decisions and milestones. Those milestones can be serious, of course; starting a career, buying a home, building wealth or planning for the future. But they are also made up of the smaller things that give those milestones meaning: the people we meet, the dreams we chase and the moments of happiness along the way.
In that sense, the songs provided a simple three-part journey of their own: Strangers’ Land for the dreams we pursue, Count on Me for the people who support us, and Happy for the moments we hope to find along the way.
“Served Your Way is about understanding what matters to customers at different stages of life and supporting them in ways that are personal, relevant and meaningful,” said Annie Lee, Head of Country Corporate Office, Maybank Singapore.
What made the experience memorable was ultimately its setting. Singaporeans are accustomed to seeing the MRT as a means of getting somewhere. Here, Maybank and Stellar Ace temporarily removed that purpose and turned the carriage into a place to pause, watch, listen and participate.
The concept forms part of Maybank’s Served Your Way campaign, which seeks to engage customers around the different stages of their lives and the aspirations that come with them. The campaign also reflects Maybank’s stated purpose of “Humanising Financial Services”: bringing conversations around money and life into spaces and experiences that feel more approachable.
For the afternoon, that meant swapping the usual train announcements for live vocals, choreography and a roomful of people being asked to think about what and who matters to them. The experience ended with a small Maybank tiger plush keychain for participants who completed a form, with a reusable bag tucked inside, a cheerful little keepsake from an even more unusual commute.
“Public transport has always been about connecting people, places, and communities. Through this collaboration, we are showing how everyday journeys can also create opportunities for meaningful engagement. By transforming a train into an immersive theatre experience, we are creating a unique platform where entertainment and real-life moments come together to spark meaningful conversations and connect with today’s generation,” said Tony Heng, President, Stellar Experience.
There is something promising about seeing a financial institution experiment with how it talks to younger audiences. Rather than beginning with a product or a financial pitch, Adulting Journey. Served Your Way began with things most people can relate to: a dream, a friend, a relationship and the desire to enjoy the journey along the way.
The train did not move, but for a little while, the daily commute became something else entirely — a small stage, a shared singalong and an invitation to think about where we are going, and who we want beside us when we get there.
