The surprise performance happened Monday inside the airport's new Terminal 1, where San Diego singer-songwriter Evan Diamond was performing as part of the airport's program featuring local musicians. Mraz happened to be traveling through the terminal at the same time and was reportedly eating at a nearby restaurant when word began circulating that the internationally known musician was just steps away.
Nick Cruz, founder of San Diego-based Elevated Arts, which works with the airport on its live music programming, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that he let Diamond know Mraz was nearby. Diamond responded by beginning to play "I'm Yours," the 2008 song that became Mraz's signature international hit.
What happened next wasn't apparently planned. Rather than simply listening from nearby or continuing on his way, Mraz walked over and joined Diamond without being asked, turning an ordinary airport performance into an unexpected duet. Video shared by San Diego International Airport shows Mraz standing alongside Diamond and harmonizing with her as surprised passengers gathered around the performance area.
For Diamond, a singer-songwriter who has earned recognition from the San Diego Music Awards, the chance encounter understandably became something more memorable than another airport gig.
"I'm gonna be thinking about this moment for a long time," Diamond later wrote on Instagram, thanking Mraz for being "so kind and gracious" and describing sharing the stage with him as an honor. She also thanked Elevated Arts and San Diego International Airport for creating a space for local musicians to perform.
The moment was especially fitting considering Mraz's unusually deep connection to San Diego's local music scene. Long before he was selling millions of records, winning Grammy Awards and touring internationally, Mraz was another aspiring musician playing small rooms and coffeehouses around the region.
Born and raised in Virginia, Mraz moved to San Diego in 1999 and developed his career through the local coffeehouse and club circuit. He became particularly associated with Java Joe's, the legendary San Diego listening room that helped launch several local singer-songwriters, before his 2002 debut album Waiting for My Rocket to Come introduced him to a national audience.
His career exploded further with songs including "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)," "Lucky" and especially "I'm Yours." Released on his 2008 album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., "I'm Yours" became a worldwide hit and one of the defining acoustic-pop songs of the era.
Despite that international success, Mraz has maintained unusually strong ties to the region where his professional career began. He has lived for years in North County and operates Mraz Family Farms, an organic avocado farm in Oceanside that grows avocados, coffee and other crops.
Last year, that relationship with San Diego's grassroots music scene came full circle when Mraz joined the ownership team of Jitters Coffee Pub at 502 North Coast Highway in Oceanside. The longtime coffeehouse was one of the places where Mraz performed during the early years of his career after arriving in San Diego.
Mraz and longtime Jitters owner Vallie Gilley subsequently began transforming the café into an expanded community gathering space emphasizing local food, sustainability and the arts. The revamped concept incorporated live music, comedy, DJs and other programming while maintaining the neighborhood character that had defined the business for decades.
That history makes Monday's airport encounter particularly appropriate. Nearly three decades after Mraz was playing San Diego coffeehouses hoping people would stop and listen, one of the region's best-known musical exports found himself walking through an airport, heard another local singer-songwriter playing one of his songs and simply joined her.
It also provided a particularly San Diego moment for travelers passing through the newly opened Terminal 1. The airport has increasingly incorporated local food, art and music into the massive redevelopment, with its musician program intended to give travelers a taste of the region's creative community before they have even left the terminal. On Monday, that concept worked better than anyone could have scheduled.
Diamond showed up expecting to play for airport passengers. One of San Diego's most successful musicians happened to be passing through.
And for a few minutes inside Terminal 1, "I'm Yours" became exactly that.
Originally published on September 21, 2026.