Cody Simpson Shares Sweet Throwback Video to Celebrate 28th Birthday: ‘Hell of a Ride So Far Kid!’

Cody Simpson is celebrating another trip around the sun with some nostalgic footage.

On Friday, Jan. 10, the Australian pop star shared a sweet throwback video on Instagram to celebrate his 28th birthday.

In the clip, a younger Simpson can be seen rocking out on guitar to Keith Urban’s 2002 classic “Somebody Like You” alongside an older man in glasses playing the acoustic guitar.

“I wanna love somebody, I wanna love somebody like you,” the “Nice to Meet You” musician belts, as clapping can be heard in the background.

While Simpson made a career pivot to competitive swimming and qualified for the Olympic swimming trials in 2020, he’ll be shifting gears again — this time into musical theater.

Per ABC News Breakfast, he’s set to star in Australia’s new production of Guys & Dolls on Sydney Harbor.

“I can’t wait,” he told the outlet. “There’s been a lot of joking about because the stage is on the water. I can’t seem to get away from the water. Even when I’m performing.”

Simpson is slated to take on the lead role of Sky Masterson, famously played by Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra in the classic 1955 film.

In taking on the role, the “Let Go” singer looked into how the “That’s Life” hitmaker practiced his breath technique by holding his underwater for long stretches.

“That’s something that I researched and read about,” said Simpson. “He used to swim laps, do breath holds.

He added: “We used to do a lot of that stuff in my training, like a lot of hypoxic stuff, and I actually found that coming back into singing, I almost had a better capacity and strength even though I hadn’t sung for the better part of four years. Coming back into it, I had all that lung training.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

For Simpson, landing a role in Guys & Dolls was on his bucket list.

“It was always my aim to do more of it once I retired from the pool and I was able to jump right back in,” he said. “Fortunately I already knew most of the songs even coming into my audition which was awesome. I didn’t have to learn the songs as much as I had to learn the scene, the script and start to embody the character of Sky.”

Simpson added: “Acting is all about getting to live out your fantasies onstage, right? It’s just going to be an unreal kind of vibe and energy to bring to Sydney.”