2014·The social era·funny
Eyebrows on fleek
A sixteen-year-old coined a word the whole English-speaking world used, and was paid nothing for it.
You might remember it as on fleek, Peaches Monroee eyebrows Vine
An early online video
Originally published on Vine.
- SourceOrigin not yet established
- MediaNot held by ViralWorld
What this was
In June 2014 Kayla Newman, posting on Vine as Peaches Monroee, filmed herself in a car checking her eyebrows and announced that they were on fleek. The word had no prior meaning. Within a year it was everywhere, and by December 2015 the original had been looped more than thirty-six million times.
It first appeared in 2014, during the social era.
It is the clearest single case of the internet's most persistent economic fact: that Black teenagers generate the language and aesthetics the culture then sells, and are structurally excluded from the money. Doreen St. Félix's 2015 FADER piece on Newman is the reference text for that argument, and "on fleek" is its central exhibit — used by IHOP, Denny's, Taco Bell and every brand account in the country while its author remained unknown.
Newman sought a trademark, launched a cosmetics line by crowdfunding in 2017, and has spoken repeatedly about wanting the credit rather than only the money. The phrase itself entered mainstream dictionaries. Vine's shutdown took the original post with it.
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Grouped by explicit relationships where evidence exists, and by shared theme otherwise.
Behind the recordWhere it came from
Original source uncertain. This is the earliest copy currently known.
No original upload has been established for this record. The index is showing the earliest copy it currently knows about, and says so rather than guessing.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
- What happens
- In June 2014 Kayla Newman, posting on Vine as Peaches Monroee, filmed herself in a car checking her eyebrows and announced that they were on fleek. The word had no prior meaning. Within a year it was everywhere, and by December 2015 the original had been looped more than thirty-six million times.