ViralWorld

Overly Attached Girlfriend

You might remember it as Laina Morris Girlfriend parody

YouTube hall of fame38 of 40

2012·The social era·funny

One fixed smile that became the face of every joke about jealousy for a decade.

At a glanceThe facts

Remembered as
OAG
Spread in
2012
Began as
A video upload
Format
Video
Era
The social era
Who or what it shows
Laina Morris, of Denton, Texas
Taken from
A video parodying Justin Bieber’s song Boyfriend, entered in his contest for a “Girlfriend” version
Origin
Origin not yet established
Available
Playable from the source

What this wasThe story

Laina Morris entered a Justin Bieber contest on 6 June 2012 with a rewritten Girlfriend, sung straight to camera with an unblinking smile, about reading her boyfriend's messages. Reddit found it, it took 170,000 views on the first day, and a single frame of the stare became one of the most-used image macros of the era.

Why it matteredWhat changed

An entry to a competition run by Justin Bieber produced a still frame that became a widely shared image macro. The woman in it later sold the image for 411,000 dollars.

TimelineIn order

  1. Posted

    Morris posts the video. It is watched more than 170,000 times in a day.1

  2. Mainstream

    She appears on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.1

  3. Later

    She announces that she is leaving YouTube, and speaks about depression and anxiety.1

  4. Later

    The image is sold as an NFT for 411,000 US dollars.1

The version you rememberNot the same thing

The version people rememberA still frame with a caption

The image macro, made from a still of the video.1

Where the footage came fromA song parody

A video of Morris singing new words to a Justin Bieber song, made for a contest.1

More from hereIn this collection

Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later

This is the copy ViralWorld can show you. Whether it is the first is not established.

Where it came fromWhat we know

Original source uncertain. This is the earliest copy currently known.

View this upload on YouTube

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.

Where
Known on YouTube.

More from 2012You were there

More from the social eraMore of the archive

SourcesWhat was read

  1. Wikipedia — Overly Attached Girlfriend

Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things

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