So maybe you've spent some time on Reddit or Tumblr and noticed a few hundred or so variations of a new Internet meme called "Overly Attached Girlfriend," featuring a wide-eyed smiling girl whose facial expression is enough to make you question her level of sanity.
The Overly Attached Girlfriend memes are hilarious and totally relatable to almost anyone who's been in a relationship, but where did it come from?
And how the heck did this meme become so incredibly popular?
It's not always easy to figure out exactly why things go viral online, but here's a summary of what we know about the Overly Attached Girlfriend.
YouTube - Where It All Began
On June 6, 2012, YouTube user wzr0713 (also known as Laina Walker) uploaded a video on her channel in response to a competition Justin Bieber started, where fans could submit their own versions of his "Boyfriend" song instead entitled "Girlfriend" from a female perspective.
The video starts off with Laina taking a few seconds to smile and stare into the camera, before breaking out into song with Justin Bieber's Boyfriend music playing in the background. The lyrics she sings in her version of the song all reflect the habits of an overly obsessive girlfriend.
According to Know Your Meme, the video had received over 1.35 million views within less than 48 hours. At time of writing, the YouTube video has over seven million views, and you can watch it here.
Reddit - Where Memes Are Born
Nearly all image macro memes begin on either 4chan or Reddit (or sometimes Tumblr), before making their way to other social networks like Tumblr and Pinterest. The day after the Laina had uploaded the video, one particular Redditor submitted the video link to Reddit, dubbing it "Overly Attached Girlfriend."
The link attracted hundreds of comments and a dedicated Quickmeme page had been set up for it. Viral spread took off, and the meme started showing up in places like BuzzFeed, all over Tumblr and several other news sites that cover Internet culture.
Where to Find Her
The spread of this meme has been insane. An official Blogger website has been set up by a fan and can be found at OverlyAttachedGirlfriend.com. Recent meme images, videos from her YouTube channel and other photos or news are posted there.
There’s also an official Overly Attached Girlfriend Tumblr blog dedicated to her meme, but you can widen the search by searching the tag “Overly Attached Girlfriend” in Tumblr as well.
How to Make Your Own Overly Attached Girlfriend Memes
Feel like you’ve got a good caption to pair up with Laina’s wide-eyed image that really captures the essence of a deranged and overly possessive girlfriend? The easiest thing to do would be to head over to her Quickmeme page to make your own.
You can browse through the existing variations of the meme first to get some inspiration and when you’re ready, simply press the big blue button the top right of the page that says “Add your own caption.”
That will take you to the Captionater, where you can set the style for your font and input the captions on the top and bottom of the image. Easy as pie!
If you want you can save your new meme as a public to be viewable on the Quickmeme website, make it private or leave your name as anonymous. Once you’re done, you can share it on social networking sites right from the Quickmeme site.