Overly Attached Girlfriend
Morris smiling next to a cat with onlookers taking photos
Laina Morris, the "Overly Attached Girlfriend", posing with Grumpy Cat at the 2014 VidCon in Anaheim, California
Created byLaina Morris
Portrayed byLaina Morris
External videos
video icon Laina's original video that started the Overly Attached Girlfriend character

Overly Attached Girlfriend (OAG) is a fictional character and an Internet meme originating in a YouTube video published on June 6, 2012. The character was created by Laina Morris (born June 22, 1991). The video was a submission to a contest held by Justin Bieber who challenged fans to create a "Girlfriend" counterpart to his hit song "Boyfriend". The video, which satirized elements of the Bieber song that have been perceived as clingy, featured Morris staring at the camera with a fixed smile while singing about Facebook-stalking her boyfriend and other themes.[1]

In 2019, Morris announced her departure from YouTube and posted a video on July 24, 2019, detailing that she is no longer going to make videos and is quitting YouTube altogether. She talked about the depression and anxiety that she experienced off camera. Prior to this announcement, she had only posted one video to YouTube in the previous two years.[2] In April 2021, an image of the Overly Attached Girlfriend was sold as an NFT for $411,000.[3]

Popularity

As of December 2021, her YouTube channel has more than 1.25 million subscribers and more than 161 million views. Her username is still "wzr0713" officially, but her display name now identifies her as "Laina". Her video was noticed by the social news website reddit and quickly became popular, gaining more than 170,000 views the first day.[4]

Arising from the success of the video, 'OAG' became an Internet meme that features the image macro of the young woman featured in the video, smiling and staring maniacally at the camera that has been captioned in a way that portrays her to be a stalker, jealous, or committed to her love interest to an unhealthy degree.[5] The image still came from the video and was made into an image macro which also became very popular and spread across many social media websites[6] and was remixed in various ways.[7][8]

During 2021, the still macro image was converted into an NFT and sold by Morris.[9]

Morris continued to produce further videos, approximately one a week. While some featured the OAG persona, many branched out from the OAG format, including charity fundraising and attempts to interview celebrities on the red carpet at the AMAs. Exactly a year after the initial JB fan video, Morris had over 595,000 subscribers and 76,500,000 views on YouTube. A week after, her subscriber count went up to 605,000 and the views rose to 77,400,000, with the initial JB fan video holding 15,600,000 of those views and her follow-up CRJ fan video holding 18,600,000 views.

Overly Attached Girlfriend on YouTube

On June 18, 2012, another video, in which the Overly Attached Girlfriend sang a parody of Carly Rae Jepsen song "Call Me Maybe", also became very popular.[10] Morris has also made videos of Drake's "The Motto", a lip-synced medley of the "stalker songs" "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, "As Long as You Love Me" by Backstreet Boys, "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne, "Your Love Is My Drug" by Ke$ha, "Just Got Started Lovin' You" by James Otto, and "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift.[11] A parody of Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was uploaded on December 17, 2012. A parody of "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction uploaded on January 14, 2013, was done not as OAG.[12][13] "Snapchat," a parody of "Blurred Lines," was uploaded on July 4, 2013. Morris has also been featured in videos by Shane Dawson, Tyler Oakley and TheBrothersReidell among others, and has been featured in a Teens React by TheFineBros. She continued to bring out new videos every Thursday, often using her signature "smile". On June 6, 2013, she uploaded a video featuring a montage of clips from her past uploads, reactions by viewers, and television appearances, to celebrate the first anniversary of the original OAG video.[14]

On June 13, 2013, she uploaded her first political video, a parody of the U.S. national anthem in which she is dressed as Uncle Sam and sings about watching you through Skype, Facebook, and Google because she "cares" but does not mention the current NSA leaking controversy specifically.[15]

On May 20, 2015, Delta Air Lines posted a safety video that included OAG and other Internet memes.[16]

On July 25, 2019, Morris uploaded a video announcing her retirement from YouTube. Morris has cited multiple reasons for the announcement, including depression, stress and mental health.[17]

On June 6, 2022, Morris uploaded a video celebrating the 10th anniversary of the meme while thanking her fans for support. She appears both in and out of character in the clip.[18]

Identity of Overly Attached Girlfriend

The user behind the meme is Laina Morris from Denton, Texas,[19][20][21][22] and has been named by Mashable as one of "15 People Made Famous by the Internet in 2012".[23] She identifies herself in videos only as Laina with many articles leaving out her last name on her request.[24] Morris has tried to add to the "Overly Attached" image by showcasing a gentler, more playful side. This has involved a new "attachment" to her Kia Soul,[25] comedy skits on "LifeAccordingToJimmy", reporting from the red carpet at the American Music Awards,[26] videos starring her dogs Luna and Gilly, and "Dare to Share" for charity.[24][27][28][29][30]

She did revisit the character but with a twist, playing an "Overly Attached Computer" on November 12, 2012, in a commercial published by Samsung displaying its 840 SSD.[31] The reaction was mixed with some labeling her a sell-out and others applauding the move to creating a career from her "meme".[32][33][34] On September 25, 2013, Morris appeared with Good Girl Gina, Sheltered College Freshman, and Bad Luck Brian in a "Meme Hunters" commercial for RealPlayer Cloud.[35]

Despite the "Overly Attached Girlfriend" being portrayed as a crazed hopeless romantic, Morris confirmed on a viewer fan mail episode on January 22, 2015, that she was in a relationship at that time.[36]

Appearances

On March 11, 2013, Morris appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.[37] In May 2013, Morris won a staring contest with Jessica Alba at the Singapore Social Awards, presented by Starcount.[38] In December 2013, she was a guest on The Nerdist podcast with Chris Hardwick. She appeared with the Epic Meal Time team in the 2013 YouTube Rewind. She appeared on TableTop playing Cards Against Humanity.

References

  1. ↑ Wenjia Zhao. "Rise of the Overly Attached Girlfriend". Forbes, June 14, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Breaking Up with You...Tube". www.youtube.com.
  3. ↑ "'Side-eyeing Chloe' Clem to sell iconic meme as NFT". www.bbc.co.uk. September 23, 2021.
  4. ↑ Ileana Llorens. "Overly Attached Girlfriend: Justin Bieber Fan Creates 'Boyfriend' Parody About Attached Girlfriend". Huffington Post, June 8, 2012.
  5. ↑ George Jones. "Viral: Do not date this girl ... ever". Archived November 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine WIS, June 14, 2012.
  6. ↑ Fruzsina Eördögh. "Bieber girlfriend contest spawns Overly Attached Girlfriend meme". The Daily Dot, June 7, 2012.
  7. ↑ Lorraine Murphy. "The Morning GIF: Overly Attached Girlfriend". The Daily Dot, June 8, 2012.
  8. ↑ Alexander Abad-Santos, Jen Doll. "What Type of Attachment Dater Are You?". Archived October 14, 2013, at the Wayback Machine The Atlantic Wire, June 12, 2012.
  9. ↑ http://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1265875 A meme gold rush?
  10. ↑ James Plafke. "Overly Attached Girlfriend is Back With Parody of Carly Rae Jepsen’s 'Call Me Maybe'". Geekosystem, June 18, 2012.
  11. ↑ Brian Anthony Hernandez. "Overly Attached Girlfriend Returns With Medley of Stalker Songs". Yahoo! News.
  12. ↑ "1D Parody - "Maybe You're Delusional"". YouTube. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  13. ↑ Laina242,812 likes · 1,947 talking about this. "Laina". Facebook. Retrieved January 16, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ "Our One Year Anniversary". YouTube. June 6, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Overly Attached Uncle Sam". YouTube. June 13, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  16. ↑ "The Internetest safety video on the Internet". YouTube. May 29, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  17. ↑ Smith, Dave (July 26, 2019). "The 28-year-old woman behind the 'overly attached girlfriend' meme announced she's quitting YouTube for good in a teary goodbye video". Business Insider.
  18. ↑ Our 10 Year Anniversary, June 6, 2022, retrieved June 19, 2022
  19. ↑ The Daily Dot (June 21, 2012). "Overly attached girlfriend identified". Daily Dot. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Central Track // A New Sensation". Centraltrack.com. June 25, 2012. Archived from the original on February 24, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  21. ↑ Gorman, Sean (July 19, 2012). "Video: Denton girl responsible for Overly Attached Girlfriend meme". North Texas Daily. Archived from the original on October 1, 2013. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  22. ↑ Gorman, Sean (July 13, 2012). "Behind The Meme: Dentonite An Internet Sensation". On The Record Magazine. NTDaily. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  23. ↑ Christine Erickson (November 15, 2012). "15 People Made Famous by the Internet in 2012". Mashable. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  24. 1 2 Jason Whitely (November 27, 2012). "Viral video star shares her success with charity". Wfaa.com. Archived from the original on December 1, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  25. ↑ "Two Years Later - Kia Soul". YouTube. November 8, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  26. ↑ "American Music Awards". YouTube. November 26, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Surf Camp". Rally.org. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Dare to Share: Episode 1 - Surf Camp". YouTube. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Laina (Overly Attached Girlfriend) on the Dare to Share Project | WHAT'S TRENDING". YouTube. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  30. ↑ "Dare to Share: Most Unique Crowdfunding Campaigns of 2012". Crowdsourcing.org. December 21, 2012. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  31. ↑ "Overly Attached Computer". YouTube. November 12, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  32. ↑ "'Overly Attached Computer' Samsung Commercial Taps Creepy Web Celeb Laina Morris (VIDEO)". Huffingtonpost.com. November 13, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  33. ↑ "Overly Attached Girlfriend Leaves Rdeddit for Samsung". Archived from the original on April 9, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  34. ↑ Gianatasio, David (November 15, 2012). "Samsung Gets Overly Attached Girlfriend to Play a Possessive PC". Adweek. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  35. ↑ RealPlayer Cloud. "Meme Hunters - Watch this Video - By RealPlayer Cloud". Memehunters.real.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  36. ↑ "Do I Have A Boyfriend?" – via www.youtube.com.
  37. ↑ "Mets Bucket Hat Guy Meets Overly Attached Girlfriend (Jimmy Fallon)". YouTube. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  38. ↑ "Laina (Overly Attached Girlfriend) ★ Starcount". Starcount.com. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
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