Laina Morris

"Laina" redirects here. For the Greek poet, see Maria Laina.
Laina Morris

Laina Morris, the "Overly Attached Girlfriend", posing with Grumpy Cat at the 2014 VidCon in Anaheim, California.
Born (1991-06-22) June 22, 1991
Denton, Texas, United States
Nationality American
Occupation Internet celebrity, Internet meme
Years active 2012–present

Laina Morris[1] (born June 22, 1991), better known mononymously as Laina, is a YouTuber and the creator of the viral fictional character Overly Attached Girlfriend, often abbreviated to OAG, an Internet meme originating in a YouTube video published on June 6, 2012. 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.[2]

Popularity

The "Girlfriend" video launched Morris into internet stardom. As of December 21, 2015, her YouTube channel has more than 1,285,312 subscribers and more than 144,885,832 views. Her username is still "wzr0713" officially, but her display name now identifies her as "Laina". The video was noticed by the social news website reddit and quickly became popular, gaining more than 170,000 views the first day.[3]

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 manically 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.[4][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]

Morris has continued to produce further videos, approximately once a week. While some feature the OAG persona, many branch 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, embracing the concept of Overly Attached Girlfriend and singing in character again, this time a parody of Carly Rae Jepsen song "Call Me Maybe", and this video also became very popular.[9] 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.[10] A parody of 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.[11][12] '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 continues 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.[13]

On June 13, 2013, she uploaded her first political video, a parody of the US 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.[14]

On May 20, 2015, Delta Air Lines posted a safety video that included OAG and other Internet memes.[15]

Identity of Overly Attached Girlfriend

The user behind the meme is Laina Morris from Denton, Texas[16][17][18][19] and has been named by Mashable as one of "15 People Made Famous by the Internet in 2012".[20] She identifies herself in videos only as Laina with many articles leaving out her last name on her request.[21] 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,[22] comedy skits on "LifeAccordingToJimmy", reporting from the red carpet at the American Music Awards,[23] videos starring her dogs Luna and Gilly, and "Dare to Share" for charity.[21][24][25][26][27] 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.[28] The reaction was mixed with some labeling her a sellout and others applauding the move to creating a career from her "meme".[29][30][31] 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.[32]

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 does in fact have a boyfriend.[33]

Appearances

On March 11, 2013, Laina appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.[34] In May 2013, Morris won a staring contest with Jessica Alba at the Singapore Social Awards, presented by starcount.[35] 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. Laina is also an avid FC Dallas fan.

References

  1. ↑ YouTube Spotlight (December 11, 2013). "Making of YouTube Rewind: What Does 2013 Say?". YouTube. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  2. ↑ Wenjia Zhao. "Rise of the Overly Attached Girlfriend". Forbes, June 14, 2012.
  3. ↑ Ileana Llorens. "Overly Attached Girlfriend: Justin Bieber Fan Creates 'Boyfriend' Parody About Attached Girlfriend". Huffington Post, June 8, 2012.
  4. ↑ George Jones. "Viral: Do not date this girl ... ever". WIS, June 14, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Meet 'Overly Attached Girlfriend!' Hilarious Justin Bieber cover version spawns hundreds of Internet memes". Daily Mail, June 18, 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?". The Atlantic Wire, June 12, 2012.
  9. ↑ James Plafke. "Overly Attached Girlfriend is Back With Parody of Carly Rae Jepsen’s 'Call Me Maybe'". Geekosystem, June 18, 2012.
  10. ↑ Brian Anthony Hernandez. "Overly Attached Girlfriend Returns With Medley of Stalker Songs". Yahoo! News.
  11. ↑ "1D Parody - "Maybe You're Delusional"". YouTube. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  12. ↑ Laina242,812 likes · 1,947 talking about this. "Laina". Facebook. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Our One Year Anniversary". June 6, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Overly Attached Uncle Sam". YouTube. June 13, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  15. ↑ "The Internetest safety video on the Internet". YouTube. May 20, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  16. ↑ The Daily Dot (June 21, 2012). "Overly attached girlfriend identified". Daily Dot. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  17. ↑ "Central Track // A New Sensation". Centraltrack.com. June 25, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  18. ↑ Gorman, Sean (July 19, 2012). "Video: Denton girl responsible for Overly Attached Girlfriend meme". North Texas Daily. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  19. ↑ Gorman, Sean (July 13, 2012). "Behind The Meme: Dentonite An Internet Sensation". On The Record Magazine. NTDaily. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  20. ↑ Christine Erickson (November 15, 2012). "15 People Made Famous by the Internet in 2012". Mashable. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  21. 1 2 Jason Whitely (November 27, 2012). "Viral video star shares her success with charity". Wfaa.com. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  22. ↑ "Two Years Later - Kia Soul". YouTube. November 8, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  23. ↑ "American Music Awards". YouTube. November 26, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Surf Camp". Rally.org. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  25. ↑ "Dare to Share: Episode 1 - Surf Camp". YouTube. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Laina (Overly Attached Girlfriend) on the Dare to Share Project | WHAT'S TRENDING". YouTube. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Dare to Share: Most Unique Crowdfunding Campaigns of 2012". Crowdsourcing.org. December 21, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Overly Attached Computer". YouTube. November 12, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  29. ↑ "'Overly Attached Computer' Samsung Commercial Taps Creepy Web Celeb Laina Morris (VIDEO)". Huffingtonpost.com. November 13, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  30. ↑ "Overly Attached Girlfriend Leaves Reddit for Samsung". Hypervocal.com. November 12, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  31. ↑ Gianatasio, David (November 15, 2012). "Samsung Gets Overly Attached Girlfriend to Play a Possessive PC". Adweek. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  32. ↑ RealPlayer Cloud. "Meme Hunters - Watch this Video - By RealPlayer Cloud". Memehunters.real.com. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  33. ↑ Do I Have A Boyfriend?
  34. ↑ "Mets Bucket Hat Guy Meets Overly Attached Girlfriend (Jimmy Fallon)". YouTube. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  35. ↑ "Laina (Overly Attached Girlfriend) ★ Starcount". Starcount.com. Retrieved May 28, 2013.

External links

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