Laina Morris

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 the woman 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.

References

External links

• Laina's channel on YouTube