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It’s 。Viral Market Crash。week on Mashable. Join us as we take stock of the viral economy and investigate how the internet morphed from a fun free-for-all to a bleak hellscape we just can’t quit.。

It's been over six years since Laina Morris uploaded "JB Fanvideo" to YouTube.。

The clip, which shows Morris performing a parody version of Justin Bieber's 2012 song "Boyfriend," was originally intended as an attempt to win an online contest. (Bieber, who was launching a new fragrance called "Girlfriend," had invited fans to submit their best riffs on his track.) 。

Morris didn't win the contest, but that's beside the point. No one remembers who won the contest. Instead, Redditor yeahhtoast posted a screenshot and a link to her video to Reddit, where it quickly blew up. "I posted the video the night of June 6th, 2012 and realized it was getting a lot of attention before I went to bed that night," Morris said in an interview. "I stayed up late with one of my roommates reading comments on YouTube and Reddit."。

Thus, a meme was born, one that you're almost certainly familiar with: Overly Attached Girlfriend.
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The Overly Attached Girlfriend character is a stereotypically clingy girl, obsessed with knowing what her boyfriend (at least, her perceived boyfriend) is up to. Morris's lyrics -- "If I was your girlfriend / I wouldn't let you leave / without a small recording device / taped under your sleeve" -- are hyperbolic and goofy, but it's her enormous, I'm-watching-you eyes that catapulted the video to internet fame. 。

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People still approach her in public occasionally.。

SEE ALSO:Remembering Advice Animals, one of the internet's first viral memes。

Overly Attached Girlfriend is the perfect emblem of the 2012 internet landscape, where parody videos and zany personae reigned supreme. Luckily, that online environment dovetailed perfectly with Laina's interests: parodying songs and creating characters.。

Add a catchy, already-famous pop song, a strong visual, and a third-party memeification, and it's easy to see why Morris went viral. After all, we were all still enjoying the fun version of the internet.
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"I just feel like the internet is a different place today than it was six years ago."。

"I've thought about [whether it would go viral again] before," Morris said, "and if I had to guess, I don't think it would. I just feel like the internet is a different place today than it was six years ago."。 She does, however, appear admirably chill about her brush with viral fame. Despite a successful YouTube channel, numerous television appearances, and a host of fans who love
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her work, Morris is still known primarily for being the Overly Attached Girlfriend. And she doesn't mind at all. 。

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