TikTok Users Remember When They Lost Their Minds, Airing Regrets In Recent Trend
In the “I Remember When I Lost My Mind” trend that surfaced over the past three months, TikTok users share embarrassing moments from their past over a snippet from the song “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley.
Zo Remembers When He Danced to a Pitch Perfect Song
Zo remembers when he lost his mind. His crush said she loved the movie “Pitch Perfect,” so he did what any teenager growing up in the 2010s would do. He set up his front-facing camera and filmed himself doing the choreography to the number the movie’s acapella group, The Barden Bellas, performs at regionals: a mash-up of “The Sign,” “Eternal Flame,” and “Turn The Beat Around.” Then, he sent her the video.
Now, years later, the video meant for Zo’s crush is on TikTok for anyone to see. Over 25 million people, to be exact. Unlike The Barden Bellas, teenaged Zo is dressed in gray sweatpants and a track and field shirt. His smile is wide and earnest. In the background, his napping dog raises a curious head.
“This was embarrassing,” Zo, who goes by @zoboyd on TikTok, writes in the caption. The video, posted May 27, has over 3 million likes, 25 thousand comments, and 600 thousand shares.
“I love Pitch Perfect,” Millie commented. “I hope you won her over.” Others piled on the encouragement: “I would love anyone who did this for me.” “If he doesn’t send you this he doesn’t like u fr.” “This is so cute.” “I’m afraid if someone sent me this we would be married asap.” “I’d instantly fall in love.”
Lil Remembers When She Pretended To Be Ariana Grande
Lil remembers when she lost her mind, too. The guy she had a crush on said he liked Ariana Grande, so she styled herself into an Ariana lookalike, complete with the pop star’s signature high ponytail. She then posted a video lip-syncing along to Grande’s “Side to Side.”
On her TikTok account, @datgallilly, she added her video to the trend. Present-day Lil shakes her head in disbelief before cutting to the Ariana Grande-fied clip. “I was delulu,” she says in her caption. The May 25 video has millions of likes and thousands of comments and shares.
“This wins the trend 1000%,” Mia commented. The more you scroll through the over 12,000 comments, the more encouragement you see: “I’m SCREAMING she kinda ate this though.” “Ok this should have bagged him.” “No but you served.” “Wait you’re her doppelganger.” “Okay but you actually looked like her wow!!!!”
Even Wendy’s (yes, the fast food chain) UK account chipped in with, “Listen you did what you had to do.” Pinterest’s account weighed in, too: “We would be delulu too if we could pull this off like you did.”
The Cringeworthy Antics Continue
Zo and Lil are not alone in their public self-deprecation.
Sara remembers when she dressed up like a hotdog. Simany remembers when she pretended to be a Republican on Instagram. Skylar remembers when she reenacted the Rose on the floating door scene from the end of Titanic. Precious pretended to be a runway model, strutting down her suburban driveway. Michael sang along to Katy Perry’s “Roar,” only to interrupt the video with a performatively candid, “Wait, is this still on?” Craig made a music video to a Selena Gomez song, dancing in his yard and falling dramatically to his knees in his Aeropostale graphic tee, cargo shorts, and socks.
But the cringe-worthy memories go beyond antics meant to impress a childhood crush. Kay remembers when she booked a flight to Paris just to be petty. After her best friend ditched their road trip at the last minute for a guy, she made the only logical choice: “I bought a plane ticket that left that day just so I could put it on my snap story,” says the text on her video. What follows is a series of videos and photos of Kay enjoying the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, triumphantly alone. In the final photo, she’s wearing a red beret and matching lipstick. According to the caption, this is how she answered her FaceTime the next day.
“Ya know what, I’m not even mad at it,” Karina commented. “This is genius.” Candace agrees: “Girl you were thinking clearly.” The affirmation continues: “Checkmate! This is queen behavior.” “This is the level of petty that I can fully support.” “Going to Paris out of spite! Why not?” “Revenge is a dish best served with Brie and Baguette.”
Some antics are a little more permanent. Take Tilly, for example, who tattooed freckles on herself at home when she was 20 because “freckles were trending.”
Embarrassment as a Shared Experience
One thing is clear: the internet is full of people who have done embarrassing things. This doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise. Who among us has not laid awake late at night, staring at the ceiling as something embarrassing we said or did ten years ago plays on a loop in our head? But the internet also seems to be full of people willing to revisit their embarrassing moments in front of an audience. On TikTok, even embarrassment has become a shared experience.
The more digital our lives become, the more permanent and immortalized our embarrassing moments. The fear that, at any given moment, someone could dig them up and put them on display for the world to see is understandable and real.
Maybe digging these videos up ourselves is a small way to quell that fear. By airing our own cringe-worthy moments and publicly declaring our embarrassment about any given memories, we reclaim a little bit of control over them. After all — you can’t embarrass me if I’m already embarrassing myself. My worst memories can no longer be weaponized against me if I’m already acknowledging their sting.
And what if I can go viral and maybe gain a few followers and some positive affirmation in the process? It’s a win-win! But perhaps there’s a less cynical read, too. There’s comfort in catharsis and commiseration. And if there’s anything that the internet has taught us, it’s that we’re not alone — even when we lose our minds.
