#I will always love you series#

SUBSCRIBE TO COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE UK HERE This feature originally appeared in the January 2020 issue of Cosmopolitan, on news stands now.

#I will always love you series#

Stay tuned over the next month as our Life After Being A Meme series continues. And while you might think that deleting something online means it's gone forever, think again! Solicited or otherwise, meme culture has taught us that, like it or not, we’re all being watched. Many of us will have sat through school assemblies – intended to terrify – about how naked photos can end up plastered across the internet. We’ve all heard the warnings: be careful about what you post online and don’t let prospective employers see your drunken photos. As exciting as the celebrity shoutout is, it's an uneasy reminder that what goes online really stays there forever. Three weeks after our interview, she texts me with an update: Brian May from Queen has shared her video on Instagram, saying it’s made his day, a decade after it was originally posted. While Alisha initially found her unintentional fame difficult, now she's accepted that all she can really do about it is laugh. Seemingly immortalised on the internet, meme stars end up dehumanised. Now, it could happen when you least expect it.

Some people argue that those in the public eye should expect trolling, and accept the good and bad sides of fame, but what about those who enter into this sphere unwittingly? In the past, fame was something you had to intentionally seek. But this is where the line between celebrity and meme stars arguably lies. Surely it’s the same instinct that makes the trolling of celebrities such as Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson seem normal, as we divorce ourselves from recognising that the person on the screen is a real human too. While, yes, being made fun of online isn't uncommon in 2019, that obviously doesn't make it OK, and begs the question as to why thousands of people thought it was acceptable to call an 11-year-old a 'psycho'. Having thousands of people write about you online helps you build a wall.” “It’s helped me to become a strong person and to not let people get to me. “I wouldn’t change being a meme – it’s made me who I am today,” she explains. Now, she enjoys being recognised on nights out, seeing the funny side and indulging “fans” with recreations of the video. Initially embarrassed, Alisha says over the years she’s learned not to take the comments to heart. Even now, nine years later, her personal Instagram account is peppered with comments, mostly people asking if she’s the girl from “ that meme”. “I was young and couldn’t really adjust to how horrible people were being,” Alisha tells me. A YouTube spokesperson told Cosmopolitan UK it’s of the “utmost importance” that those in its community feel safe, and YouTube provides a resource as part of its support system that helps users protect their identity and content on the platform. Now, YouTube’s terms and conditions state that those under the age of 13 aren’t allowed to use the service. The dark side of meme cultureĪfter the initial shock, Alisha began to scroll and see what people were saying about her, the trolls laughing and jeering, until it eventually became too much. And the person making money from the adverts is the one who reuploaded it. Today, nine years later, it’s had over 17.6 million views. The clip was reuploaded by another YouTube user, under the title “PSYCHO GIRL tries to sing I will always love you”. I never expected anyone to see it.”īut deleting it wouldn’t change anything. When she uploaded the video, “I was just a kid playing around on a laptop and somehow managed to post it to YouTube. She’s 20 now and working as a sales and customer service advisor in Scunthorpe. The “it” in question is webcam footage of her attempting to sing Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You, screaming with rage when she couldn’t hit the high notes.Īfter being shocked by the view count, Alisha frantically tried to delete it – not knowing it was already too late. “I was in my bedroom when I first saw that half a million people had viewed it,” Alisha explains.

Alisha Barnard was just 11 years old when she went viral, and, losing the copyright to her own video, wasn't able to earn any revenue. Some meme stars, like the two boys who appeared in the world-renowned Charlie Bit My Finger video, can make an unprecedented amount of money from going viral, and you'd be forgiven for thinking the same goes for all accidental meme stars.īut not everyone is so lucky.