'You Wake Up As Taylor Swift. What's The First Thing You Do?' The Unassuming Question That Turned Into A Viral Meme Explained

The Freaky Friday style hypothetical question about people's priorities in a new body is timeless, but one X user's attempt to pitch the question on the platform recently backfired completely.

There's no question that Taylor Swift has been dominating news cycles lately, whether it's her billion-dollar tour or her relationship with an NFL player. But with heightened attention also comes the heightened risk of being trolled online. Here's how one stan's post saying, You Wake Up as Taylor Swift. What's the First Thing You Do? went meme viral.

Where Does The 'What's The First Thing You Do' Meme Come From?

On March 18th, 2022, X user @tayspetsch post the question, "you wake up as taylor swift, what's the first thing you do?" along with a picture of the pop star.

The post went viral through a series of humorous and ironic quote posts on X, with one person threatening bodily harm to the masses, while another person admits that they would probably still play their daily word games.

How Did 'You Wake Up As X' Become A Meme?

Various X users began to parody the post format in March, with X user @DragonBallBLK posting about what, or "who," he would do as Goku. In July, X user @endahiggins88 joked about how the first thing he would do as "Christian Bumstead" is change his last name.

Once people realized that asking the question was an excellent way to farm traffic to their posts and profile, they began asking stranger and stranger versions of the question. Notorious X user Ian Miles Cheong posed the question in relation to American politician AOC, gathering criticism and eye rolls.

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For the full history of "You wake up as X," be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.