About

Just Hay Fever refers to a viral original sound on TikTok consisting of a quote from the British television series The Story of Tracy Beaker where the title character is crying and is asked "what's wrong?" responding, "just hay fever," to avoid letting the boy know she's crying. The audio clip was uploaded to TikTok in April 2020 but did not go viral until January 2022 when it became the subject of lip-dub skits where TikTokers use a crying eye filter and describe sad moments in their life they may have hidden or downplayed over the sound.

Origin

The audio clip comes from an unknown episode of Tracy Beaker, a British television series that aired in its original form from 2002 to 2006 and is ongoing through spinoffs and sequels. The protagonist of the series, Tracy Beaker, always uses hay fever as an excuse when she's crying so people can't tell she's upset. The clip was uploaded to YouTube in a compilation of Beaker using the excuse on May 11th, 2020, gaining over 21,000 views in just under two years (shown below). On April 24th, 2020, TikToker^[1] @uglinablin posted a skit using the audio, gaining over 144,000 views in a similar span of time. The audio clip would not go viral until January 2022.

Spread

In January 2022, TikTokers began using the audio clip in lip dub skits where they reveal sad stories from their life or times when you have to hide your sadness while using a filter that places exaggerated crying eyes over their own (popular examples shown below). It is unclear who began the trend. On January 19th, PopBuzz^[2] published a piece on the trend.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References