About

Yo Bro Who Got You Smiling Like That refers to a viral TikTok skit of a man smiling intensely at his phone in a number of locations as if in love with whoever he's on the phone with as the man behind the camera asks who's "got him smiling like that." The video's audio was remixed with Loverboy's "A-Wall" in July 2021, resulting in a viral original sound and wholesome trend where TikTokers showcase things that make them happy, including wholesome viral videos, over the song.

Origin

On July 24th, 2021, TikToker^[1] @zeddywill posted a video to TikTok in which a Black man is smiling intensely at his phone with his arms wrapped around a tree (shown below). The man behind the camera says, "Yo bro, who got you smiling like that? Like, man happy," followed by the smiling guy walking off in a goofy way and saying, "Chill, chill, chill." The video continues like this in a number of locations, showing the man smiling at his phone while driving, on the ground, etc. The video gained over 14 million views in three weeks.

On July 25th, TikToker^[2] @dan_is_nice posted a video consisting of the start of Zeddywill's viral smiling video, followed by a transition into Loverboy's song "A-Wall" and footage of a number of dancing people from memes, gaining over 4.2 million views in three weeks (shown below).

Spread

In August, the original sound for the remixed video started gaining significant spread with the "Smiling" trend, in which TikTokers lip dub over the start of the original sound, then showcase something that makes them happy.

One of the earliest videos to go viral using the sound was uploaded to TikTok^[3] on August 8th by @bobby_zito_, who used it over footage of King Shark from 2021's The Suicide Squad, gaining over 10 million views in a week (shown below).

On August 10th, TikToker^[4] @jessiemaealonzo posted a skit using the sound, gaining over 16.8 million views in six days (shown below, left). On August 12th, TikToker^[5] @brandonspam_ posted a video using the sound to show off a video of a dog reacting to a man dressed as its favorite toy, gaining over 25 million views in four days (shown below, right).

The phrase "Yo bro, who got you smiling like that," started to see use on Twitter around mid-August. For example, on August 15th, Twitter users @kayzuha_ posted and @yebasdiary used the phrase in memes showcasing things that make them happy, gaining over 900 likes and 270 retweets on the former, and 171 likes on the latter in a day (shown below, left and right).

During the week of August 16th, 2021, the hashtag "#Smiling" was added to TikTok's trending page, including many videos from this trend. As of the same date, the original sound for the Loverboy remix has been used over 423,000 times.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References