It started with a snippet of a song. Just a few seconds of a shimmering, indie-pop beat and a confession that felt both revolutionary and incredibly mundane. You’ve heard it. If you’ve spent more than five minutes scrolling through TikTok or Reels over the last few years, the i think i like boys meme has definitely crossed your path. It’s one of those rare internet moments that didn't just flash and fade. Instead, it became a foundational block for how Gen Z and Gen Alpha talk about identity, coming out, and the awkwardness of realization.
The song is "I Think I Like Boys" by Bunny Lowland. It’s catchy. It’s light. But the way the internet grabbed hold of it turned a simple track into a universal shorthand for "the moment I knew."
The Origin Story Nobody Remembers Correctly
Most people think the meme just appeared out of thin air in 2020. That's not quite right. While the song gained massive traction during the height of the pandemic—when everyone was stuck inside with nothing to do but re-evaluate their entire lives—the track itself dropped in 2018. Bunny Lowland, an artist who leaned into that soft, lo-fi aesthetic, captured a very specific vibe. It wasn't an anthem of defiance. It was a song about the quiet, internal "oh" moment.
Memes usually thrive on irony or chaos. This one was different. It thrived on sincerity. The early iterations of the i think i like boys meme weren't even jokes. They were "storytime" videos. People would use the audio to show photos of themselves from five years ago—usually dressed in hyper-feminine clothes or trying very hard to fit a traditional mold—before cutting to their current, more authentic selves. It was a visual glow-up rooted in self-discovery.
Then things got weird. As with anything on the internet, the sincerity eventually met its match in absurdist humor.
Why This Specific Sound Went Viral
Why this song? Why not a Lady Gaga track or a classic queer anthem?
Honestly, it’s the pacing. The song has this deliberate, rhythmic buildup. I think... I think... I think I like boys. It provides the perfect "beat drop" for a reveal. In the world of short-form video, timing is everything. If a creator can sync a physical change or a text overlay to a specific beat, the algorithm rewards it. The i think i like boys meme was essentially built for the TikTok "transition" era.
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We also have to talk about the ambiguity. Because the lyrics are so straightforward, they became a template. It wasn't just for guys coming out. Women used it to talk about their "boy crazy" phases or to joke about their questionable taste in fictional characters. It became a multi-tool. You could use it to come out to your parents, or you could use it to show off a montage of Peter Parker from the Spider-Man movies. Both worked. Both got likes.
The Power of the "Coming Out" Montage
For a long time, coming out was framed as this huge, heavy, dramatic ordeal. The i think i like boys meme flipped the script. It made the process look fun. It made it look like a celebration.
- It gave people a script.
- It provided a community-wide "sound" that signaled safety.
- It turned personal history into a shared narrative.
When you saw that orange and pink thumbnail or heard those first few synth notes, you knew what was coming. There’s a psychological comfort in that. It’s digital signaling at its most effective.
The Shift to Satire and Fandom
Eventually, the meme moved away from personal "coming out" stories and into the realm of fandom. This is where the i think i like boys meme really cemented its legacy. If you look at the tags on platforms like Tumblr or X (formerly Twitter), the meme is used as a tribute to heartthrobs.
Think about the "white boy of the month" phenomenon. Timothée Chalamet, Tom Holland, Harry Styles—they’ve all been the subjects of thousands of edits set to Bunny Lowland’s vocals. It became a way for fans to curate their "types." It’s less about the literal meaning of the song at that point and more about the energy of the song. It’s the energy of a crush. It’s the feeling of being overwhelmed by how much you like someone.
There is a flip side, though. Some critics argued that the meme started to feel reductive. When a song about queer identity is co-opted to talk about how much someone likes a celebrity, does it lose its power? Maybe. But in the world of memes, utility usually beats out original intent. The song was useful to more people than just the community it started in, and that’s why it survived.
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Common Misconceptions About the Trend
There's a lot of misinformation floating around about who "started" the trend. You’ll see various influencers claim they were the first to use the audio. The truth is much messier. Like most viral sounds, it was a slow burn. It started in small pockets of "Alt TikTok" before hitting the mainstream.
Another big mistake? People often confuse this song with "Boys" by Charli XCX or "I Like Boys" by Todrick Hall. While those songs inhabit the same universe, the i think i like boys meme is specifically tied to the Bunny Lowland track because of its lo-fi, bedroom-pop aesthetic. It feels more intimate. It feels like a secret shared between friends rather than a chart-topping pop hit.
The Impact on Bunny Lowland
It’s worth noting what this does for independent artists. Before the meme, Bunny Lowland was a relatively niche name. After? Millions of streams. This is the new reality of the music industry. A song doesn't need a radio edit; it needs a "memeable" ten-second hook.
However, fame from a meme is a double-edged sword. People often love the sound but don't know the artist. They use the tool but don't engage with the craft. Yet, for an indie creator, that kind of exposure is a lottery win. It provides a platform that traditional marketing simply can’t buy.
How to Use the Meme Today (Without Being Cringe)
If you're thinking about jumping on this trend now, you have to realize it’s in its "legacy" phase. Using it straight-faced as a coming-out post might feel a little 2021. If you want to use the i think i like boys meme effectively in 2026, you have to lean into the meta-humor.
- Self-Awareness: Use it to mock your own past "stages" of identity.
- Unexpected Reveals: Instead of a person, use it for something absurd—like a specific type of food or a hobby you've become obsessed with.
- High-Quality Editing: The "static image" version of this meme is dead. It needs movement, transitions, and actual effort to stand out.
Basically, if you aren't adding a new layer to the joke, you're just echoing an old one. The internet moves fast. To stay relevant, you have to be faster.
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The Cultural Legacy of a 10-Second Clip
Looking back, the i think i like boys meme represents a specific era of digital queer history. It was part of a wave of "soft" activism—where visibility wasn't achieved through protests or politics, but through 15-second videos that normalized being different. It helped a lot of kids realize they weren't alone, and it did it through a catchy beat.
It also highlighted the "TikTok-ification" of music. We no longer listen to songs; we listen to moments. We look for pieces of audio that can act as the soundtrack to our own lives. Bunny Lowland provided that soundtrack for a generation of people trying to figure themselves out.
The meme might not be the top trending topic today, but its influence is everywhere. Every time you see a "reveal" video or a transition that uses a song to explain a personality trait, you're seeing the DNA of the i think i like boys meme. It taught us how to tell our stories in bite-sized pieces.
Your Digital Footprint and This Trend
If you're a creator or just someone curious about internet culture, there are a few things you should actually do to engage with this history:
- Listen to the full track: Go beyond the 10-second loop. Bunny Lowland’s work has a specific texture that the meme often strips away.
- Check the "Original Audio" tabs: On TikTok or Instagram, click the music icon. Scroll back to the earliest videos from 2019 and 2020. You’ll see a literal time capsule of how people's style and self-expression have evolved over the last half-decade.
- Understand the "Queer Coding" of Music: Research how other songs, like "Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood or "Girl in Red," became similar signals. The i think i like boys meme is part of a larger vocabulary.
This isn't just about a funny video. It's about how we use technology to find our people. Whether it's through a dance, a joke, or a confession, these memes are the digital campfire we all gather around.
To truly understand the impact, look at the comments on the original YouTube upload of the song. You'll find thousands of people saying, "This song gave me the courage to be me." That’s a lot of weight for a meme to carry. And it carries it well.
Next Steps for Deep Diving into Digital Subcultures
To get the most out of your exploration of meme culture, don't just look at the surface-level virality. You should start by exploring the "History of Viral Sounds" on sites like Know Your Meme to see the data behind the peaks and valleys of these trends. If you're a creator, try experimenting with "Identity-based storytelling" using current trending audios to see how the algorithm treats personal narratives versus purely comedic ones. Finally, look into the "Bedroom Pop" genre as a whole—artists like Cavetown or Clairo—to understand the musical movement that birthed the i think i like boys meme in the first place. This provides the necessary context to see these trends not as accidents, but as part of a larger cultural shift.