The heartbreaking origins behind the ‘My Shayla’ trending TikTok sound

If you've been scrolling on your TikTok feed lately, the cries of a man saying, "My Shayla," have been unavoidable.

People have been using the sound of the man's emotional moment when he says, "Oh my god! My Shayla,” through his tears, to share what makes them emotional or regretful.

Everything from pets when they were babies, to childhood photos of their significant other, to their favourite TV characters have been going viral using this sound.

At the time of writing, there have been nearly 540,000 videos created using the "My Shayla" audio.

Here are some examples:

With the new season of Squid Game, one of the new characters we're introduced to is Gyeong-seok's young daughter Na-yeon who has been battling cancer. Clearly, she's a fan favourite as a video of her from the show using the "My Shayla" has over 5.8m views.

"When my puppy annoys me and then I remember who I'm talking to," TikTok user @emilynov wrote showing a photo of her dog now and then showing an older snap from when it was a puppy, using the trending sound.

Some users have been making similar videos with cute childhood snaps of their partner with the caption: "When my boyfriend annoys me and then I remember who I'm talking to".

TikTok/emilynov

One of the most popular videos using this trending sound is from @seigeknowswhatyoudi who posted the original clip from where the audio from with the text: "When you stumble across a piece of clothing that reminds you of your ex" which has over 6.4m views.

So where is this sound from?

As you can probably tell from the man's voice, this origin story has some heartwrenching context.

The man who is saying "Oh my god! My Shayla" is Fast & Furious actor Tyrese Gibson who in the full video from 2017 (which was posted to Instagram at the time but has since been deleted) is crying for his daughter Shayla as at that time he was in a custody battle for her.

In the longer video, Gibson said: “This is all I got. Don’t take my baby, okay. I’ve been waiting for my baby for two months.

“I just want my baby. No one’s listening because no one’s in the courtroom. I’m not doing anything illegal. What more do you want from me?”

At the time, Gibson's crying face became a meme and it seems people have rediscovered this and that's how this video has become a trending meme template on TikTok.

Elsewhere, 'What an odd thing to say' TikTok sound explained.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings