Darling I Told Ya

Submission 3,180

About

Darling I Told Ya refers to an Irish TikTok trend in which people are directed on how to pose for a picture, told, "Fix your hair, put your hands in your pockets and point a finger," followed by the beat drop of the song "Colder (Belters Only Remix)" by St. Paul with the lyrics, "Darling I told ya." People are often pictured in puffer jackets and with side-swooped hair, resembling so-called Yup Bros in Dublin. The remix of "Colder" became associated with Irish Yup Bros in mid-2024, when groups of boys posted photo slideshows of themselves with the song as the sound. The Darling I Told Ya trend was largely popularized by Irish TikToker Frank Zapart. Going into late 2024, the trend evolved into a video format to pay homage to the original Irish boys. Its influence spread across borders, becoming popular in the U.K. and U.S. as well.

Origin

It's currently unknown who started the Darling I Told Ya trend on TikTok. Many of the earliest videos in the trend tagged a since-deleted TikToker named Frank Zapart (@frank_zapart) who continually went viral in June 2024 for photos of him and his other Irish friends set to the song "Colder (Belters Only Remix)" by St. Paul.^[1]

For instance, on June 11th, 2024, the repost TikTok^[2] account @frankzapo76 shared a slideshow of @frank_zapart photos set to "Colder (Belters Only Remix)." On June 14th, a video of fans chasing Zapart in Ireland was shared by TikToker^[3] @_abzbdf, gaining over 576,400 plays and 43,100 likes in six months. The video ends with the fans posing with Zapart to the Darling I Told Ya sound (shown below).

Memes about so-called Irish "Yup Bros" and the song "Colder (Belters Only Remix)" were shared earlier in June 2024, before the abovementioned reposts of Frank Zapart's since-deleted content. For instance, on June 4th, TikToker^[4] @papibosco posted a POV skit called, "POV: You're a 'yup bro,'" receiving over 271,100 plays and 19,700 likes in six months (shown below).

It's unclear who started the "fix your hair" and "point a finger" parts of the Darling I Told Ya trend. An early example was shared by TikToker^[5] @nathan_sharma on August 17th, 2024, showing multiple Irish boys posing for a photo. The TikTok received over 126,000 plays and 8,100 likes in four months (shown below).

Spread

In the following months, the format continued to evolve. For instance, on November 23rd, 2024, TikToker^[6] @kellyprivv posted a video of himself telling his friends to put their hands in their pockets and fix their hair, set to the Darling I Told Ya sound. The video received over 1.2 million plays and 117,800 likes in 15 days (shown below).

On December 1st, TikToker^[7] @jess_grace15 posted a video of her and her friends parodying the abovementioned video, receiving over 699,400 plays and 55,200 likes in a week (shown below).

On December 5th, 2024, TikToker^[8] @angelnewton515 posted a similar video, receiving over 907,700 plays and 87,100 likes in three days (shown below).