If She Slayed

Submission 613

Part of a series on Slay (Slang). [View Related Entries]

About

If She Slayed, also known as If He Slayed and If They Slayed, refers to a catchphrase used in memes imagining versions of people and characters who are more gorgeous, confident or better dressed (are "slaying") by comparing them against photographs of celebrities. Initially popularized among K-pop stans, the format has seen spread on X / Twitter since early 2022.

Origin

In online slang, "to slay" means "to look and behave in a stunning, confident manner."

The phrase "if she slayed" gained initial popularity within the K-pop stan community on X / Twitter. On January 9th, 2022, X^[1] user @wwwdotkoo made the earliest notable humorous post based on the phrase, captioning a clip of K-pop idol Jungkook eating an apple "snow white if she slayed." The post (shown below) gained over 440 reposts and 2,100 likes in two years.

Spread

The meme format saw further spread among K-pop stans in the following months, who used the phrase to caption photographs and videos of K-pop idols. For example, on January 27th, 2022, X^[2] user @yerenator captioned a photograph of singer Irene "this is literally mama mary if she slayed." The post (shown below, left) garnered over 750 reposts and 2,600 likes in two years.

On March 6th, X^[3] user @hotfunnygirl28 captioned an image of influencer Oli London "Cillian Murphy if he slayed." The post (shown below, right) received over 1,200 reposts and 11,000 likes in two years.

In mid-2022, the format achieved further virality on X / Twitter. On June 15th, 2022, X^[4] user @talentedmsgrace captioned a promotional image of Ryan Gosling as Ken for the film Barbie "fred from scooby-doo if he slayed," with the meme gaining over 1,400 reposts and 25,000 likes in two years (shown below, left).

On July 30th, X^[5] user @zingxgi posted a photograph of a woman posing on a cross captioned "Jesus if he slayed," which garnered over 6,100 reposts and 92,000 likes in two years (shown below, right).

In the following years, the catchphrase has been applied to images of animals, objects, and various fictional characters. For example, on August 11th, 2023, X^[6] user @ijustBbeing made a The Metamorphosis joke that garnered over 3,800 reposts and 19,000 likes in nine months (shown below, left). On November 29th, 2023, X^[7] user @clintoris made a meme about pill organizers that garnered over 5,300 reposts and 63,000 likes in six months (shown below, right).