Nicholas Fraser, the ‘Why you always lying?’ Vine star, never stopped creating content

This profile is a part of NBC Information’ collection about former Vine stars, tied to the fifth anniversary of the platform’s dying.

Anyone who was on the web throughout summer time 2015 will doubtless have an image of Nicholas Fraser’s face without end seared into their mind.

The long-lasting video nonetheless (and meme) was pulled from his 2015 traditional “Why You All the time Mendacity?” Vine, which was sung to the tune of R&B band Subsequent’s 1997 single “Too Shut.”

The picture exhibits Fraser, clad in an unbuttoned shirt, carrying a side-eye look and a devilish grin towards the digital camera — an expression that in some way completely distills the look of somebody who catches one other particular person in a lie.

“What made that Vine so profitable, and so timeless, is the realness and the simplicity behind its message: Everybody is aware of somebody who lies, and everyone of their life has lied,” Fraser mentioned. “You’re at all times going to have the ability to join that tune to any individual.”

The inspiration for the tune, Fraser defined, got here whereas he was on his method to 7-Eleven to purchase some donuts and gummy bears.

“It was Aug. 28, 2015, and I heard Subsequent’s tune play on Pandora,” Fraser mentioned. “I paused it and instantly simply sang, ‘Why you at all times mendacity?’”

That afternoon, Fraser discovered the instrumental music, penned his lyrics and recorded his remix.

“It felt like God simply gave me a shot of creativity, and I simply began spilling it out,” he mentioned.

Fraser mentioned he acquired a “contemporary lower” on the barbershop, scoured his closet for a ’90s R&B outfit and requested his brother to movie a 15-second clip of him singing his new monitor within the driveway of his household’s residence in Queens, New York.

A day after importing the music video to his YouTube, Instagram and Twitter accounts, Fraser reposted a six-second snippet of his music video on Vine, the place it went viral and spawned quite a few remixes and parodies.

“It was so loopy. I keep in mind I wanted to get a brand new cellphone as a result of my previous one overheated from all of the notifications,” he mentioned. “That’s once I knew it was actual.”

Fraser added: “It’s so mind-blowing to see folks meme-ing my tune and taking part in it in all places, even immediately. That’s simply wonderful, for everybody, from around the globe, to resonate with one thing you set a lot work into.”

The 27-year-old content material creator mentioned the newfound fame solely inspired him to pursue different artistic shops, like filming, cooking and producing music.

Certainly, artistic — and busy — a person he’s.

In 2020, Fraser served as one of many government producers for artist G Milano’s “4 Seasons.” After “a number of years of preparation,” in Might he launched a YouTube meals collection known as the “BNFFTS (Advantages) Cooking Present,” which turns common pantry gadgets into traditional dishes. And in October, he bought his traditional Vine meme as an NFT for what was then price $96,000.

Irrespective of the success, Fraser mentioned he was at all times “humbled” by the followers who proceed to achieve out to him about his traditional Vine.

“It’s actually a blessing,” he mentioned. “It doesn’t matter what number of occasions I’m going viral or how many individuals attain out to me. It’s only a blessing.”

When requested if he would ever create a TikTok account — regularly cited because the reincarnation of Vine — Fraser mentioned he doesn’t intend to. Nonetheless, he praised the social media app for bringing folks from all walks of life collectively in a novel approach.

“It’s like Vine set the inspiration, however TikTok is increasing it much more,” he added. “It’s nice to see folks coming collectively and doing totally different challenges, and I like to see that togetherness on this loopy little world. It’s that togetherness, these little issues, that matter to me most.”