Meaning
What does But If You Close Your Eyes mean?
But If You Close Your Eyes, followed by Does It Almost Feel Like Nothing’s Changed At All is a quote from the Bastille song; “Pompeii”.
The lyrics was turned into a meme in 2020, revolving around the concept of people, countries or geographical regions disappearing. The meme format was spreading on YouTube and other video sharing sites, like TikTok, although it also became a popular image macro template on Reddit and Twitter.
Origin
What's the origin of But If You Close Your Eyes?
Bastille released “Pompeii” on January 11th, 2013 and uploaded the music video of the song on January 20th.
Over the years, the song had received a large amount of views and plays, being recognized by most people over the globe.
The first posts to use “But If You Close Your Eyes” emerged on Reddit in July, 2020, spreading to YouTube within a short time span, marking the beginning of a new meme fad.
Spread & Usage
How did But If You Close Your Eyes spread?
By August, 2021, “But If You Close Your Eyes” would be used to photoshop all sorts of countries off of maps.
The meme became the most prevalent on YouTube, however posts kept being shared and uploaded to Reddit as well.
Over time, the format started to make characters from shows and series disappear as well, similar to the What If It Was All a Dream? format.
As of 2023, the meme template has been long forgotten, just like the ruins of Pompeii, with little to no reposts occurring on the web.
External resources
- Know Your Meme – But If You Close Your Eyes
- Reddit – r/Bastille