But If You Close Your Eyes – Meaning, Origin, Usage

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.

What's the origin of But If You Close Your Eyes?

Bastille released “Pompeii” on January 11^th, 2013 and uploaded the music video of the song on January 20^th.

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.

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.