DEEP DIVE

In these TikTok meme videos, people reveal that they’ve messed up or broken the rules while the song “i just did a bad thing” by bill wurtz plays in the background.

The clip in the videos goes:

Just did a bad thing

I regret the thing I did

And you’re wondering what it is

Tell you what I did

I just did a bad thing

This TikTok format has become a popular meme. On the app, the hashtag #JustDidABadThing has received over 28 million views.

Often, the person featured in the videos does not reveal the “bad thing” that they’ve done until the very end. Common themes in this video are bad haircuts, regrettable tattoos, illicit piercings, and other shenanigans. People’s faces usually show a mixture of guilt and glee about what they’ve done.

Many of these “Just Did A Bad thing” videos capture the experience doing something that you regret or are unsure of. As TikTok is popular among teenagers, these videos somewhat poignantly portray the awkward aftermath for teenagers of having just done something taboo, against the rules, reckless, and/or stupid.

Just Did A Bad Thing TikToks

Some videos seem to show people reacting to something they just did IRL, while others are pre-planned comedy sketches.