Why You Always Lying?

“Why You Always Lying?”, also known as “Why The Fuck You Lyin’,” is Nicholas Fraser’s comic backyard performance about liars, sung while dancing to the tune of Next’s 1997 R&B single “Too Close.” His unbuttoned shirt, grinning sideways glance toward the camera, drawn-out hum and emphatic vocal exclamation give the homemade performance its distinctive R&B-video presentation.

Fraser told NBC News that the inspiration came on August 28, 2015, while he was heading to 7-Eleven: he heard “Too Close” on Pandora, paused it and improvised his accusation about lying. In his September 2015 Complex interview, he recalled changing the song’s words while listening in his mother’s car.

Know Your Meme dates the short clip titled “That one person that's sways lying on what they own” to August 29, 2015, and reports uploads to YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. Fraser described simultaneous posting across social accounts, including Vine, in his 2015 Complex interview, while his later NBC News account distinguished the original video from a shorter Vine repost.

NBC News describes that repost as a six-second excerpt shared a day after the original upload; Know Your Meme dates it to August 30, 2015, with the caption “When she say she got a cute friend for you.” BuzzFeed, The Guardian and Complex covered the clip in early September. Fraser told Complex that Diddy, Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa initially shared it without tagging him, and that most eventually tagged him after he asked his followers to request credit.

The clip inspired Vine parodies and remixes, many reposted to YouTube and Instagram, while a screen capture of Fraser smiling at the camera circulated as a reaction image. Fraser singled out a mashup that edited his head into Next’s music video as one of his favorites.

Fraser expanded the parody into an official full-length music video uploaded to YouTube on September 14, 2015, with the upload’s description crediting Alan T. as the track’s producer.

On October 15, 2015, the Fine Brothers’ YouTube channel published an episode of Elders React featuring remixes of Fraser’s video.

Vibe reported that Fraser met RL of Next in connection with his planned television debut on MTV’s Uncommon Sense. Speaking to the YouKnowIGotSoul R&B Podcast, RL said he had reluctantly made a video at Vlad’s request and felt conflicted about Fraser’s parody of work that remained part of his identity and continued to earn him residuals, although Vibe characterized him as a good sport despite those reservations.

In his 2015 Complex interview, Fraser said he did not want to be known only for the viral video and viewed it as a way to demonstrate his creativity. NBC News reported that he sold a still from the video as an NFT in October 2021 for approximately $96,000 at the time. Speaking to NBC News in January 2022, he attributed the song’s longevity to its relatable subject and expressed amazement that people around the world were still making memes from it and playing it.

The joke hinges on a cut: the opening shows Fraser listening to someone tell a lie, then switches to him dancing and singing an accusation to the tune of “Too Close.” His deliberate R&B-video styling and exaggerated vocal delivery turn a direct call-out into a musical performance, while the grinning sideways glance supplies a still-image reaction to perceived dishonesty.