"Watch this."
That's all eight-time Grammy award-winning artist Usher had to say in order to go viral on Twitter.
The two words came during his recent NPR Tiny Desk concert, a series in which big names perform live concerts with just their band, a mic and nothing else. Usher was starting the title song from his classic album, "Confessions," for which he won a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album in 2005, when the soon-to-be viral moment happened.
The song has always started with "watch this." But during his performance, Usher looked dead into the camera around the 17-minute mark and sang it while doing a hand gesture in which he covered his face with fingers that were separated between his index and middle finger. He and audience members immediately started laughing afterwards, and then Usher continued the song, which released in 2004, two years before Twitter existed.
Laughter from Usher and the audience members was only the beginning of the moment's reactions. It's now a meme fitting for practically every context.
For example, going to the grocery store with kids somehow turns into a broken record of "don't touch anything." But, of course, most kids do anyway.
Toddlers who are new walkers are always excited to show off their new moves — usually some combination of spinning or dancing without immediately falling down ... this time.
Parenting approaches sometimes change after the first child. What was unacceptable for the oldest nevertheless ends up being permissible for the rest of the kids, or at the very least they just have to try it once.
It's no secret that people who are lactose intolerant sometimes try their luck at eating dairy. Just when they think they can get away with it, their stomach is not having it.
There's little else that compares to the joy of playing Uno and surprising the person with one card, who thought they won the game, with a draw four card.
During special occasions, it's so easy to forget bills that are on auto pay, and the new account balance afterwards sometimes changes what level of celebration is possible.
Unfortunately, cars always seem to break down at the most inconvenient times.
All of the Usher memes are so good, and they just keep coming.
