Scroll through TikTok for a minute, and you’ll most likely hear these sad words: “Waking up in the morning, thinking of so many things…I just wish things would get better.” The song has become an anthem for TikTok users’ most embarrassing moments. A standard clip usually begins with the TikTok user passionately mouthing along to the lyrics before cutting to footage of said cringey moment, such as getting broken up with in the middle of prom or having a wedding ceremony with a cardboard cut-out of Harry Styles.
@michaeltslagel yikes #greenscreen #Coming2America #arianagrande #arianator #ariana #meetandgreet #embarrased #awkward #victorious #homediy #viral #fyp #positions
The famous “Waking Up In The Morning” audio was created long before TikTok was ever a thing, though. It was actually an original song that Teresa Giudice‘s daughter, Gia Giudice, sang on Season 3 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey! FYI, that season aired in 2011 — so, it’s a major throwback. While Gia’s song has become TikTok’s inside joke, it actually has a heartbreaking story.
Gia, who was then about nine or 10 years old, wrote the ballad because her mom and uncle, Joe Gorga, kept fighting. Gia performed it at her little sister Milania‘s fifth birthday party, which you can watch below:
While Gia’s song cuts off in the audio that is trending on TikTok, she continues to sing through tears, “Walking into school, thinking of what is going to happen next. Things are just caught up in my mind. Just can not get rid of them. I am worrying and worrying I just can not get rid of this. I can not take chances. It is just too much. Waking up in the morning, going into school. Worrying and worrying. It is just too much.”
Gia is now 20 years old and has a TikTok herself, so hopefully she can find some humor in the painful memory (although she hasn’t created a video to the audio yet). Other celebrities, however, have been featured in some of these TikToks!
@sophia.ellio.tt i think about this moment every day #zacEfron #rejection #fyp #imnotok #sidepart #2018 #college
One of the best showed Zac Efron reading a high school student’s letter from Cornell University…only to announce that the student was deferred. Another hilarious celebrity-themed “Waking Up In The Morning” video read, “remembering the time i ran into ariana grande while crying because i was in the middle of a fight with my dad.” The TikTok user then revealed a throwback photo of himself, crying, while posing with the pop star amid her Victorious days. You can watch both of these videos above!
While this trend didn’t blow up until March of 2021, the audio was actually first used by TikTok user @amiryassofficial in January. The social media user shared the clip of Gia singing and wrote over it, “Trump on Jan 20th” (referring, of course, to the fact that Donald Trump had to leave the White House after Joe Biden took office).