02-04-2025
The 'bored nightclub girl' has recreated her iconic meme seven years later
Arms crossed, lips pursed and a deeply unimpressed look – the 'bored nightclub girl' meme is instantly recognisable to anyone who was online in 2018.
The snapshot from a blurry Scottish venue shows a scowl that became an internet icon, plastered across social media with captions lamenting everything from bad dates to existential dread.
Lucia Gorman, an 18-year-old Strathclyde University student at the time, became an internet sensation overnight seven years ago thanks to the now infamous picture taken on a night out at Milk Club in Edinburgh.
Since it was posted online, the shot has been shared millions of times and is easily one of the most famous memes in history.
Its appeal is perhaps best explained by its relatability – Gorman's blank stare and crossed arms perfectly encapsulates some of the unwanted chatter in a noisy club.
However, unwanted chatter doesn't just come in nightclubs and the picture has been widely shared on social media to express the disinterest people feel towards certain people.
The shot is often posted online with captions like 'Me listening to my mate's breakup story for the 10th time,' or 'When your boss calls a meeting that could've been an email'.
Gorman told Newsbeat in 2018 that she had no idea that the picture of herself and Patrick Richie – the man doing the talking – had been taken.
However, she admitted that while she and Richie knew each other and were catching up during the night out, she was very much ready to go home at that point – hence the expression.
She said: "I don't know what he said but I know I definitely wasn't having any of it.
'I feel like it was probably the end of the night and I was definitely ready for my bed. I probably just thought, 'I'll nod at anything at this point'."
She added: "I'm just glad I did my make-up that night."
Fast forward to 2025, and Gorman is back – deliberately striking the same pose – as well as recreating some other famous memes – for Samsung.
The tech giant has enlisted her help to bring to life the common face fails to highlight its Best Face technology on the new Galaxy A56 5G.
Gen Z will snap nearly 1,100 photos a year and take an average of eight attempts at taking the perfect shot before they are happy to post it on social media.
Around the time 'bored nightclub girl' took off in 2018, the internet was also churning out plenty of the decade's most iconic memes.
Perhaps one of the most recognisable and shared memes in history is 'distracted boyfriend,' a stock photo of a man ogling a passing woman while his girlfriend glares at him that has been shared millions of times.
Its structure – three characters with clear emotions – has made it a perfect template for expressing distraction, temptation, or shifting priorities. Antonio Guillem, a Spanish advertising photographer who took the picture in Barcelona with three models (who've decided to remain anonymous, disappointingly), admitted he didn't really know what a meme was when his image went viral in 2017, but said afterwards the picture was successfully spread far and wide as it is a "good foundation as a metaphor that works for almost everything."
The 'blinking guy' meme is another that sits in the internet hall of fame. A gif of video editor Drew Scanlon blinking in an apparent double take - a gif taken from a YouTube video which Scanlon took part in in 2013 - has become the internet's go-to for moments of shock, scepticism or sheer disbelief. Scanlon even used his unlikely online fame to raise money for charity.
Another universal feeling is that of celebration – step forward the 'success kid' meme. Taken by his mother when he was a baby in 2007 and innocently uploaded, the image of an 11-month-old Sammy Griner, now aged 18, clenching his fist on a beach, became a go-to image used any time something is worthy of celebrating a win – big or small.
