If you were around in 2006, you likely couldn’t go about your day without “Shoes” being stuck in your head. The viral song, performed by “Kelly” (AKA Liam Kyle Sullivan), an angsty teen lamenting her one true weakness that is shoes, was one of YouTube’s first truly viral videos eighteen years ago, and instantly become an iconic piece of viral culture. To this day, the original tune has racked up over 69 million views on YouTube.
But whither Kelly? Where had everyone’s favorite footwear fetishist gone? Well, in the ten years following “Shoes,” performer Sullivan featured Kelly less and less on his YouTube page. Finally, in 2016, he posted a quick video marking 10 years of the tune.
Since, Kelly has been featured in a few sporadic videos by Sullivan, but “Shoes” itself remained a distant memory.
That is, until this week, for at an LA gay bar’s pride event, Kelly took the stage and reprised her greatest hit for the loving masses once more.
“Kelly performing shoes in 2024 might be the best moment of my life i fear” wrote X’s @treeeenzz.
Truly, the crowd is a livewire with even the mention of the titular footwear. “Her just saying ‘shoes’ and everyone losing their minds??? We are so back” writes X user @itsjustjelani.
One look at the footage and you can see the people were starving for this, as the audience is absolutely eating out of Kelly’s hands. Welcome back, queen.
@jakethesnaaake_ KELLY 👠👠👠#kelly #shoes @Liam Kyle Sullivan ♬ original sound – jakethesnaaake
No word on if this is some sort of grand return for Kelly or a one-off, but either way, thank you Kelly. You’re the “shoes” to us all.
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