Kelly's "Shoes" — MySpace profile page for Kelly with betch shirt and Visit Liam link

Kelly's "Shoes"

2006viral videoclassic

Published September 4, 2026

"Shoes" is a 2006 comedy music video by Liam Kyle Sullivan performing as Kelly, a blonde-wigged parody of the materialistic American girl who cares about nothing except footwear. The clip became one of the defining early-YouTube viral videos, racking up tens of millions of views, winning a People's Choice Award, and making "OMG SHOES" a lasting catchphrase.

youtube viral parody song memes catchphrase memes late 2000s memes consumer culture memes

Overview

"Shoes" is a comedy music video built around Kelly, a fictional American girl played by comedian Liam Kyle Sullivan in drag with a blonde wig, leather jacket, and striped knee-high socks1. The joke of the song is the character's flat, monotone obsession with shoes, punctuated by the shouted refrain "SHOES" that turns her supposedly deep desires into a single-note punchline2.

Sullivan has said Kelly's personality is "kind of bored and everything sucks [to her], except for shoes," and cited Napoleon Dynamite and MTV's Butthead as influences on the deadpan delivery2. The full version opens with a skit before shifting into the music video, and the "OMG SHOES" hook became the line most people quote from it, often lifted out of context as shorthand for shopping fixation1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Personal website (originated) / YouTube (viral spread)
Creator
Liam Kyle Sullivan
Date
2006

Liam Kyle Sullivan first worked Kelly into his stand-up act around 2005, performing the song live before recording it2. The full "Shoes" video with its introductory skit was originally posted on Sullivan's personal website in 2006, then a shortened cut was uploaded to his YouTube channel liamkylesullivan on May 5, 20061. Sullivan re-uploaded the full skit-plus-song version to YouTube in February 2007 after the short version blew up1.

Sullivan, an actor and comedian, built Kelly as a satire of a stereotypical American girl fixated on shopping, texting, and dating, using cross-dressing and a wig to play the part3. He still performs "Shoes" alongside sister tracks "Let Me Borrow That Top" and "Text Message Breakup" at drag shows and Pride events3.

How It Spread

In June 2006, Entertainment Weekly featured "Shoes" twice, with recommendations from Margaret Cho and Andy Samberg of the Lonely Island1. Two months later Sullivan released a Kelly album on iTunes, and by 2012 the abridged YouTube upload had drawn around 3.8 million views while the full re-upload passed 46 million1. Sullivan's MySpace page for Kelly held over 140,000 friends and Kelly's Last.fm profile logged hundreds of thousands of plays4.

The character crossed over into TV and touring. Kelly guest-starred in a 2007 episode of VH1's "I Hate My 30s," and joined Margaret Cho's neo-burlesque revue "The Sensuous Woman" at New York's Zipper Factory, where Sullivan performed "Shoes" and "Let Me Borrow That Top" live5. In 2008 Sullivan won the People's Choice Award for favorite user-generated performance, beating Chocolate Rain, Daft Hands, and Leave Britney Alone1. TIME ranked the clip number 19 on its 2010 list of the 50 best YouTube videos1.

After a roughly seven-year YouTube hiatus, Sullivan came back as Kelly on September 1, 2020, releasing a "Shoes" parody promoting mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic that pulled more than 344,000 views in 24 hours1.

How to Use This Meme

The line most often quoted from "Shoes" is "OMG SHOES," typically deployed as a reaction to a picture of new footwear or as ironic shorthand for shopping obsession. Fans commonly link the original YouTube clip in comments or drop the shouted "SHOES" refrain in captions when someone posts a haul.

Frequently Asked Questions