She just won’t stop winning! After securing a Grammy, being named BillBoard’s 2025 Woman of the Year, and now having a viral dance trend, it’s clear Doechii is here to stay.
If you’ve been living under a rock, the rapper— real name Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon — officially dropped her song titled “Anxiety” after fans have been demanding the full version for weeks. The story behind the rise of “Anxiety” is more intricate than you might think. And with “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” stars Will Smith and Tatyana Ali co-signing the song, we could be looking at Doechii’s biggest hit yet in her career and one of the most viral trends in TikTok history. Here’s the story behind it all...
The Real Story Behind the Song?
Doechii broke it all down on TikTok explaining the song’s journey. She wrote the original version of the song over four years ago. “Anxiety” samples Gotye’s 2011 song, “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Doechii said she “took that beat, ‘Somebody I Used To Know,’ and I made my own song on top of it called ‘Anxiety.’ So then I dropped that song on YouTube.”
But in 2023, another artist, Sleepy Hallow, got a hold of it. “It [”Anxiety”] never hit streaming, and then Sleepy Hallow sampled that, it got approved, and then that song blew up,” the rapper continued. “Now, people are finding the original version that I did on YouTube, and that’s blowing up on TikTok.” The song is now going viral, so Doechii decided it’s the perfect time to drop the full version on streaming services, and folks have been eating it up!
How is “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” Wrapped Into This?
With people online starting to listen to the Sleepy Hallow version, one user, @mobraun created a fan edit of Doechii’s original song with a clip from the ‘90s classic sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” In the video from the show’s second ever episode, Ashley— played by then 11-year-old Ali— is dancing when her big cousin, Will— played by Smith— comes in her room and joins in on the fun.
As of this writing, the fan edit has over 2.3 million views on TikTok, which helped Doechii’s song get an even bigger buzz. This prompted the “Anxiety trend” where hundreds have recreated the “Fresh Prince” x “Anxiety” dance for themselves.
“Anxiety” Gets Bigger Than Ever
Since the trend’s creation, “Anxiety” has taken over the app. User @viral_.arcadia even gathered the most popular “Anxiety” videos and ranked them in order, with the no. 1 video raking in over 50 million views. But... that was until former cast mates of “The Fresh Prince” got involved.
Will Smith and Tatyana Ali Join In
Actor Will Smith saw all the buzz the fan edit was getting. On March 5, he wrote “I’ve been watching y’all and every video has been better than the last!! Love that track @Doechii. @Tatyana Ali remember this?” And before long, Doechii and Smith linked up to make their own “Anxiety” video.
But while fans thought this would be the end of Smith’s involvement, he was later joined by Doechii and “Fresh Prince” co-star Tatyana Ali to recreate the show’s iconic moment. Now, their video, which is sitting at 211.3 million views, is the most viewed “Anxiety” video. Ali and Smith later reminisced on the original “Fresh Prince” moment saying “we love this.”