“Why is it spicy?” comes from a July 2020 TikTok video by user @kissmytisha, who takes a sip of McDonald’s Sprite and then asks in a surprisingly deep voice, “Why is it spicy?” The clip went viral almost immediately, hitting around 5 million views before she deleted it and reuploaded it on July 23, 2020. From there, the audio became one of TikTok’s most recognizable sounds, spawning countless lip dubs and remixes.
The Original Video
The premise is simple: @kissmytisha films herself drinking from a McDonald’s Sprite cup and reacts as if the carbonation is burning her mouth, delivering the now-iconic line in a low, deadpan voice. The humor works on two levels. First, there’s the absurdity of calling a soft drink “spicy.” Second, her voice drops so dramatically that it catches viewers off guard. The combination of those two things made the clip immediately shareable.
The original upload gained roughly 5 million views within days before she took it down. When she reposted it on July 23, 2020, the video picked up another 1.8 million views over the following years and, more importantly, the audio clip took on a life of its own as a TikTok sound.
How the Sound Went Viral
Once the audio was available as a TikTok sound, creators started using it as a lip dub. The format was flexible: people would film themselves tasting or encountering something unexpectedly intense, then mouth along to the “Why is it spicy?” line. The audio showed up in videos about kids trying mint toothpaste for the first time, people reacting to overly carbonated drinks, and pets making exaggerated faces after sniffing food. Remixes followed quickly, with creators layering the audio over beats or blending it with other trending sounds.
The meme also tapped into an existing internet joke about McDonald’s Sprite. For years, people had been posting about how Sprite from McDonald’s fountain machines tastes sharper and more aggressive than bottled Sprite. That running joke gave the “Why is it spicy?” audio an extra layer of relatability that helped it spread beyond TikTok and into Twitter and Instagram.
Why Carbonation Actually Feels “Spicy”
The joke lands because there’s real science behind it. Carbonated drinks genuinely do activate some of the same pain pathways as spicy food. When carbon dioxide dissolves in your saliva, it forms carbonic acid on the surface of your tongue. That mild acidity stimulates the same type of sensory receptors that respond to heat and capsaicin, the compound in chili peppers. Your brain interprets the signal as a mild burning or tingling sensation, which is why fizzy drinks can feel sharp, especially when they’re very cold and heavily carbonated.
This is also why flat soda tastes noticeably different from fresh soda, even though the flavor ingredients haven’t changed. Without the carbonation creating that slight burn, the drink registers as sweeter and less “crisp.” McDonald’s fountain Sprite tends to have a higher carbonation level than many other sources, which is part of why it has a reputation for hitting harder.
How “Spicy” Became Internet Shorthand
The word “spicy” had been drifting away from its literal meaning long before TikTok. English speakers started using it to describe spirited horses as early as the 1820s, and by 1844 it had picked up the figurative meaning of “racy” or “salacious.” On the internet, that evolution accelerated. “Spicy” now describes anything that’s bold, controversial, or provocative: a spicy take is a hot opinion, a spicy outfit is daring, and a spicy meme pushes boundaries.
The “Why is it spicy?” meme plays with the gap between the literal and figurative meanings. Calling Sprite spicy is technically wrong but experientially accurate, and that dissonance is what makes the joke work. It gave people a perfect three-word phrase to describe any moment when something is unexpectedly more intense than it should be, which is why the audio kept finding new contexts months and even years after the original post.