I Understood The Assignment

For a phrasal template of a similar name, visit the entry on They Always Understand the Assignment.

About

I Understood The Assignment is a song by musical artist Tay Money, released on streaming platforms in September 2021. The song has seen a large amount of success on TikTok, where it is used by people trying to show off individual skills or assets. Later in mid-July 2024, the similar phrase "I Understand The Assignment" surfaced online as part of a trend and hashtag showing support for Kamala Harris, the presumed nominee for the Democrats in the 2024 election, which referenced the catchphrase.

Origin

Despite having the song audio appear on streaming sites such as YouTube and Apple Music in September, a TikTok of the song's hook was posted by Tay Money^[1] herself on August 16th, 2021, which drummed up hype for the song itself, having multiple commenters asking when the full song will eventually drop (shown below). The audio^[2] from her video has been made into over 640,000 videos in four months.

The audio clip was quickly picked up by other TikTok users who tried to find the best way to utilize it. The strongest contender was the user MattiaKrappa^[3], who uploaded a TikTok on August 26th, 2021, with her opening up a Harry Styles-themed cafe after his tour dates were canceled, and earned 630,000 likes in four months (shown below).

Spread

On September 3rd, 2021, the TikTok^[4] account Chatyah.Burroughs posted a TikTok using the audio to show her weight loss journey, earning 5 million views in one month (shown below) and establishing itself as the dominant use of the meme.

Six days later, on September 9th, 2021, Tay Money uploaded the full song onto streaming platforms and lyric websites, with the official audio version of the song gaining 244,000 views in one month^[5]. On October 8th, 2021, Tay Money posted the official music video for the song, which helped renew interest in it online. The upload on YouTube^[6] received over 800,000 views in 13 days (shown below).

2024 Kamala Harris "I Understand The Assignment" Trend

In late July 2024, many supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris started to use the catchphrase and hashtag "I Understand The Assignment" to express that they're ready to help her win the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election following President Joe Biden dropping out of the race and endorsing her.

For example, on July 22nd, 2024, X^[7] user @libradunn tweeted, "We understand the assignment!" in response to friends in the media asking, "What's next for Democrats?" The post (seen below) amassed more than 11,000 likes and 2,300 reposts in two days.

Over the next few days, the phrase "I understand the assignment" and similar variations of it sparked a debate on X / Twitter and Threads, as some people were confused with the meaning of the catchphrase.

For example, on July 23rd, 2024, Threads^[8] user @melissahilfers asked about the origin of the trend, to which @marsharumbarger replied, "To me, the phrase means that the assignment is for us to follow the lead of our Black sisters. If we go where they lead, everyone benefits. And we need to bring white women along to this reality." The post (seen below) amassed more than 380 likes and 10 comments in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References