The first meme of 2026 has arrived, courtesy of TikTok user Tamara, who unknowingly kicked off the first viral trend of the new year.
So what happened? It all started with a comment Tamara left on another TikTok user’s video, posted late last month, about a 2026 “rebrand,” set to an audio clip from “The Devil Wears Prada.”
In the comment — since deleted but widely screenshotted — Tamara shared her personal strategy for staying present in the new year.
“I’m getting 365 buttons one for each day because I want to do more stuff and I’m scared of time so I want to be more conscious of it,” she wrote.
The comment confused other users, prompting one commenter, Sophia, to ask a now-infamous question: “What is 365 buttons?”
“One for every day,” was Tamara’s short reply.
“Yes queen but wdym (what do you mean) buttons? Like to wear?” another user asked.
Tamara sidestepped the question, responding that the buttons were “just to have to see how quick days pass and to remind myself that time passes and I just have fun and to do a lot of stuff.”
A third user jumped in, hoping to clear up confusion between Tamara and the other users. “What are you doing with the buttons everyday is what they’re asking. Are you putting them in a jar, are you wearing them?”
That is when Tamara delivered the line that has defined the meme: “hey so it actually only has to make sense to me for me to do it and I don’t feel like explaining it to anyone else,” according to Forbes.
And so, the “365 buttons” meme was born.
Despite, or maybe because of, the lack of explanation, the concept took off. Even Tamara didn’t seem to know what the buttons were ultimately for.
When another user, in an effort to understand more, suggested people were looking for ideas for themselves, she doubled down.
“I don’t know and I don’t have to know okay I just want to carry around a button everyday,” she wrote.
While the intent behind Tamara’s 365 buttons remains unclear, it has inspired other users to collect their own metaphorical buttons without feeling obligated to offer an explanation.
The trend has spread beyond TikTok. Tumblr coined 2026 as the “year of 365 buttons” in a post on X.
Even the Philadelphia Eagles have joined in, sharing a TikTok video with a collection of buttons and asking, “Alright Tamara, now what?”
An indie bluegrass band, Karma Creek, uploaded a new song they wrote, inspired by Tamara’s comments.
As the meme continues to circulate, some commenters have returned to the original post, coming to Tamara’s defense over her refusal to overexplain. “If Tamara wants to carry around a different button every day to remind of how quickly time passes,” one user wrote, “why should we get in the way of that?”