“Didn’t Expect That Cry” — Baby Can’t Keep It Together Every Time Mom Sings "You Are My Sunshine"

"I don't know what triggers this response, but it equally breaks my heart and makes me laugh at the same time."

Mustafa Gatollari - Author
By

Published July 4 2024, 6:00 p.m. ET

Baby Cries Every Time Mom Sings 'You Are My Sunshine"
Source: TikTok @jillianjames31

We all have that one song that just strikes us at our core. For this dog, it's Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You,"; for someone else it might be the end of Coco when Miguel starts singing "Remember Me" to his great-grandmother.

And if you don't have that song that makes you fight back tears whenever you hear it, or cuts right to your heart, then maybe you just haven't found it yet.

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But it looks like this kid featured in a viral video posted by TikToker Jillian James (@jillianjames31) didn't need to live that long to find the jam that gets him weeping like a baby.

Which makes sense because he is one.

James explains in a caption for the video that the song, "You Are My Sunshine," instantly gets her child all choked up: "Every single night he asks me to sing 'Sunshine' but this is also his reaction when I sing it to him… idk what triggers this response but it equally breaks my heart and makes me laugh at the same time."

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She recorded his reaction to her singing the song to him, despite giving him plenty of outs for her not to sing it, asking him on numerous occasions if he's going to cry. He even laughs at first in order to play off that her singing the song gets him emotional. Here's how the TikTok went down:

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Jillian's video begins with her rocking back and forth in a chair with the camera directed at her baby's face. Her child is resting his head against her chest. She asks the kid what he wants — it sounds like he's asking her if she can sing, which she confirms by asking him if that's what he wants.

"You want me to sing 'Sunshine'?" she asks.

"Yeah," the child says, his hand resting on his mother.

"Are you sure?" she replies.

"Yeah," he says, seemingly pouting.

"You already look like you're about to cry," she says, acknowledging her son's pre-emotional state.

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Baby Cries Every Time Mom Sings 'You Are My Sunshine"
Source: TikTok @jillianjames31

"I don't wanna sing it if you're gonna cry," she continues, before asking, "are you gonna cry?"

"No," he says, smiling into the camera.

"Are you sure?"

"No," he says, smiling even more broadly as he giggles.

"What do you want? What song do you want me to sing?"

"'Sunshine'," the child says.

"You sure?" she asks again.

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"Yeah," he says definitively.

"OK, you ready?" she asks as her child appears to gear himself up to listen to his mother pop off with the song, but he looks like he's already getting emotional again.

Baby Cries Every Time Mom Sings 'You Are My Sunshine"
Source: TikTok @jillianjames31
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James chuckles again, "Are you gonna cry? 'Cause I don't like it when you cry."

"Why?" the kid asks.

"Because it makes Mommy sad when you cry."

"Why?" he repeats, trapping her in the infinite "why" loop kids seem to love just putting their parents in.

"'Cause... I want to make you happy 'cause I'm your mama."

"Why?" the child asks as she holds him closer to her.

"'Cause I love you," she says, kissing him on his forehead. "You still want me to sing Sunshine?" she asks as a noise off-screen catches her child's attention.

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"Yeah," he says, holding her again and settling in.

"OK," she says as she starts singing the song. "You are my sunshine," she starts, and she doesn't even make it past the first lyric before he can't contain his feelings any longer and he starts bawling.

Baby Cries Every Time Mom Sings 'You Are My Sunshine"
Source: TikTok @jillianjames31
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He can't stop wailing, holding onto his mother as she explains to him: "See? This is why I don't wanna sing it 'cause you just cry."

This doesn't seem to be any consolation to the child, who continues to weep while looking at himself in the camera.

"Honey," she tells him, pulling the child closer to her chest.

"All done, all done," she tells him as the child composes himself. "Why do you ask me to sing that if you're gonna cry?"

"I don't know," he responds, still clearly emotional.

"OK, you just love the song, it just like makes, it just like touches your soul?"

"Yeah," the baby says, holding his nose as he fights back tears.

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Baby Cries Every Time Mom Sings 'You Are My Sunshine"
Source: TikTok @jillianjames31

"It does," she says, agreeing with her child. "OK, hey you know I love you? Do you know I love you so much?"

"Yeah," her baby says.

"And I never wanna make you cry ... but you are my sunshine ... and you make me very happy when skies are gray."

"Mhmm," the baby says while looking into the camera.

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Numerous folks who responded to the video couldn't help but laugh and also sympathize with the child, like this one person who remarked: "To be fair, 'You Are My Sunshine' makes me cry too."

Someone else said that they could understand where the baby was coming from: "He just needed a soundtrack for his little crying sesh."

But there was someone else who offered up a practical explanation as to why this track appears to trigger this response in folks: "I went to a children’s music class and the teacher told us that 'You Are My Sunshine' contains 'sad notes' so this is actually a common response from a lot of children to this song! Such a sweetie."

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Baby Cries Every Time Mom Sings 'You Are My Sunshine"
Source: TikTok @jillianjames31

So maybe Jillian's kid is just picking up whatever the composer of "You Are My Sunshine" was putting down?

What songs make you blubber like a baby after just listening to a few lyrics?

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