The “Hawk Tuah Girl” went viral again after mishearing a famous Jay-Z lyric during a 2024 appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random.
The “Hawk Tuah Girl” went viral again in 2024 after attempting to sing Alicia Keys’ chorus from Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind—and turning “concrete jungle where dreams are made of” into the much-memed phrase “concrete jungle, wet dream tomato.”
The moment was not a new Jay-Z release, an official parody, or a recording by Welch. It was an improvised exchange from an interview that was later clipped, reposted, edited, and circulated across social media.
What happened in the clip?
Haliey Welch, who became widely known online as the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” appeared on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast in an episode published July 28, 2024. The episode was listed as episode 129 and ran for roughly 69 minutes.
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The conversation covered Welch’s sudden rise to fame, Maher’s advice about maintaining a career in show business, her family background, travel, and music. During the music discussion, Welch said she liked older rap but acknowledged that she did not listen to Jay-Z particularly often.
She did recognize the New York-themed hit Empire State of Mind, Jay-Z’s collaboration with Alicia Keys. When she tried to sing part of the chorus, her version sounded like:
“Concrete jungle, wet dream tomato.”
The actual lyric is:
“Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.”
In other words, Welch was misremembering or mishearing the lyric—not identifying “wet dream tomato” as the official wording.
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Why did “wet dream tomato” become a meme?
The joke had several ingredients that made it easy to share:
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minute- Welch already had a recognizable internet persona. Her “Hawk Tuah” nickname had become a major meme only weeks earlier.
- The song is instantly recognizable. Even viewers who did not know the entire track could identify Alicia Keys’ chorus.
- The mistaken phrase was vivid and compact. “Wet dream tomato” is strange enough to be memorable and close enough rhythmically to the real lyric to work as a comic substitute.
- The clip required little context. A short excerpt could stand alone in a post, caption, reaction video, or remix.
This type of lyric mishearing is often called a mondegreen: a mistaken version of a phrase that sounds plausible when heard or remembered incorrectly. Welch’s wording was particularly effective as a meme because it sounded like it could fit the melody while producing an absurd mental image.
It is worth being precise about the origin. The phrase had appeared independently online before Welch’s interview, so the available evidence does not establish her as the person who first invented “wet dream tomato.” Her appearance on Club Random is better described as a prominent revival or amplification of an existing misheard-lyric joke.
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Which song was Haliey Welch singing?
She was referring to Empire State of Mind, the 2009 Jay-Z song featuring Alicia Keys. The track appears on Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint 3, released in September 2009.
Alicia Keys sings the chorus containing the “concrete jungle” line. The song presents New York as a difficult but aspirational place—a city associated with pressure, ambition, and the possibility of achieving one’s dreams. “Wet dream tomato,” by contrast, has no connection to the song’s meaning; it is simply the comic result of the misheard line.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteReaders who want the full album can look for JAY-Z’s The Blueprint 3 album, the record that includes Empire State of Mind. Availability and format—such as CD or vinyl—can vary by retailer.
When did the second viral wave happen?
- June 2024: Welch became an internet meme after a street-interview answer recorded during Nashville’s CMA Fest circulated online.
- July 28, 2024: The Club Random episode featuring Welch was published.
- July 30, 2024: Bill Maher shared a clip from the interview on X, according to entertainment reporting about the clip’s spread.
- August 8–9, 2024: Further reposts and edits helped push the “wet dream tomato” version into another round of circulation. A YouTube upload titled “Concrete Jungle wet dream tomato” appeared on August 9 and explicitly connected the phrase with Welch, Maher, Jay-Z, and Alicia Keys.
The circulation was distributed across social platforms, rather than being attributable to one conclusively documented post. Reports describe substantial reposting and renewed attention, but they do not establish a definitive cross-platform view total or a single first repost.
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Was it a new Jay-Z or Alicia Keys song?
No. Empire State of Mind was originally released in 2009. The 2024 attention came from a short interview clip and its social-media adaptations, not from a new recording, remix, single, or official collaboration.
Likewise, “wet dream tomato” is not an alternate official lyric. It is the phrase viewers heard in Welch’s improvised rendition of the chorus.
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What was the Club Random connection?
Bill Maher’s Club Random provided the setting for the clip. The podcast’s official store has offered branded items such as shirts, hoodies, hats, mugs, glassware, and other accessories. Those products are Club Random merchandise, not Haliey Welch merchandise, and the two should not be conflated.
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The simplest explanation
Haliey Welch’s second viral moment came from trying to sing Alicia Keys’ chorus on Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind. Her version of “concrete jungle where dreams are made of” sounded like “concrete jungle, wet dream tomato,” creating a memorable mondegreen that spread through clips, captions, edits, and reactions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What song was the Hawk Tuah Girl singing?
She was trying to sing Alicia Keys’ chorus from Jay-Z’s 2009 song “Empire State of Mind,” which appears on The Blueprint 3.
Is “wet dream tomato” the real lyric?
No. “Wet dream tomato” is a comic mishearing from Welch’s interview appearance. The official lyric is “concrete jungle where dreams are made of.”
Where did the Hawk Tuah Girl’s Jay-Z clip come from?
The clip came from the Club Random episode featuring Welch, published July 28, 2024. It was subsequently reposted and edited across social media.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: “Wet dream tomato” was Haliey Welch’s comic mishearing of the Alicia Keys chorus in Jay-Z’s 2009 hit Empire State of Mind. The phrase was not an official lyric or a new song, and Welch’s interview helped amplify—rather than definitively originate—the joke.
