Mortifying Moment Woman Realizes People Can Hear What She Listens to in Car

A woman has told Newsweek of the mortifying moment she realized people could hear the spicy material she was listening to in the car.

Alyssa Mckee, 25, often listens to audiobooks while driving, like countless other commuters and people on road trips.

"I drive around a lot for work so I'm always listening to my books," said Mckee, of Alabama, adding she "literally had no idea you could hear them from outside of the car."

This wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that what Mckee listens to is a Harry Styles fanfiction which is, in her own words, "a bit spicy."

In a viral video shared to her TikTok account @alyssamckee_ on December 11, Mckee responded to a commenter on a previous video where she had shown off the type of steamy fiction she listened to while driving.

The commenter told her: "Girly I'm gonna hold your hand when I say this... but you CAN hear it outside the car when you listen to it at these astronomical volumes."

In the video, a concerned-looking Mckee tested the theory, by turning on her audiobook at its usual volume, then closing the door and standing outside—where she can clearly hear the audio describing a risqué scene.

And she has an instant reaction—her jaw drops and she places her head in her hands, before rushing back into the car to switch off the audio.

Alyssa Mckee regularly listens to "spicy" audiobooks while driving. She captured the moment she realized the audio could be heard from outside. TikTok @alyssamckee_

"I'm so embarrassed," she wrote across the video, adding in the caption: "I'm gonna throw up."

She told Newsweek she had previously tested her car with music and you couldn't hear it from the outside, "but I guess when it's people talking it is clear as day.

"Unfortunately the book was a bit spicy when I made this realization."

Fan fiction—written by amateur writers and shared on the internet—has long been a part of fandoms, from Star Trek and Doctor Who to centering on real-life celebrities, and can sometimes be transformed into officially-published novels.

A famous example is the book and movie series 50 Shades of Grey, which started on Fanfiction.net as a Twilight fan fiction. The After romance series, written by Anna Todd and which inspired a series of movies, also began life as a Harry Styles fan fiction, according to Britannica.

TikTok users were in stitches, with Mckee's video racking up almost one million views and over 100,000 likes, as one commenter wrote: "So I'm assuming now people hear my scream singing as well.."

Others assured Mckee she is not alone, including one who wrote: "There are a fair amount of moms in the school pickup line who don't know this. I've heard things."

And one shared the story: "Phone calls are the same. I heard a very detailed convo about a guy's finances as he was sitting outside of my yard sale. You sir, will pay full sticker price!"

Mckee said she felt better after sharing the video and finding others who also didn't know people could hear what they were listening to in their car. She will now turn down the audio at... TikTok @alyssamckee_

Mckee said the reaction to her video made her feel "less incompetent" as others also realized people could hear what they were listening to.

"I didn't expect the video to get that much attention because it stemmed from another video that didn't even get that much attention," Mckee admitted. "The comments were funny to read through though."

And as for whether the realization will change her listening habits, she told Newsweek: "I'm probably going to turn them down at red lights now, but the highway I'm turning them all the way up!"

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