Looking back through old photographs often happens in a family living room, turning the pages of a loved one’s photo albums. But on TikTok, the nostalgic ritual is its own trend.
Users are showcasing their life progress by looking back to their childhood, comparing their baby photos to recent ones. While the captions vary across videos, it’s the music and lyrics that bring them all together: Pink Floyd’s “Time.”
The trend uses the photo-carousel feature on TikTok as a template: In the first photo, with the user at a young age, the lyric “The sun is the same, in a relative way” is highlighted. The recent image continues with “but you are older.”
For many people, the trend appears to be a way to show that despite the passage of time, their key attributes remain the same. Take content creator Eugenia McQuarrie, who posted a photo of herself at a beauty salon with rollers in her hair. The photo is followed by a present-day image of McQuarrie wearing hair rollers as an adult.
One viewer commented, “diva since day one.”
Another user had a similar take on the trend, first posting a photo of himself as a kid wearing a toy firefighter hat, then cutting to his grown-up self in a real-life firefighter uniform.
According to trend-tracking agency Masterhooks, in the span of weeks this particular trend has amassed nearly 9 million views.
Part of the appeal is the versatility to make the trend one’s own, keeping the Pink Floyd soundtrack but posting unique videos and edits.
One user shows a video of her dancing in her living room as a child, then cuts to her dancing at a party as an adult. “Still the same vibe, how cute,” one viewer commented.
For others, nostalgia didn’t reach as far back as most. Ballet content creator Katelyn Power posted a video of her dancing ballet four years ago, then cut to her most recent performance of the same dance.
One viewer commented, “Pink Floyd and ballet? I am in heaven.”