About

But There Was a Time, also known as But There Was Once a Time or But There Was a Time Once, refers to a catchphrase used to evoke nostalgia, usually over a romantic relationship in one's past. Viral posts, videos and memes using the phrase surfaced en masse on TikTok in a photo slideshow trend from 2025.

Origin

On April 27th, 2025, TikToker^[1] @laneyssecretacc4 posted a photo slideshow with two images, using the song "window" by sundots as the sound.^[2][3] The first image was of herself with text reading, "Unopened snaps, avoiding relationships, turning into a POS [piece of shit]." The second showed a flower bouquet with the phrase, "But there was once a time." Over three months, the photos gained over 224,100 likes (shown below). It's currently the first known instance of the trend.

Spread

In the following weeks, others joined the trend, using the same TikTok sound.^[2] For instance, on May 2nd, 2025, TikToker^[4] @spctdl posted a But There Was Once a Time slideshow, gaining over 668,700 likes in two months (shown below).

On May 6th, TikToker^[5] @supersecretspamboio posted a video following the trend with a caption reading, "'But there was a time' yeah and there was a time where I had to look like this to get over it," gaining over 540,300 likes in two months (shown below).

On May 13th, 2025, TikToker^[8] @kayla_wade10 posted a photo slideshow following the trend, receiving over 2 million likes in two months (shown below).

On June 28th, Twitter / X ^[6] user @mango97ne tweeted about Pinoy Big Brother contestant Mika Salamanca,^[7] using the But There Was a Time catchphrase. Over 10 days, the tweet received over 10,000 likes (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References