At the beginning, I told myself…
What is the At the beginning, I told myself… trend?
The format uses "At the Beginning" by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis from the Anastasia soundtrack to score a before-and-after arc: what someone planned at the start versus where they actually ended up. Creators fill the overlay with a relatable flip from intention to reality. Brands use it to show a product journey, a founder origin story, or the gap between a first attempt and the current version.
Origin
The "At the beginning, I told myself..." TikTok trend uses the song "At the Beginning" by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis as its audio. The song was released on October 21, 1997, as the lead single from the animated film Anastasia (20th Century Fox) on Atlantic Records, playing over the film's end credits. It reached No. 2 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and No. 45 on the Hot 100. On TikTok, creators adopted the song's title as a caption hook, writing "At the beginning, I told myself [I didn't need this / I wouldn't spend money / etc.]" as an on-screen text overlay to set up a comedic self-contradiction, then cutting to footage of a product, service, or result. Both consumers and brand accounts used this structure. The specific creator who first popularized this text-overlay usage of the audio has not been identified in publicly indexed sources.
Great for
Before-and-after product or brand evolution footage Side-by-side comparison b-roll (first version vs. current) Product line growth flat-lay or shelf display Time-lapse or montage of a creative or production process
Examples
At the beginning I told myself I'd only buy one [cut to: full product shelf] At the beginning I told myself I'd keep the packaging simple [cut to: the current custom box] At the beginning I told myself I'd launch with three SKUs [cut to: the twelve-product lineup on the website]
Sources
Turn a trend into an on-brand short from footage you already have.
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