How to Do The "Meet Me in the Middle" Trend Edit on TikTok

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Lip-sync to the popular Maren Morris song with a photobooth edit

Co-authored by Luke Smith, MFA

Last Updated: December 11, 2025 Fact Checked

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How to Do the Trend

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What is the Middle trend?

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Other Fun TikTok Trends

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Video

You’ve seen the TikToks: people lip-syncing to an upbeat, wistful Maren Morris song while looking like they’re posing in a photo booth. It’s a fun, recent trend that’s taken over TikTok’s For You page, but how are they doing it? How do you get that nostalgic photobooth look? We talked to influencers and social media pros to explain how to do the trend yourself, what it is, and similar trends to try.

The Middle TikTok Trend Tutorial

Use the TikTok sound “The Middle” by Zedd, Grey, and Maren Morris to record a video. Lip-sync to the chorus, and between verses, record tiny sections of yourself in different poses to line up with the ticking in the song, then use the filter “Retro Burst” over those portions to make it look like a photobooth.

Section 1 of 3:

How to Do the Middle Trend

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This will launch you into TikTok’s video creation and editing suite, which is where all the magic happens.

Meet the wikiHow Experts

Isabelle Garson is a Social Media Expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. With 10 years of experience, she works in social media strategy and content production

Jenna Jean Davis is a Social Media Influencer & Marketer and the Founder and CEO of Jenna Jean Marketing LLC.

Beth Cormack is a Social Media Manager based in Washington, D.C. With five years of experience, she specializes in multi-channel social media marketing and storytelling.

Jemaree Jay is a Trend Expert and Content Creator based in Miami, FL. Jemaree has been creating content since 2023 and specializes in viral social content and has over 70k followers.
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Tap the “Add sound” button and search for “The Middle.” Social media creator and influencer Jenna Jean Davis tells us to “search keywords or sentences from the sound you are looking for in the search bar on TikTok.”^{[1]
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Expert Source

Jenna Jean Davis
Social Media Influencer & Marketer

Expert Interview} At the top of your screen, find the gray bubble that says “Add sound.” Then, use the little magnifying glass icon to search for the song “The Middle” by Zedd, Grey, & Maren Morris, which is the song this trend uses.

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Trim the song to start at about 0:17. Instead of just selecting the song, press the scissor icon next to it to choose a section of the song to record with. Now, you’ll be able to scroll through the song’s timeline and select a starting point. We recommend starting it at about 0:17 seconds in, which is about when the chorus starts.
- Your own selection might be a bit different, and that’s okay. What’s important is starting the song right before the words “Oh baby.”
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Press the record button and lip-sync to “Oh baby,” then stop recording. Now it’s time to make sure you look cute and that your background and lighting are right. Once you’re ready, look into the camera and press the large red record button, then lip-sync to the words “Oh baby.” Immediately after those words, press the record button again to stop recording. This is important!
- TikTok gives you options for how long you want your video to be. Find these right next to the large red record button. For this video, you only need 15 seconds.
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Record 5 short bursts of different poses. This is where you make the quick poses. In the song, there are 5 clock ticks after “Oh baby,” which is what inspired the trend. Get into a cute pose, then quickly tap and untap the record button so that you only record an instant of video. Do this 4 more times with 4 more poses. Social media expert Isabelle Garson says these quick cuts give the video a snappy, upbeat energy.^{[2]
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Expert Source

Isabelle Garson
Social Media Expert

Expert Interview}
- This part might take some practice! If you mess up, hit the “X” button next to the recording button to delete the last recorded clip.
- While you pose, stay still! It’s only a quick span of time, but any movement will still stand out. You want it to look like still photos, not moving clips.
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Record and lip-sync a longer section up to the word “middle.” Now we keep the lip-sync train going. Hit that record button again and sing along silently to the song. Moving the camera a little or swinging it around during this section adds lots of life and movement, so don’t be afraid to get creative with it!
- In this section, the words are: “Why don’t you just meet me in the middle?”
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Record 5 more short bursts of poses, then finish lip-syncing to the chorus. After the word “middle,” record another quick section of 5 stationary poses, the same way you did before. Mix your poses up, though! After you’ve recorded 5 more poses, record a longer section while lipsyncing: “I’m losing my mind just a little.”
- Then, you can choose to record an additional 5 poses after “little,” or just keep lip-syncing to the end of the song.
- In either case, the line repeats: “So why don’t you just meet me in the middle?”
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Tap the checkmark to finish recording, then tap “Edit.” Once you’ve finished recording, tap the red checkmark next to the recording button to go to the editing suite. Don’t worry about what your video looks like now; we’ll touch it up. To do that, tap the “Edit” icon, which looks like a small video timeline or a square with 2 handles on either side of it.
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Tap “Effects” and apply the “Retro Burst” effect to the posing parts of your video. Social media manager Beth Cormack says to look to the bottom of the editing menu, then tap “Effects,” the icon with the sparkles.^{[3]
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Expert Source

Beth Cormack
Social Media Manager

Expert Interview} Scroll down on the trending tab until you find “Retro burst.” Tap it, then tap the small “x” to return to the video timeline. You’ll see the effect slotted into the timeline—tap and drag it to the section of the video with the quick poses, then use the handles on the left and right of the effect to trim it to size. Repeat this for every pose section.
- You may need to sort through the tabs to find Retro Burst. You might find it under “Visual” instead.
- TikTok doesn’t currently have a search function for effects in the editor, unfortunately, so if you can’t find the effect, use another effect that looks like a vintage camera.
- As you work, feel free to press the play button to see how things are coming together.
- If you like, add an effect or filter to the rest of the video, but make sure it doesn’t overlap with the Retro Burst effect.
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Post your video! Once everything looks good and you’re happy with the result, press the red arrow pointing to the right, or the red “Next” button to go to the launch page. Here, fill out a description if you like, as well as any hashtags or other information you want to provide. When you’re done, hit “Post,” and your video will upload for everyone to see.
- You might tag it #meetmeinthemiddle or #themiddletrend if you want other people appreciating the trend to see it, but the audio on the video will also help people search for it.

Section 2 of 3:

What is the Middle trend?

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The Middle Trend is a TikTok trend where people lip-sync to a Maren Morris song. The song is called “The Middle” and is by Zedd, Grey, & Maren Morris. For the trend, people film themselves lip-syncing to the chorus, then they edit the video so that certain portions look like a photo booth compilation timed to the ticking sounds in the song, like in this example from TikTok user yuukiituru. The result is a fun, easy, quick, and nostalgic-looking video with great energy.
- It’s impossible to say who did it first, but the trend is a huge hit in November and December 2025, even though the song was initially released in 2018.
- Based on our own internet sleuthing, it appears the trend began in late November 2025, and was at least partly popularized by a TikTok by user char.lng.

Section 3 of 3:

Other Fun TikTok Trends

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Flip the Camera Trend expert Jemaree Jay tells us that this trend involves asking a stranger to film you and your friends dancing, then you flip the camera and record the stranger’s reaction, which is often funny or scathing.^{[4]
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Expert Source

Jemaree Jay
Trend Expert

Expert Interview} Most people who do the flip the camera trend ask another friend to hold the camera, though, not a stranger.
- The trend is a fun way to show off your dance moves while also poking fun at yourself, and is a great group activity at a hangout or a party.
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Ocean Eyes The Ocean Eyes trend involves people holding their fingers up to the camera so that only their eyes show through between them, while “Ocean Eyes” by Billie Eilish plays in the background. It’s a simple, creative way to show off your stunning eyes or eye makeup.
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Unfortunately, I Do Love… The “Unfortunately, I do love…” trend is set to “Rocky Mountain Way” by Joe Walsh, and involves people recording aesthetically pleasing videos showing off their guilty pleasures. It’s easy to do and take part in, and is a great way to show some love for things you might otherwise be a little ashamed of.
This is a slideshow trend where people show off their skills and talents through photos. “I know ball” is a trending phrase that means that you’re good at or familiar with something (originally basketball).