Two side-by-side TikTok screenshots of a woman in a kitchen being embraced from behind by a man, captioned with the phrase 'explode with a love surge'

Love Surge

2023viral videoclassic

Published October 28, 2026

Love Surge is a slang term coined by TikToker @liliannawilde in August 2023 for the feeling of being so overwhelmed with love that you might burst. The clip of her partner mid-surge drew millions of views and sparked a wave of react duets on TikTok that treated the moment as peak cringe.

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Overview

Love Surge describes a sudden, physical overload of affection that a person cannot keep inside, the kind that comes out as a tight hug, a cuddle, or an involuntary squeal1. In the originating TikTok, @liliannawilde explains the term while her partner twitches and smiles beside her, saying one of them has so much love in their limbs that they feel like they are going to explode2.

Most of the viral traffic around the clip came from viewers who found the display deeply uncomfortable. Duet and stitch videos stacked the original on one side of the screen and a reactor on the other, with the reactor pulling faces, laughing in disbelief, or staring in silence3. The format became a quick way to signal that something crossed a personal cringe threshold, with the @liliannawilde clip acting as the shared stimulus.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok
Creator
@liliannawilde
Date
2023

On August 15th, 2023, TikToker @liliannawilde posted a video with her partner where she coined the term, explaining a love surge as a moment when one of them has so much love in their limbs that they feel like they are going to explode2. The post picked up more than 3.2 million plays and 83,000 likes within a month on TikTok2.

The word pair was not entirely new, since Urban Dictionary already carried an entry defining a love surge as an overwhelming wave of affection that needs to be released through a hug or a kiss1. The @liliannawilde video attached the term to a specific visual and voice, which is what let it travel.

How It Spread

After the August 15th upload, the clip spent several weeks circling TikTok's For You page before a second viral layer formed around reactions2. On September 10th, 2026, TikToker @screamingava filmed her dog watching the surge, and the short bit of canine side-eye drew more than 9 million plays and 1.5 million likes in two days4.

One day later, on September 11th, TikToker @kaaayysss posted a react video that pulled in over 8 million plays and 1.7 million likes within 24 hours5. Love Surge sat near the top of the platform's cringe conversation that week, with the original couple cast as earnest participants and everyone duetting them cast as the audience.

Further react and parody uploads from accounts like @spencewuah6 and @caseyelizabethyt7 kept the clip in rotation through mid-September, treating the phrase itself as a punchline3. The term quieted down after that stretch but is still used ironically in couple-content comments.

Timeline

2023-08-15

TikToker @liliannawilde posts the original video coining the term, reaching 3.2 million plays within a month.

2023-09-10

TikToker @screamingava films her dog reacting to the clip; the duet gets 9 million plays in two days.

2023-09-11

TikToker @kaaayysss posts a react video that hits 8 million plays and 1.7 million likes in a single day.

2023-09-12

TikToker @spencewuah joins the react wave with his own duet.

2023-09-15

KYM documents the term and the react-duet pattern as it winds down.

How to Use This Meme

People typically use the clip as a duet or stitch base, placing their own reaction next to the couple's moment to signal secondhand embarrassment. The phrase itself also works as a caption on wholesome couple content when the poster wants to lean into the cringe reading, or as a sincere label among friends when a hug feels overdue1.

Frequently Asked Questions