'Everyone Knows That' Lostwave Song: Who Finally Found 'Ulterior Motives' And What Film Is It From?

It's been a huge week for lost media enthusiasts on the internet as a famous piece of lost media has become found media.

The three-year search for the origin of "Everyone Knows That," also known as "Ulterior Motives," one of the most famous lost songs on the internet, has concluded, and it's true origin and author have been confirmed without any doubt.

So what's the fuss about "Everyone Knows That," when did it all begin, and where is it from? Learn all that and more in this brief explainer.

What Is ‘Everyone Knows That'?

"Ulterior Motives," better known as "Everyone Knows That" or simply "EKT," refers to a short audio clip of a previously unidentified song that was uploaded by user carl92 to a song identification website in 2021.

The three-year-long search for the song went viral on the internet and places like Reddit, with users theorizing various possible origins for it. It was not until April 2024 that the three-year search for the song had concluded and its origin had been discovered.

When Did The Search For 'Everyone Knows That' Begin?

On October 7th, 2021, user carl92 of song identification website WatZatSong uploaded a 17-second-long snippet of an unidentified upbeat pop song to the website, labeling it, "Mid 80s, Bad quality." In the comments, carl92 claimed that he "rediscover[ed] this sample between a bunch of very old files in a DVD backup. Probably I was simply learning how to capture audio and this was a left over." The audio clip was later reuploaded to YouTube to facilitate the search.

The post became the most-discussed submission on the site since its launch in 2006, garnering over 1200 comments in three years.

After the song request was posted in the /r/lostwave subreddit multiple times, the dedicated subreddit /r/everyoneknowsthat was launched in June 2023, gaining over 30,000 subscribers in less than a year.

Who Found 'Everyone Knows That' and Where Is It From?

Over the year of dedicated search, multiple theories of the song's origin were suggested by internet sleuths on Reddit, Discord and TikTok.

Notable theories included Roxette, Savage Garden, Osny Melo and other, more obscure artists being the authors of the song. In February 2024, the search for the song even went viral on TikTok after it was posted there.

On April 28th, 2024, the collective effort finally succeeded as Redditors south_poll_ball and One-Truth-5867 found the origin of the song. Amusingly and quite unexpectedly for most people, the song was indeed from the 1980s — more specifically, from a 1986 pornographic film Angels of Passion, where it plays right as two actors are getting it on.

The song, titled "Ulterior Motives" was recorded by Christopher Saint Booth and Philip Adrian Booth specifically for the film. While we can't post the version of the song from the film, there's a version with all the moaning and other distracting sounds edited out.

Will The Full Version Of 'Everyone Knows That' Be Released?

Likely! The author of the song, American producer and filmmaker Christopher Saint Booth, reacted to the discovery on his social media accounts, writing that "his mind was blown" and asking if he should release the song.

For the full history of "Everyone Knows That" / "Ulterior Motives", be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.