Content Warning: The following entry contains graphic material.

About

Gotye Wokeuplikethis Hyperborea, also known as X Lore vs. Y Lore, refers to a series of memes set to a mashup of songs "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye and "wokeuplikethis* by Playboi Carti. The memes usually compare the thoughts of two people or the lore of two franchises, with the second option being illustrated by a Schizowave mix of images associated with Hyperborea and Hollow Earth and Nordic aliens conspiracy theories.

Origin

On December 1st, 2019, producer BLACCMASS^[1] uploaded "Gotye – WokeUpLikeThis", a mashup of songs "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye and "wokeuplikethis" by Playboi Carti. The mashup gained over 760,000 views on YouTube in one year.

On May 2nd, 2020, Twitter^[15] user @YungCandie uploaded a Schizowave edit featuring a collection of images associated with Hyperborea^[3] and conspiracy theories such as Hollow Earth^[4] and Nordic aliens^[5] and several memes such as Howard the Alien, with the video accompanied by a bass-boosted version of the song (original post no longer available; reupload shown below). The video received over 23,100 views, 190 retweets and 1,000 likes in nine months.

Spread

June 22nd, 2020, iFunny^[2] user PunishedTed reposted the video, gaining over 2,200 smiles in eight months. The video received further spread in early July with several reuploads on YouTube^[6][7] and other platforms.

Prior to July 13th, 2020, iFunny^[8][9] user LegoNinjagoFan_v2 posted the earliest meme that used the video, a Wojak's Shower Thoughts edit (original post removed, reupload shown below). On July 13th, 2020, an anonymous 4chan^[10] user reposted the meme in a /gif/ thread.

The format did not see further spread until early October 2020 when LegoNinjagoFan_v2's video received viral spread.^[11] On October 6th, 2020, iFunny^[12] user GrandShockTrooper posted a Star Wars version of the meme that gained over 4,600 smiles in four months (shown below, left). On October 9th, 2020, iFunny^[13] user mitzuha posted an Attack on Titan meme based on the format, gaining over 2,700 smiles in the same period (shown below, center).

The format achieved mainstream popularity on October 24th, when iFunny^[14] user wham posted a meme comparing the lore of Minecraft and Terraria that gained over 67,800 smiles in four months after being featured on the iFunny app (shown below, right).

In the following days, multiple viral versions of the format were posted on iFunny, with the meme later spreading to YouTube, Reddit and other platforms. In some examples, the featured imagery was altered by mememakers.

Related Memes

Wojak's Shower Thoughts

Wojak's Shower Thoughts refers to a series of memes in which shower thoughts of a female and a male Wojaks are compared against each other, with the memes usually trying to present the female Wojak in an unfavorable way. The format gained a notable presence on Facebook starting in late March 2020.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References