The sound comes from a He-Man parody of the 4 Non Blondes song What's Up, often misremembered as What's Going On from its lyric. In the video, Prince Adam transforms the earnest chorus into a camp, falsetto singalong that turns the repeated hey line into Heyyeyaaeyaaaeyaeyaa. Shared widely on YouTube and forums in the late 2000s and early 2010s, it became a standalone reaction clip. Earrape edits later exaggerated the volume, keeping the joke alive in short edits, streams and group chats as shorthand for dramatic confusion.