Two years later, a user posted online about a bootleg DVD that contained a snippet of "How Long", prompting a search for its origin that attracted the attention of the lostwave community.

[3][4] Toledo wrote "How Long" from her personal perspective, and believes it resonates with modern audiences because it conveys the importance of living authentically.

[2] Jon Azpiri of CBC News felt that "How Long" would fit well with modern adult contemporary radio and film soundtracks, due to the "wistful" vocals of Toledo and the guitar usage.

[9] The search became popular in the lostwave community, which is dedicated to trying to identify the provenance of songs considered unknown or lost.

[3] Some people made tribute videos for "How Long" featuring images of teddy bears,[8] while others created remixes and covers of it.

[2][3][6] On December 8, 2023, sixteen years after "How Long" was first mentioned on the Internet, Reddit user "the-arabara" posted that he had found its origin.

[2] Initially, he tried to find the creators of the DVDs, "track[ed] down a movie mentioned on a job application", and found another obscure song in its credits.

[3] That same day, Toledo got multiple emails about the discovery, which surprised her; she initially believed the messages to be scams.