News > Gotye
Gotye Hits The Viral Heart With ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’
By Johnny Firecloud
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
You may have heard a simple but hopelessly catchy song about heartbreak over the past couple weeks called Somebody That I Used To Know, by Gotye. It’s intense, intimate and achingly relatable to anyone who’s taken part in the death of a relationship, with a video depicting symbolic paint shading on the naked bodies of the two people in the clip. It also happens to be far and away the most successful music video of 2012 so far.
Australian musician Gotye is the man behind the music – it’s his face and naked body which is slowly painted with geometric shapes in pastel shades until he blends into the wall pattern behind him.
“I don’t even need your love, but you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough,” he laments before the verse is taken over by New Zealand artist Kimbra Johnson. As she loses her own paint as a symbol of the pair’s growing distance, they sing at each other with a level of authenticity that evokes the painful disconnect of an ending affair.
It’s simple, it’s dark, it’s beautiful – and it’s also a staggering success. Forget about current YouTube champions Jessie J (her Domino video has been seen 16 million times) and Lady Gaga (Marry The Night has 30 million hits). Somebody That I Used To Know has surpassed 53 million views.
53 million.
The song has been in rotation since last July, where Australians picked up on it right away, making it the longest-running chart-topper by a local artist in 15 years. It has since exploded worldwide. An impressive cover of the song by Walk Off The Earth has on its own gained nearly 45 million views.
As for Gotye, the man behind it is a 31-year-old musician known as Wouter De Backer (Wally to most), who has been releasing records with Rock trio The Basics, as well as the sample-based electronic solo act Gotye (Gaw-TEE-ay) for around a decade. Small-potatoes local success was all the man knew until the release of Somebody That I Used To Know, which is changing everything in his life.
The album the song is on, Making Mirrors, is quite a bit more abstract and challenging than the lone single, but it’s worth an exploration. Dig into Gotye’s work at his official site. In the meantime, enjoy one hell of an infectious song.
i can’t help but wonder how many of those hits are side-effects of the fact that the song isn’t available on spotify. i love the song, but for awhile, i had to bring up youtube every time i wanted to hear it.
Goatse?
That is exactly what I thought when I first started seeing this name pop up.
Yeah buddy that kills! That is the perfect vocal harmony combination. I’ve seen Kimbra before with her hit “Settle Down” and knew great things would be coming from her. These two need to capitalize on this and do an entire duo CD together. Run with it! Go on tour together.
I had no idea Fleetwood mac were writing and performing again. Oh hang on a sec, its a band trying to sound like Fleetwood Mac and not doing a great job of it. 2012 and this is new music? It’s about as original as the Killers (Fergal Sharkey) attempt at bringing back the 80’s.
I don’t approve.
Nobody gives a shit if you don’t approve. Sounds nothing at all like Fleetwood. You’ve become a trolly gnat, staining every post with two cents of ignorant negativity nobody cares the slightest bit about. I’m growing tired of you.
I’ve also commended a lot of your write ups and posted my gratitude for some of the new recommendations on here.
Radio Moscow was one of the better tips on here and I posted positively. It’s all too easy to throw the troll word around when somebody posts something you don’t like. Feel free to block me, theres plenty of other music blogs online, just not quite as good as antiquiet.
Criticism of an artist is one thing. Posting one or two human-communication comments does not entitle you to tag up every post with bile & random negativity, any more than “free speech” entitles someone to be a complete dick. You often comment for no other reason than to stain the page. It’s been laid out for you – I’m tired of looking at your shit, and it will not exist from here forward.
Point made, we can sit in our pants and hold each other for a moment if you like.
My comments often have a little caustic sarcasm on things I don’t like and if thats not wanted I’m quite happy to limit my comments to back slapping and ego massage on the things I do like.
You run a great site Johnny, I’m not here to fight. I’m a lover not a fighter.
yeah… no one asked, holmes.
Wow, a new song from last year. Ok.
New?
age ain’t nothing but a number.
Nice to see gotye getting some international love. The whole album is pretty good and great for sinking piss in the afternoon
Well.. I appreciate the article. I imagine I am not as hip as most of your readers (I found this site a few months back when I was searching for Electric Six articles.) because I have managed to never hear of this until now. (Despite the fact that I spend WAY too much time on youtube.) Thanks for the heads up. This song rules.