| "Somebody That I Used to Know" | |||||||||||
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| Single by Gotye featuring Kimbra | |||||||||||
| from the album Making Mirrors | |||||||||||
| Released | 6 July 2011 | ||||||||||
| Format | Digital download | ||||||||||
| Genre | Indie rock | ||||||||||
| Length | 4:04 | ||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Gotye | ||||||||||
| Certification | ARIA: 7× Platnium RIANZ: 2× Platinum |
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| Gotye singles chronology | |||||||||||
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"Somebody That I Used to Know" is a song by Australian-Belgian singer and songwriter Gotye from his third studio album Making Mirrors, and features New Zealand singer Kimbra. The song was written by Gotye himself, lyrically about the experiences he has had with relationships. The song was released on 6 July 2011 as the second and lead single off the album.
The song was released into critical acclaim by music critics and a surprising success in Australia, peaking at number one in the country for eight weeks, becoming the longest running Australian song since Savage Garden's 1997 song, "Truly Madly Deeply".[1] The song received other success in European countries particularly Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), the Netherlands and Germany where it peaked at number one. In Kimbra's home country, New Zealand, the song has also reached number one.
In Poland song was so far 13 weeks number 1 at National Radio Program 3 Chart.[2][3]
It is Gotye and Kimbra's highest-charting, selling and first number-one song in Australia and New Zealand, also causing their previous singles and albums to chart in the top 100 in Australia. The song was featured in 90210[4] and in Gossip Girl.[5]
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"Somebody That I Used to Know" was released on 6 July 2011, debuting at number 27 on the Australian ARIA Top 50 chart.[6] The single picked up significant radio play, rising to number three after just four weeks on the chart, and reached number one on 15 August 2011.[7] The song also reached #1 on the Dutch Top 40 Chart[8] and has reached #1 on iTunes in Poland, Belgium, Austria and Germany.
On 15 July 2011, it was announced that the song had come third in the 2011 Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition.[9]
The song was both produced and written by Gotye in his parents' barn on the Mornington Peninsula where it was recorded. The song begins sampling Luiz Bonfá's track "Seville" along with the beats playing and a xylophone solo that sounds similar to the nursery rhyme, Ba Ba Black Sheep. Gotye sings his verse about someone he broke up with. A guitar solo plays halfway through the verse. Gotye sings the first chorus and sings a higher note to it. Kimbra sings her verse, also about someone she broke up with. Later in the verse, she sings louder as if she is starting an argument. After the second chorus, Gotye continues to perform the chorus as the song fades. The song finishes with Gotye and Kimbra both saying 'somebody'.
It is believed that the song is about a single relationship break up. However, Gotye claims in an interview that the song was "definitely drawn from various experiences I've had in relationships breaking up, and in the parts of the more reflective parts of the song, in the after-math and the memory of those different relationships and what they were and how they broke up and what's going on in everyone's minds. Yeah, so it's an amalgam of different feelings but not completely made up as such."
In an interview with Rolling Stone Australia, he described the song as "a curated reflection of multiple past relationships", but revealed the chorus was directly related to one ex-girlfriend. He stated: "It wasn't a nasty break-up, but it was messy in the sense that we hurt each other more than we needed to because it wasn’t a clean break... We both realised we had to move on and we haven’t seen each other since."[10]
Besides the commercial success, it also received critical acclaim. Take40 Australia elaborated on the single's reception at the 2011 Splendour in the Grass festival; "Gotye's latest song featuring Kimbra Somebody That I Used To Know had become somewhat of an unofficial anthem for the festival...every car was cranking it over their speakers all day, every day... and the question on everyone's lips was whether or not Kimbra would join him on the track. Fortunately, dreams came true... he smashed out an incredible set climaxing with a version of the song with Kimbra on co-lead vocals that people couldn't stop talking about all weekend long."[11] John Watson, who co-manages Gotye with Danny Rogers said of the single's success: "we've never seen any song make a deeper or more immediate connection with so many people. It's a really special recording and video." [12] The song has been predicted as Future UK Hit by music blog This Must Be Pop.[13]
The song first appeared on the Australian singles chart at 27 in late July. Despite a lack of airplay, the song climbed up to number one on 15 August, becoming Gotye and Kimbra's most successful song. The success was a huge achievement for Kimbra who was not well known in Australia. It also became Gotye's highest peaking single and third to chart in the top 100 after the albums first single, "Eyes Wide Open" and his 2007 song, "Heart's a Mess". During the number one run, his album, Making Mirrors debuted at number one at the same time, becoming the first Australian since Silverchair's single "Straight Lines" and its album Young Modern to have both the album and its single to peak at number one at the same time. On 3 October, the song became the second longest running Australian song (at 8 weeks) tied with Savage Garden's 1997 song "Truly, Madly, Deeply" behind Daddy Cool's 1971 hit, "Eagle Rock" at 10 weeks. The single has since been certified 7x Platinum in Australia for sales exceeding 490,000 units.
In Kimbra's home country New Zealand, the song made a huge debut at number 4 in late August. The song made it to number one three weeks later, becoming the first Australian song to peak at number one on the charts since Stan Walker's debut single, "Black Box" back in 2009. The song peaked at number one for 5 weeks and has been certified 2x Platinum.
The music video premiered when it was controversially leaked on Take 40 Australia's website. It later premiered on his YouTube channel and had its television premiere on the Australian music show rage on 30 July. The video was directed, produced and edited by Natasha Pincus.
The video shows Gotye naked (there is no explicit nudity) against a white backdrop. As he sings, a pattern of paint gradually covers his skin and the backdrop via stop-motion animation. Kimbra then appears for her verse, also naked and already painted but with her back to the camera. She moves closer to Gotye to sing into his ear. During the final chorus, Kimbra returns to her original position and the paint on her body gradually disappears, further indicating that the two have separated.
The music video for the single is well received for its artistic style, picking up 200,000 views in its first two weeks, as well as receiving promotion on Twitter by actor Ashton Kutcher and international singers such as Lily Allen, Katy Perry and Nick Jonas.[12]
On Christmas Day 2011, it was revealed that the video for "Somebody That I Used To Know" was voted #1 in the annual Rage Fifty countdown.
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[14] | 1 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)[15] | 46 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[16] | 1 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 40 Wallonia)[17] | 6 |
| Canadian Hot 100[18] | 84 |
| Canadian Alternative Rock[19] | 15 |
| Germany (Media Control Charts)[20] | 1 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[21] | 1 |
| Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)[22] | 1 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ)[23] | 1 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] | 73 |
| US Rock Songs (Billboard)[25] | 28 |
| US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[26] | 21 |
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 2 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 5 |
| Country | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 5 July 2011 | Digital download |
| New Zealand | ||
| Belgium | 29 July 2011 | |
| Netherlands | ||
| Germany | 11 November 2011 |
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