Somebody That I Used to Know
"Somebody That I Used to Know" is a song written, produced and performed by Belgian-Australian musician and singer Gotye, featuring vocals from New Zealand singer Kimbra. The song samples Luiz Bonfá's 1967 instrumental song "Seville", with additional instrumentations of beats and a xylophone playing a melody based on "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep". The song was released in Australia and New Zealand through Eleven Music on 5 July 2011 as the second single from Gotye's third studio album, Making Mirrors (2011). It was later released by Universal Music in December 2011 in the United Kingdom, and 20 January 2012 in Ireland and the United States. "Somebody That I Used to Know" was written and recorded by Gotye at his parents' house on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia, and is lyrically related to the experiences he has had with romantic relationships.
Not to be confused with Someone I Used to Know or Somebody I Used to Know."Somebody That I Used to Know"
5 July 2011
January–May 2011
- The Barn (Merricks, Victoria)
- Lucas Taranto's lounge room (Melbourne, Australia)
4:04
Wally De Backer
Wally De Backer
The song is a mid-tempo ballad. It samples Luiz Bonfá's instrumental "Seville" from his album, Luiz Bonfá Plays Great Songs (1967). "Somebody That I Used to Know" received a favorable response from critics, who noted the similarities between the songs and works by Sting, David Bowie and American indie folk band Bon Iver. In Australia, the song won the Triple J Hottest 100 poll at the end of 2011, as well as ARIA Music Awards for Song of the Year and Best Video, while Kimbra was voted Best Female Artist, and Gotye was named Best Male Artist and Producer of the Year. The song came ninth in the Triple J Hottest 100 of the Past 20 Years, 2013. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, "Somebody That I Used to Know" won two Grammys for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Record of the Year.
Commercially, "Somebody That I Used to Know" was a global success and became both artists' signature song. It reached the top of the charts in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as 25 other official charts, and reached the Top 10 in more than 30 countries. It was the most commercially successful recording of 2011 in Flanders (Belgium), the most successful of 2012 in Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom, the United States and Wallonia (Belgium), and the most successful of the 2010s decade by an Australian artist in Australia. It is certified multi-platinum in ten countries, including Diamond in Australia. Globally, "Somebody That I Used to Know" has sold more than 20 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling digital singles ever.[3] In addition to the Hot 100, it was also placed at the top of Billboard's Year-End Adult Top 40 and Alternative Airplay charts, and many other charts around the world. On Spotify, the song has been streamed more than 1.7 billion times.[4]
The accompanying music video for "Somebody That I Used to Know" was directed by Australian creative filmmaker Natasha Pincus. The video, which has received over 2 billion views on YouTube as of November 2022, premiered on 5 July 2011, the same day the song was first released. It shows Gotye and Kimbra naked against a white backdrop. While they sing, a pattern of paint gradually covers their skin and the backdrop via stop motion animation.
"Somebody That I Used to Know" has been performed several times on major American television shows including The Voice, American Idol and Saturday Night Live.
Critical reception[edit]
The song received universal acclaim, winning the Grammy for Record of the Year. Take 40 Australia elaborated on the audience's reception at the July 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".[18] AllMusic's Jon O'Brien felt the track was an "unexpected chart-topper ... [it] is an oddball break-up song whose stuttering rhythms, reggae hooks, and hushed vocals sound like The Police as remixed by The xx".[19] Writing for Digital Spy, Lewis Corner rated the song four stars out of five and described it as "a Bon Iver-styled ballad for the music-buying masses".[20]
Entertainment Weekly ranked the song at number 2 on their "Best singles of 2012" list: "When a funny-named Aussie and his New Zealand sidekick first emerged with a quirky, minimalist breakup ballad, it seemed like the least likely candidate for a Hot 100 No. 1 since 'Macarena.'"[21] MTV ranked the song at number 3 on their "Best Songs of 2012" list.[22] PopMatters ranked the song at number 14 on their "The 75 best songs of 2012" list: "Gotye manages to balance real nuanced emotions of a tortured heart bested only when the woman he is pouring his heart out to takes the stage revealing his inability to see past his own nose."[23]
Metro placed "Somebody That I Used To Know" on their "Top 10 annoying songs of 2012" list: "According to the internet there is going to be an apocalypse on Friday, but you can be sure that once the dust has settled the plinky plonky xylophone intro of this inexorable viral hit will drift into earshot, as if emanating from the scorched earth itself."[24] In 2019, Insider Inc. described the song as one of "The 56 worst one-hit wonders of all time".[25]
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".[26] Talking about the overwhelming reception and the amount of coverage received, Gotye commented that "I don't really feel like it [the song] belongs to me anymore."[27] He further explained that "sometimes I feel like I'm a bit sick of it. My inbox, on any given day, has at least five covers or parodies or remixes of it and there's only so many times you can listen to the one song."[27]
Commercial performance[edit]
In the week commencing 18 July 2011, "Somebody That I Used to Know" debuted at number 27 on the ARIA Singles Chart.[28][29][30] It was released on 5 July 2011 in Australia and New Zealand by Eleven Music as the second single from his third studio album, Making Mirrors (2011).[28] Despite an initial lack of airplay on major radio stations, the song reached number 1 in the week ending 15 August, becoming the first single by either artist to do so and their most successful single.[29][31] Until 2014, the song was one of the two-second-longest-running Australian number-one songs, with eight weeks at the top,[29] tied with Savage Garden's 1997 song "Truly Madly Deeply", and behind Daddy Cool's 1971 hit "Eagle Rock", which stayed there for ten weeks.[32] In August 2011, the song was released in Belgium and the Netherlands. After a few weeks in the charts, it reached number 1 in both countries, topping the Belgian Singles Chart for 12 weeks.[33][34] Also in August, "Somebody That I Used to Know" debuted at number 4 in New Zealand on the RIANZ Singles Chart, reaching number 1 three weeks later,[35] thus making Gotye the first Australian artist to reach number 1 since Guy Sebastian did so in February 2011 with "Who's That Girl".[36] The song debuted on the Irish Singles Chart on 13 January 2012 at number 47, later reaching number 1 position.[37] In the United Kingdom, "Somebody That I Used to Know" spent five non-consecutive weeks at number 1.[38][39]
In the United States, it debuted at number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 14 January 2012. In its fifteenth week on the chart – after it was performed by Matt Bomer and Darren Criss on Glee on 10 April; by Phillip Phillips and Elise Testone on the eleventh season of American Idol before more than 16 million viewers on 11 April;[40] and by Gotye and Kimbra on Saturday Night Live on 14 April – the song rose to number 1,[41] where it stayed for eight consecutive weeks.[42][43][44][45] thus becoming the longest-running number 1 by a solo male artist since Flo Rida's "Low" led for ten weeks in 2008. The song had the fourth highest-selling single week ever with 542,000 digital downloads sold, and was the first Australian single to top the Hot 100 since Savage Garden's "I Knew I Loved You" in 2000.[46][47] The song also topped the Alternative Songs chart for twelve weeks[42] tying with Fuel's Hemorrhage (In My Hands) and Linkin Park's Numb and New Divide, as well as topping the Radio Songs, Digital Songs, On-Demand Songs,[48] Pop Songs, Adult Pop Songs, Adult Contemporary, and Hot Dance Club Songs charts in that country.[42] On 2 May 2012 the song became the first to reach digital sales of at least 400,000 for three consecutive weeks,[49] and the following week it became the first to simultaneously top the Alternative Songs, Hot Dance Club Songs, and Dance Mix Show Airplay charts.[50] It also became the number 1 song of 2012 on the Alternative Songs, Adult Pop Songs, and Billboard Hot 100 charts. By 22 February 2013, the song became the tenth longest-charting song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, at 59 weeks on the chart.[51] As of October 2015, the song has sold 7.9 million copies in the US, making it the country's fourth all-time best-selling digital single.[52]
"Somebody That I Used to Know" reached number one in more than 23 national charts and charted inside the top ten in more than 30 countries around the world.[47] By the end of 2012, the song became the best-selling song of that year with 11.8 million copies sold,[53] ranking among the best-selling digital singles ever. As of April 2012, it is the most downloaded song ever in Belgium,[54] as well as being the third best-selling digital single in Germany with sales between 500,000 and 600,000 copies,[55][56] and the most successful song in the history of the Dutch charts.[57] As of January 2013 it has received eleven Platinum certifications in Australia, accounting for shipments exceeding 770,000 units.[58] In New Zealand, it was certified four times Platinum. The song was the best-selling single of 2012 in the UK with 1,318,000 copies sold.[59][60]
Gotye has not monetised the song or any of his others through advertisements on YouTube, as he believes that there is too much advertising in the world. He has licensed its use to student films free of charge, but has turned down approaches from some commercial films: "If someone wants to use it commercially I look at what the budget is and the creativity of the project".[61]
Accolades[edit]
In July 2011, the song finished third in the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition[62] Earlier that year, Gotye had first noticed Kimbra when both were short-listed as finalists for the competition.[13] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2011, "Somebody That I Used to Know" won Single of the Year, Best Pop Release, Best Video (for Natasha Pincus), Engineer of the Year (for François Tétaz) and Producer of the Year (for Gotye). Gotye also won Best Male Artist for the song while Kimbra won Best Female Artist for her previous single, "Cameo Lover".[47][63] At the APRA Music Awards of 2012, "Somebody That I Used to Know" won Most Played Australian Work and Song of the Year and Gotye won Songwriter of the Year.[64] It was also nominated at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards for "Choice Rock Song" and "Choice Break-Up Song".[65][66] The song was nominated at the 55th Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, winning both awards. The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll ranked "Somebody That I Used to Know" at number eight of the best music of 2012.
In 2019, Stereogum ranked the song as the 161st best song of the 2010s.[67] In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", "Somebody That I Used to Know" was ranked number 98.[68] In 2021, its first year of eligibility, "Somebody That I Used to Know" was inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia as an Australian sound recording with "cultural, historical and aesthetic significance."[69]
Covers and media appearances[edit]
In February 2012, Gotye made his American television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! where he performed the song.[79] The song has since been featured on the TV series 90210,[80] Gossip Girl,[81] and The Voice of Ireland by Andy Mac Unfraidh.[82] The song was featured in the film Boyhood.[83] On 16 May 2012, fun. along with Paramore's front vocalist Hayley Williams covered the song at BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.[84]
"Somebody That I Used to Know" was covered by Canadian indie rock group Walk Off the Earth. Their January 2012 YouTube video of the song created a sensation, artfully depicting the 5 band members playing the song on a single guitar. As of February 2023, the 3 identical YouTube postings of the video have received a total of over 214 million views. Also in January 2012, Walk off the Earth had their U.S. television debut on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, recreating the single-guitar performance live. Saying that she wanted to "help," Ellen humorously gifted the group with a matched set of 5 electric guitars.[85]
In February 2012, Rita Ora covered the song at BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.[86]
The a cappella group Pentatonix created a viral YouTube video in February 2012 and released the track on their EP, PTX Volume 1 on 26 June 2012.[87]
Phillip Phillips and Elise Testone covered the song on the eleventh season of American Idol on 11 April 2012.[40]
In April 2012, actors Darren Criss and Matt Bomer covered the song in the "Big Brother" episode of Glee (as Blaine Anderson and Cooper Anderson). It sold 152,000 digital downloads in its first week of release and debuted on the Digital Songs chart at number 10 and the Hot 100 at number 26.[41]
"Somebody That I Used to Know" was also first played live by Coheed and Cambria on 29 April 2012, as a frequent feature on their 2012 headlining tour.[88]
In May 2012, American duo Karmin made a cover of the song on Sirius XM Hits.[89]
On 23 May 2012, Internet cartoon band Your Favorite Martian did a cover of the song.[90]
English fingerstyle guitarist Mike Dawes released a technically virtuosic arrangement of the song on his debut album What Just Happened? in 2013, garnering much praise, including from Gotye himself.[91]
"Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a cover as part of his polka medley "NOW That's What I Call Polka!" for his 2014 album Mandatory Fun.[92]
Jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson included the song in his 2015 album Take This.[93]
"Somebody That I Used to Know" has been covered by many artists, including Ingrid Michaelson, The Fergies, Benee, Sam Tsui,[94] and Right the Stars featuring Karmina.[95] Dutch DJ Tiësto remixed the song for his album Club Life: Volume Two Miami.[96]
Gotye paid tribute to the overwhelming number of cover versions of the song by personally creating a video remix, released in August 2012, using segments from hundreds of online covers to create a new, unique version of the track, titled "Somebodies: A YouTube Orchestra".[97][98] Gotye states the concept "was directly inspired here by Kutiman's Thru-You project", released in March 2009, which edited numerous YouTube videos to create a new cohesive song.[97]
Credits adapted from "Somebody That I Used to Know" CD single liner notes.[101]
"Somebody That I Used to Know"
"Somebody That I Used to Know"
12 April 2012
2012
4:06
16 October 2012
2012
3:24
22 July 2020
3:29
Wally De Backer