Somebody That I Used to Know

"Somebody That I Used to Know" is a song by Belgian-Australian 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 to critical acclaim by music critics and a surprising success in Australia, peaking at #1 in the country for eight weeks, becoming the longest running Australian song since Savage Garden's 1996 song "Truly Madly Deeply". It went on to win Triple J Hottest 100 poll at the end of 2011, as well as ARIA 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.

By mid-April 2012, the song had reached #1 on the music charts in 18 countries, particularly in Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, and the USA. On 12 February 2012, the song topped the charts in the United Kingdom for the week ending 18 February 2012 and climbed back to #1 for another week on 26 February 2012, staying in that position for further four weeks. In Kimbra's home country, New Zealand, the song has also reached #1. It is Gotye and Kimbra's most successful single and their first #1 song in Australia and New Zealand, also causing their previous singles and albums to chart in the top 100 in Australia. In the United States, the song became a crossover hit peaking at number one on both the Rock Songs and Alternative Songs charts, while also having charted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.  As of April 2012, the song had sold 4.5 million copies worldwide according to Universal Republic.

After a week of high profile television appearances in the USA in April 2012, including Glee on 10 April 2012; American Idol on 11 April 2012; and Gotye and Kimbra's performancd on Saturday Night Live on April 14, 2012, it topped the iTunes Top 100 Singles chart with 542,000 downloads, the fourth highest since SoundScan began tracking digital sales in 2003.[8] On April 18, 2012, the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first Australian single to do so since Savage Garden's "I Knew I Loved You" in 2000. As of April 19, 2012, the song’s official video on YouTube had been viewed 166 million times.

The "Glee" cast's cover of "Somebody That I Used to Know" sold 152,000 downloads in its first week and debuted on 18 April 2012 on the Digital Songs chart at No. 10 and the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 26.

COMPOSITION

The song was 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 sparse xylophone solo. Gotye sings, seemingly addressing a past lover, discussing the ways in which he reminisces sometimes, and the nature of love. His voice then leaps an octave for the chorus, in which he expresses distaste at how he was treated "like a stranger" during the breakup, the stronger tone matching the hurt of the sentiment. Kimbra then sings her verse, seemingly in response, declaring that she too felt hurt at her treatment during the relationship, and was "screwed over" yet made to feel it was her fault. Her voice rises in the chorus with a different melody, creating a polyphonic effect, and though harmonious it is almost as if the two voices are in argument, fitting the relationship breakdown theme of the song. After the second chorus, Gotye continues to perform the chorus as the song fades. The song finishes with Gotye and Kimbra both saying 'somebody'.

In an interview, Gotye stated 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 aftermath 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."