Song:Somebody That I Used To Know
Album:Making Mirrors
This monster hit is a good reason why record companies should be eager to have songs by unknown artists covered on TV shows like Glee and American Idol. Viewers of those shows will seek out the original version. Aussie singer songwriter Gotye had been around for a decade with little fanfare until Somebody That I Used To Know made him a star. He was born Wouter "Wally" de Backer May 21, 1980 in Bruges, Belgium and grew up in Melbourne, Australia. He led the band Downstares as a teen. When the band split up, he started experimenting in his bedroom. He released a homemade CD in 2001 as Gotye. Gaultier is French for Walter and his French teacher mother called him Gaultier when he was a child. Then he met Kris Schroeder at a party and formed The Basics. They released four albums and disbanded in 2010. Gotye released the CD Like Drawing Blood in 2006. Making Mirrors was released July 2011. When Somebody That I Used To Know topped the Australian charts and then charted in Europe, Universal picked up Making Mirrors for US distribution and released it Jan. 2012. Gotye performed Somebody That I Used To Know on Jimmy Kimmel Live in Feb. Then the the song topped the British charts. Then things went crazy the second week of April. Darren Criss and Matthew Bomer performed the song on Glee and then Phillip Phillips and Elise Testone performed it on American Idol. And Gotye performed it himself on Saturday Night Live. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and has sold five million copies worldwide. A lot of folks think Gotye sounds like Sting. It's a decent song but I can't tell you why it's such a big hit. Somebody That I Used To Know is based on a sample of the 1967 song Seville by Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfa. Apparently Gotye had lined up a high profile female singer to record the song with him. But when that fell through, recording engineer Francois Tetaz recommended New Zealand born singer Kimbra Lee Johnson. She released her debut CD in 2011 with some success in Australia. Gotye will begin his world tour next month in Korea. He should ride the success while it lasts. I don't think he will ever have another hit like this but I wouldn't have thought this song would have been a hit in the first place. That's what TV exposure can do for an unknown artist. Here's the video for Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye featuring Kimbra.
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