Gotye Surprised At 'Somebody That I Used To Know' Success
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Written by Elliott Batte
Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter Gotye has confessed that he almost completely gave up working on ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’, after trying to fine-tune and perfect the track for around two years – and that he totally didn't expect the success the track achieved.
The song, which was produced in collaboration with New Zealand singer Kimbra, has helped catapult Gotye to the limelight, selling well over 500,000 copies and managing to stay at the top of the charts for four weeks. But Gotye, a.k.a Wouter De Backer, has revealed how he almost completely gave up – after two years of work on the track.
Talking of the track’s success and the difficulty he had recording it, he told BBC News: “I didn't anticipate it. Not at all. Not the chart success. Not having a pop single around the world. Not at all. It was challenging to finish. I hit a brick wall after I hit the first chorus, and it took me a few weeks to decide if I should write the second verse from a female perspective.
“But I stuck with it, and I was really proud once it was finished. It seems to appeal to people who, unfortunately, have very confused, broken relationship experiences. People say, 'You're obviously a perfectionist', and If I feel like that's what's required then, yeah, why not? But sometimes it happens really quickly.
“I have no problems about going, 'Great, this song's finished, I don't want to touch that anymore'. That doesn't mean there aren't mistakes, or vocals that are out of tune, or things that couldn't be finessed further. But when I get whatever peculiar combination of sound and expression I want, it's done.”
You can watch the video for the track below.
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