"Somebody That I Used to Know" is a song written, produced, and performed by the Australian singer-songwriter Gotye (aka Wally de Backer), featuring vocals from the New Zealand singer Kimbra. 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. The song is a mid-tempo ballad. It samples Luiz Bonfá's instrumental "Seville" from his album, Luiz Bonfá Plays Great Songs (1967) with percussion over a xylophone melody from the Joseph Cooper and Sinfonia of London 1961 LP A Child's Introduction to the Instruments of the Orchestra, which is based on "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep". Lyrically, the song describes the aftermath of a romantic relationship from both parties' perspectives.
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, Brazil and United States. Globally, "Somebody That I Used to Know" had sold more than 13 million copies by September 2012, becoming one of the best-selling digital singles ever. In addition to the Hot 100, it was also placed at the top of Billboards Year-End Adult Top 40 and Alternative Airplay charts, and many other charts around the world.
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; Kimbra was voted "Best Female Artist" while Gotye was named "Best Male Artist" and "Producer of the Year". At the 55th Grammy Awards, "Somebody That I Used to Know" was awarded Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Record of the Year. The song has also been performed several times on major American television shows including The Voice, American Idol and Saturday Night Live. In 2025 the song was voted 10th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs. In 2025, rapper Doechii sampled the song on "Anxiety", which also earned various Grammy nominations.
, it has been streamed more than 2.5 billion times on Spotify, with 22.3 million listeners over the previous month.
Composition and recording Gotye discussed writing "Somebody That I Used to Know" in an interview with Sound on Sound:
"Somebody That I Used to Know" is a mid-tempo art pop and alternative rock song and has a length of four minutes and five seconds. Lyrically, the song describes the aftermath of a romantic relationship from both parties' perspectives.
Gotye uses a sample of Brazilian jazz guitarist Luiz Bonfá's 1967 instrumental song "Seville", with additional instrumentations of beats and a xylophone playing a melody based on "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep", from the 1961 LP A Child's Introduction to the Instruments of the Orchestra by Joseph Cooper and Sinfonia of London. It was written and produced by Gotye himself, while in his parents' barn on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Gotye commented that he wrote the song "in quite a linear way", explaining that "I wrote the first verse, the second verse, and I'd got to the end of the first chorus and for the first time ever I thought, 'There's no interesting way to add to this guy's story'. It felt weak."
The track was recorded between January and May 2011, with Gotye struggling to find a suitable female vocalist, after a "high-profile female vocalist" cancelled the collaboration at the last minute. He tested his girlfriend, Tash Parker, but "somehow their happiness meant that it didn't work out" so he followed the recommendation of the song's sound engineer and mixer, François Tétaz, and used Kimbra's vocals. Martin Davies from Click Music considered the song "instantly captivating", and named Kimbra's voice "clean and sugar-soaked", further commenting that it bears an "uncanny resemblance" to singer Katy Perry.
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".Treuen, Jason (30 October 2011). Rolling Stone: Gotye's Mad World . Rolling Stone Australia. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
Music video
The music video for "Somebody That I Used to Know" was produced, directed and edited by Australian artist Natasha Pincus and filmed by Australian cinematographer Warwick Field. It shows Gotye and Kimbra naked throughout the clip, and as they sing, his skin is gradually painted into the backdrop via stop motion animation. The video's background is based on a 1980s artwork created by Gotye's father, Frank de Backer, who also designed the cover art for the related album, Making Mirrors. Emma Hack, an Australian artist and skin illustrator based in Adelaide, was hired by Pincus to work on the body paintings for Gotye and Kimbra. Melbourne scenic artist Howard Clark painted the backdrop. According to Hack, it took more than 23 hours to paint both Gotye and Kimbra to fit with Howard's background. Their painting symbolises their combined relationship.
Before its official premiere, the music video was leaked on Take 40 Australias website. According to Pincus, "It was stolen out of our system. I guess it's always wanted to get out there. Within five minutes it was everywhere". On 30 July 2011, it was officially premiered on YouTube and on the Australian music show Rage. The music video was 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 Katy Perry.
"What a video!" Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody enthused to Q. "I have become obsessed with it and not just because I'm in love with Kimbra. Gotye himself is an engaging character for sure... his solemnly expressive eyes finish a journey his lyrics only begin. 'Told myself that you were right for me but felt so lonely in your company' – simple, pure, and devastating. None more than the title line when it speaks of the end of love with prosaic brutality: 'Now you're just somebody that I used to know.' Great video, powerful lyrics, and a stunning voice. Oh, and Kimbra... my poor heart..."Q, December 2011
On 1 November 2022, the video hit 2 billion views and 13 million likes on YouTube. The video for "Somebody That I Used to Know" was voted number 1 in the annual Rage Fifty countdown. Andy Samberg and Taran Killam parodied the video in a Saturday Night Live "digital short" that coincided with Gotye's 14 April 2012 performance on the show. The video was nominated for Video of the Year and Best Editing in a Video at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. As of January 2015, Billboard named the video as one of the 20 best of the 2010s (up to that point in time).
Critical reception The song received universal acclaim.
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". 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". 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".
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'." MTV ranked the song at number 3 on their "Best Songs of 2012" list. 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". 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".
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". 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". 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."
Accolades In July 2011, the song finished third in the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition Earlier that year, Gotye had first noticed Kimbra when both were shortlisted as finalists for the competition.
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".
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. The song also won Single of the Year and Best Video Clip at the Belgian Music Industry Awards (MIAs) in 2012, and was nominated at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards for "Choice Rock Song" and "Choice Break-Up Song".
In the 55th Annual Grammy Awards in 2013, "Somebody That I Used to Know" won Record Of The Year, with credits to Wally De Backer (Gotye) as producer; De Backer & Tetaz as engineers/mixers, and William Bowden, mastering engineer. The song also won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance as performed by Gotye and Kimbra. Making Mirrors took home the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, with Gotye credited as producer and Tetaz as engineer/mixer.
Later recognition