Ten years ago, Gotye released "Somebody That I Used To Know," a duet recorded with New Zealand singer Kimbra that went Platinum in Australia a ridiculous 17 times, as well as going 14 times platinum in the United States, a notoriously difficult market to crack. It was the number one song in the Hottest 100 of 2011. It was the number one song just about everywhere at some stage. Its video was as iconic as its chorus, a key ingredient to a song's success in an era where YouTube began to reign supreme. A decade later, the piece has been etched into pop music history. It’s got 1.7 billion YouTube views, earned De Backer and Kimbra two Grammys, and topped the charts in 23 countries.
Then there’s the fantastic video, which Australian artist Natasha Pincus directed. It shows Gotye singing the song while standing naked against a neutral backdrop. As he sings, his body and the scene gradually become covered with paint so that he seems to be part of a painting. My take is that his surroundings are swallowing his identity. The camera eventually pans to include Kimbra, who sings her response to Gotye. She becomes separated from the painting, and then the paint starts vanishing from her body, signifying her escape from what was left of their relationship. It’s brilliant!