Videos : Gotye : What Do You Want?
Videos : Gotye : What Do You Want? official video
The magazine American Songwriter named Gotye their Writer of The Week for the week of 6 February 2012. On 31 May 2012, Gotye announced that he would release a digital compilation of the 10 official remixes of "Somebody That I Used To Know" on 8 June.
Who is Gotye?
Wouter "Wally" De Backer (born 21 May 1980), also known professionally by his stage name Gotye, is a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumental musician and singer-songwriter. The name "Gotye" is derived from "Gauthier", the French equivalent of "Walter" or "Wouter". His voice has been compared to those of Peter Gabriel and Sting.
Gotye has released three studio albums independently and one album featuring remixes of tracks from his first two albums. He is a member of the Melbourne indie-pop trio The Basics, who have independently released three studio albums and numerous other titles since 2002. Gotye's 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know" reached Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making him the fifth Australian based artist to do so and the second Belgian (after Sœur Sourire in 1963). He has won five ARIA Awards and received a nomination for an MTV EMA for Best Asia and Pacific Act. Gotye has said he sometimes feels "less of a musician, more of a tinkerer."
Gotye is bilingual, speaking both Dutch and English
After the success of Like Drawing Blood, De Backer was able to establish a permanent home, still in Melbourne's south east. In 2010, he set up a recording studio in a barn at his parents' farm and set about recording tracks for his third album. He released a new single, "Eyes Wide Open", online and on 10" vinyl in mid-October 2010. The "Eyes Wide Open" single received generally positive reviews and reached Number 25 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2010. "Eyes Wide Open" was also shortlisted for the 2011 APRA Music Awards in the Song of the Year category.
In late March 2011, De Backer revealed the next album's title to be Making Mirrors. The title was inspired by an artwork his father painted in the 1980s, discovered by De Backer among old bills and newspapers in his parents' barn; it was later edited in Photoshop to become the album artwork. "The mirror reflects on artwork and it is all very related to self-reflection and introspection on the album." De Backer also revealed that the album would see a release in June or July 2011, with a single to precede the release. De Backer also stated that the album would be similar to its predecessor in terms of diversity.
On 19 May 2011, it was announced that the album would be released on 19 August, with its launch the following day at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Graphic Festival which would feature animators and a 10-piece orchestra as part of Gotye's performance. De Backer also released a follow-up single to "Eyes Wide Open" titled "Somebody That I Used to Know" featuring New Zealand musician Kimbra, which was released on 6 July 2011 and debuted at Number 27 on the ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart. The single quickly moved up the ARIA singles chart despite a lack of airplay on commercial radio stations. The song was further boosted by endorsements from Ashton Kutcher and Lily Allen via Twitter, exposing Gotye's music to their millions of followers. The single has gone on to reach 10× Platinum (700,000 units sold) status in Australia and 5x Platinum (5,000,000 units sold) status in the US. It has peaked at Number 1 in 18 countries including the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, the Belgian Singles Chart, the Dutch Megacharts, the German Media Control Chart, the Official UK Top 40 and the US Billboard Hot 100. "Somebody That I Used To Know" has been the Number 1 single on iTunes in 46 countries.
On 5 July 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" on YouTube and Vimeo. Directed by Natasha Pincus, the video has now been viewed over 301 million times (as of August 2012). The video is the Number 15 most viewed video of all-time on YouTube and the Number 4 most liked video of all-time.
On 15 July 2011, it was announced that "Somebody That I Used to Know" had come in third in the 2011 Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition. On 8 August 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Bronte" on YouTube and Vimeo. The visuals were animated and directed by Ari Gibson at Mechanical Apple. Also on this date, Gotye released a video title "Making Making Mirrors", which is a short documentary about the recording process of "Making Mirrors". The video was directed by James Bryans and Wally De Backer. On 13 August 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "State Of The Art" on YouTube and Vimeo. The visuals were animated and directed by Greg Sharp & Ivan Dixon at Rubber House.
In its first week of release, Making Mirrors was already at Number 1 on the Australian ARIA albums chart, making Gotye the first Australian act to simultaneously hold both the Number 1 single and album since Silverchair in 2007. The album became an international success, charting in the Top 10 in 17 countries and reaching Number 1 in six. It charted on the U.S. Billboard 200 (Number 7) and in Canada. The album is 3x Platinum status in Australia, Platinum in France, Poland and Belgium, and Gold in the US, New Zealand, Germany, UK, Ireland, Canada and Netherlands.
On 11 October 2011, it was announced that Gotye had been nominated for seven ARIA Awards. Due to the release date restrictions of the eligibility period, Making Mirrors could not be nominated, and the seven nominations all related to "Somebody That I Used to Know". Gotye was nominated for Highest Selling Single, Single of the Year, Best Pop Release, Best Male Artist and three awards in the ARIA Artisan category: Best Video (Natasha Pincus), Engineer of the Year (Francois Tetaz) and Producer of the Year (Wouter De Backer). On the same day the nominations were revealed, the winners of the Artisan categories were announced, with Gotye and the album personnel winning all three. On 27 November 2011, Gotye won three ARIA Awards: Best Male Artist, Best Pop Release and Single of the Year for "Somebody That I Used to Know". Kimbra, who collaborated with Gotye on the song, also won the ARIA award for Best Female Artist.
On 18 October 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You" on YouTube and Vimeo. The visuals were animated and directed by Benjamin Drake and Eddie White. On 20 November 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You" on YouTube and Vimeo. The visuals were animated and directed by Greg Sharp and Ivan Dixon at Rubber House.
On 1 February 2012, Gotye made his American television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing "Eyes Wide Open", "Somebody That I Used to Know" with Kimbra and "State of The Art". On 12 February 2012, "Somebody That I Used to Know" reached Number 1 on the UK singles chart. The next week it fell from the top spot but on 26 February it reached the top spot for a second time, where it remained for a total of five weeks. On 9 April 2012, "Somebody That I Used to Know" was covered by Lindsey Pavao in the live rounds of NBC's vocal competition show The Voice.
On 24 February 2012, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Easy Way Out" on YouTube and Vimeo. The visuals were animated and directed by Darcy Prendergast and Oh Yeah Wow. On 10 April 2012, Darren Criss and Matthew Bomer performed the song in the television episode "Big Brother" on Fox's show Glee. On 11 April 2012, the song was featured on an American Idol duet between Elise Testone and Phillip Phillips. Gotye performed the song on Saturday Night Live on 14 April 2012 along with "Eyes Wide Open". These collective performances helped the single to reach Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending 28 April 2012, giving Gotye his first U.S. Number 1 single; the first Australian artist to reach Number 1 in the U.S. since Savage Garden in 2000. In April 2012, "Somebody That I Used to Know" broke a 47-year-old record in the Netherlands by becoming the most successful song in the history of the Dutch charts. Gotye was interviewed on 7 April 2012 broadcast of National Public Radio's All Things Considered.
The magazine American Songwriter named Gotye their Writer of The Week for the week of 6 February 2012. On 31 May 2012, Gotye announced that he would release a digital compilation of the 10 official remixes of "Somebody That I Used To Know" on 8 June.
Gotye announced a world tour in May 2012 where he'll take in many new parts of the world. The tour begins August 2012 in Korea before winding through Japan, North America, Europe, the Middle East and finishing in Australia in December 2012. (Read More)
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