Gotye's song "Somebody That I Used to Know" is a big hit in Coachella 2012
Coming into his Coachella Debut, Australian singer and songwriter Gotye had two concerns: the desert weather and how well the crowd will respond to his hit song, “Somebody that I Used to Know” featuring Kimbra.
In a phone interview, Gotye mentioned that he’s “played plenty of festivals in Australia. But none I’ve been to have been in the desert. How much water do I need to drink to make sure I can sing on the Coachella stage?”
Gotye, whose real name is Wouter De Backer, performed at the Coachella festival in Mojave for the first time, right after his debut performance at the show “Saturday Night Live.” He will perform again during the closing of the festival this Sunday.
“Somebody that I Used to Know” is a duet by Gotye and Kimbra, a breakthrough star in her own right from New Zealand. It’s from the album “Making Mirrors,” and is currently number two on the pop charts and has 167 million hits on YouTube. In addition, the song has been featured in many American shows including “The Voice,” “Glee,” and “American Idol”. Idol judge Steven Tyler admits that he keeps the song on iPod repeat.
According to De Backer, “It’s a very peculiar track. It’s supremely soft and reflective… so I wonder how that will come across on a festival. It’s been tough when we’ve had a chatty crowd and the quietest part of the whole set is actually the first two minutes of the big hit single that everybody has come to see.”