Gotye

Early life and education

Born in Belgium, De Backer immigrated to Australia with his family at the age of two. They first resided in Sydney before settling in Montmorency, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. His mother nicknamed him "Gotye", based on "Gauthier", the French equivalent of his Flemish first name. His parents chose to use the English equivalent of his name, Walter, when enrolling him in school. He attended Parade College in Bundoora for his secondary schooling and served as school captain in his final year.

As a youth, De Backer displayed a passion for music, learning various instruments, most notably piano and drums. In 2012, De Backer recalled that as a teenager he used to listen "obsessively"

to Depeche Mode's album Songs of Faith and Devotion, stating, "I could single-handedly credit that record with wanting me to make records." In his teens, De Backer formed the band Downstares with three of his high school friends, including Lucas Taranto (who still plays in his Gotye live shows). After high school, the members of Downstares went their separate ways, leaving De Backer with no musical outlet.

In 2001, his parents moved into a new home, leaving their old family house in Montmorency, so he could continue his studies at the University of Melbourne where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Two friends moved in with him and the house became affectionately known as The Frat House, where friends would regularly drop by and hang out. The first seeds of Gotye were planted when De Backer was given a large collection of old records. An elderly neighbour, having heard Downstares rehearsing over the years, gave his then-recently deceased wife's LP record collection to De Backer.

Career

2001–2004: Boardface

In 2001, De Backer recorded his first tracks primarily using samples. He put together a four-track CD which included the song "Out Here in the Cold". He made approximately 50 copies of this first collection, handwriting the track list and colouring in the cover sleeve in pencil. He named the project Gotye. He sent the CDs out to every radio station and recording industry contact he could find in the phonebook, then followed each up with phone calls to ensure they were delivered. Feedback on the first release was mainly positive with Melbourne street press and Australian alternative, youth orientated radio station Triple J taking notice, giving him confidence to continue with further sample-based recordings.

Around this time, Gotye met fellow singer-songwriter Kris Schroeder at a party in Mt Eliza, and the two began performing together under the name The Basics. They formed an enduring songwriting and performing partnership and became regulars on the live music scene, giving De Backer an outlet for his passion for live performance. The Basics have continued to tour and record alongside Gotye, releasing four albums between 2004 and 2010.

De Backer went on to produce two more four-track Gotye collections which were met with positive reviews, with several tracks getting onto the rotation at youth radio station Triple J. The CDs were made in the same style as the first, with De Backer hand crafting each one and tenaciously chasing up every opportunity to get an audience for his work. Interest in the Gotye project was growing, and De Backer was eventually offered a distribution deal by the label company Creative Vibes for an album, which would essentially be a collection of the tracks from his three earlier releases. The album art is a painting of De Backer's father that was salvaged from his home garden where it was discarded. His album was released as Boardface in late 2003.

2006–2009: Like Drawing Blood

In 2004, De Backer's parents opted to sell The Frat House and De Backer moved into a shared house in the South East of Melbourne. He took up work at a local library, while continuing to perform with The Basics and record his own Gotye tracks. Over the next few years, De Backer moved several times, each time shifting his home recording studio to a new location with new acoustic qualities. The culmination of this was the second Gotye album, Like Drawing Blood—named in reference to the difficulties De Backer experienced in recording his music in ever-changing environments. The album marked the beginning of his working relationship with long term manager Danny Rogers – manager of Australian indie band The Temper Trap – whom he had first approached via email.

Like Drawing Blood was featured by Triple J in May 2006 and was voted No. 1 in the listener poll of the Best Album of 2006. The album was also nominated for a J Award that year. Two tracks from that album, "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and "Hearts a Mess", were ranked No. 94 and No. 8 respectively in Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2006. Like Drawing Blood has been certified Platinum in Australia for sales of over 70,000 copies. His first single, "Learnalilgivinanlovin", was released in August 2006.

In September 2006, Gotye was nominated for an ARIA Award for best independent release for the album Like Drawing Blood. Also in 2006 Gotye won 'Most Outstanding New Independent Artist' at the inaugural Australian Independent Record (AIR) Chart Awards and Like Drawing Blood was amongst nine shortlisted finalists in the 2006 Australian Music Prize.

In 2007, De Backer won the ARIA for best male artist. As a result of the publicity of the nomination, Like Drawing Blood re-entered the ARIA albums chart at No. 36, surpassing the previous peak of No. 39. Also, Mixed Blood debuted on the ARIA albums chart at No. 44. Both of these entries came the first week after the ARIA Awards. In 2008, Like Drawing Blood won iTunes album of the year in the UK.

In 2009, "Hearts a Mess" came in at No. 77 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time, voted by the Australian public. Gotye's first European success came in 2008, when "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and "Hearts a Mess" charted in Belgium, followed in 2009 by the single "Coming back". "Learnalilgivinanlovin" also received air play on Dutch radio stations. In 2011, Like Drawing Blood came in at No. 11 in Triple J's Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time. Amidst the lead-up to Gotye's third album, Like Drawing Blood re-entered the ARIA charts in mid-2011, peaking at its highest ever position of 13.

2010–2013: Making Mirrors and international success

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.

The album was released on 19 August, and launched the following day at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Graphic Festival which featured 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 reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the best-selling song of 2012. This made him the fifth Australian-based artist to top the chart and the second born in Belgium (after The Singing Nun in 1963).

The single has gone on to reach 11× Platinum status (770,000 units sold) in Australia and 8× Platinum status (8,000,000 units sold) 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.

2014–2019: Hiatus and preserving the Jean-Jacques Perrey legacy

In 2014, Gotye performed with Tex Perkins and Nicky Bomba in support of The Thin Green Line Foundation. He also launched Spirit Level, an independent record label with Tim Shiel, signing American band Zammuto. Later in 2014, De Backer claimed in an online newsletter that "there will be no new Gotye music," but maintained the possibility that the project could continue in the future. He remained active as a drummer and singer of The Basics, who released The Lucky Country in 2014 and The Age of Entitlement in 2015. Although the band formed a political party named "The Basics Rock 'n' Roll Party" ahead of the 2014 Victorian state election, De Backer denied reports that he intended to enter politics himself.

Gotye featured as vocalist on "The Way You Talk", a track from English electronic musician Bibio's 2016 album A Mineral Love, and "The Outfield", the 2017 debut single from American rock singer Martin Johnson's The Night Game project. In 2017, Gotye revealed that he chose not to allow online advertising on his music videos, including that of "Somebody That I Used to Know" which had then been viewed nearly one billion times on YouTube, thereby foregoing up to millions of dollars in advertising revenue.

On 22 November 2016, De Backer debuted his group Ondioline Orchestra in New York, in which he paid tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey. Perrey, who was originally going to attend this tribute, died at the age of 87 on 4 November. In May 2017, De Backer launched a new record label, Forgotten Futures, whose first release was Jean-Jacques Perrey et son Ondioline, a compilation of rare and previously unreleased Perrey recordings.

In a 2018 interview with Australia's Broadsheet, De Backer said, "You can dial in an incredibly wide range of sounds on the ondioline, and the unique mechanics for playing it allows you to create sounds very sensitively and with a musical deftness I just feel isn't present on most other electronic instruments from the '40s – or decades since." On 13 February 2018, De Backer and his Ondioline Orchestra performed Circuit Breakers: Gotye Presents a Tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey at Roulette's Mixology Festival 2018, in New York.

In March 2018, Les Campbell released an album entitled Pulling the Stitching Out, with all 10 tracks featuring Gotye. In July 2018, De Backer's partner Maud gave birth to a daughter, Léonie. In August 2018, Gotye co-wrote an original verse for and was sampled in the Broods' single "Eyes a Mess", using his early hit single "Hearts a Mess", released in 2006, and "Eyes Wide Open" (2010). In November 2019, The Basics released a fifth studio album, B.A.S.I.C..

2020: Live at The Songroom and planned fourth studio album

In July 2020, Gotye released a live album entitled Live at The Songroom (Season 2, Episode 9). It was recorded in 2018 for a web series by his bandmates from The Basics, who feature on the album alongside Monty Cotton.

Gotye has stated his intention to release a fourth studio album; most recently in June 2018, when he mentioned a tribute to Perrey that would be included on the record.

Recurring chart success of "Somebody That I Used to Know"

In 2024, "Somebody That I Used to Know" was remixed by Fisher, Chris Lake and Sante Sansone.

The song "Anxiety" by rapper Doechii, which extensively samples "Somebody That I Used to Know", was first issued in 2019, then remixed and reissued in 2025, when it reached number 9 on the U.S. Billboard charts. It topped the charts in Australia, Greece, Latvia, New Zealand, and Switzerland, and charted in the top ten in various countries, including Romania, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, France, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

Musical styles

Gotye's musical style is eclectic, incorporating indie rock, alternative rock, indie pop, and trip hop.

His voice has been compared to those of Peter Gabriel and Sting.

Discography

Boardface (2003)

Like Drawing Blood (2006)

Making Mirrors (2011)