Music Video analysis: 'Somebody that I used to know' – Gotye (ft. Kimbra)

The video begins with the camera slowly panning up towards a singular individual, the artist, in a colourless, empty room, looking solemn.  

The song fully begins, and the walls start to be covered in triangular scrawls as Gotye mentions ‘memories’, signifying that the room itself may represent his mind, or his thoughts. 

 As the song builds and continues, the walls are filled with colour, changing the atmosphere to something more vibrant.  

This addition of scrawls spreads to the artist themselves, as they to become covered in the triangular sections of colour, signifying the deeper connection to this room than the audience may have first believed, as it seems to change alongside him. 

Gotye is now entirely coloured in, holding the eye contact he’s had with audience the entire time, almost as though he’s directing what he’s saying at them, but the lyrics imply otherwise, as the audience can infer that there’s some sort of deeper, more personal connection being referenced, with the continuous repetition of the phrase ‘somebody that I used to know’, the title of the song itself. The fact the camera has been so focused and fixed so far makes the audience unprepared for any sudden movements, meaning the panning over to a second ‘character’ (Kimbra) comes as a shock, but also lets us infer that the song’s meaning is applying to the pair of them, or the characters they’re portraying. We know the two have a connection, because Kimbra is already covered in the triangular scrawls and sections of colour. Although, the  framing implies they aren’t as close as they have been before, hence the lyrics constant use of the past tense and the fact that for the majority of the time she’s featured, the video is portrayed in a wide shot, with Kimbra always turned to the side, not showing her entire face, with what she does show not featuring the scrawls or colours we expect to see, implying there is already some level of fracture in their connection. 

Kimbra then moves closer to Gotye, singing alone, and directly addressing him instead of the audience, the opposite of what Gotye has been doing, implying a difference in mindset or ideologies.  

The pair of them then start singing together, with Gotye shifting his attention for the first time, which is a significant moment as the audience has only seen him focus on them, regardless of what’s happened around him. The tone of the song at this point implies they’re arguing, with Kimbra’s vocals being singular, drawn-out notes while Gotye sings his with much more volume and emotion, something he’s hardly done throughout. Kimbra then moves away from him silently while his focus is fixed on her, with him now changing his position for the first time in the video, turning his head to look at her. 

The two continue with their argument, and Kimbra turns away completely, her back facing the audience, and her head no longer turned in Gotye’s direction. This is followed by the colouring and scrawls slowly fading away from her body, showing the severing of their connection, and the breaking down of the relationship they had, leaving her as ‘somebody that I (Gotye) used to know’.