For the longest time I didn't understand why this song was so popular. I kept hearing about this new song called Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye. What was the big deal? Then I finally listened to it and I still didn't know what the big deal was? I added that album to my Spotify and then I started to listen to the album, or at least the first few songs. But today, all of a sudden for no reason, I decided to play the song and then I was really listening to the lyrics and finally realized what the song was about! Where the hell was I? I never really thought twice about the title and I never tried to listen to the lyrics... And now I know. Now I know.
This song is beautiful and hauntingly honest. Fortunately for me, I have made the conscious decision to not deal with this or rather not invite another opportunity into my life, just to feel this exact way again. I don't want to know someday I used to know. I think this song was able to address something that we all think about past relationships and it was presented in such a beautiful song and music video. Strangely enough, this was an issue I attempted to address in my first draft of Shyness. I tried to discuss it via one of my characters, I didn't express it successfully or eloquently, so I'll just have to wait - it will have to wait. But for now, I'll just have to play this song on repeat. Thank you.
Gotye stated that the song was "definitely drawn from various experiences I've had in relationships breaking up, and in the parts of the more reflective parts of the song, in the aftermath and the memory of those different relationships and what they were and how they broke up and what's going on in everyone's minds. Yeah, so it's an amalgam of different feelings but not completely made up as such".[12] In an interview with Rolling Stone (Australia), he described the song as "a curated reflection of multiple past relationships", but revealed the chorus was directly related to one ex-girlfriend "it wasn't a nasty break-up, but it was messy in the sense that we hurt each other more than we needed to because it wasn't a clean break ... We both realized we had to move on and we haven't seen each other since".[13]
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
I told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember
You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad that it was over
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make it like it never happened and that we were nothing
I don't even need your love, but you treat me like a stranger
And that feels so rough
No, you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records
And then change your number
Guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know
