What happened to Gotye after he released a hit and became someone we knew?

Do you remember the song “Somebody That I Used To Know”?

The hit was one of the biggest tracks of the 2010s, presented by the incredibly talented Gotye – real name Wouter Andre De Backer.

It was expected that the Belgian-Australian singer would make even more incredible music, but not much has happened in over a decade since the hit.

So what exactly happened?

The song was a big hit (Universal Music)

Everything changed for Gotye when a track from his third album Making mirrors was released 13 years ago, in July 2011. The song sold over a million copies in the UK in its first year and was a number one hit.

The music video for “Somebody That I Used To Know” has even been viewed over 2 billion times on YouTube, which is a pretty incredible feat.

But the truth is that Gotye had no interest in selling his music.

He explained this to news.com.au back in 2017, saying: “That’s why I don’t have ads on my YouTube channel, which people find odd in today’s climate, but that’s a choice you can make. I do it that way with all of my music.”

“All over the world, advertisements are demanding our attention.

“I came to the conclusion that it made more sense to concentrate on creative things and not worry about money, lawyers and courts.”

Just a few years after the song’s release, Gotye told his fans that he would not be releasing any more music.

It was a little unclear, however, as he added: “Wait, maybe there is. I’m not entirely sure at the moment. There are a lot of eventualities.”

Instead, the talented musician has been involved in some personal projects.

For example, he founded a record label called Spirit Level in 2014. He is also a member of the band The Basics.

Then he took on a pretty interesting project.

A few years ago, Gotye became friends with Jean-Jacques Perrey, a pioneer of the electronic music genre.

Gotye made it his mission to preserve Perrey’s musical legacy.

Gotye is looking at some other projects. (Don Arnold/WireImage)

For this purpose, he bought two old electronic keyboards and founded the Ondioline Orchestra in New York.

Speaking to Broadsheet in 2018, Gotye said: “The Ondioline has an incredibly wide range of sounds that you can set up, and the unique playing mechanics allow you to create sounds very sensitively and with a musical dexterity that I think is missing from most other electronic instruments from the ’40s – or the decades after.”

While it’s unclear if Gotye will ever release music again, it’s nice to know he’s pursuing some of his own passions.