Somebody that I Used to Cover

Gotye.

He's that guy.

Early in 2012 we all became acquainted with "Somebody that I Used to Know". It was really weird, and totally not pop radio sounding, yet it was all over pop radio. It's the most unlikely number 1 hit of the past ten years- or at least since Hollaback Girl.

(This is here to remind you we all listened to a song who's bridge was nothing but "This shit is bananas". )

Gotye, as is status quo in New Artist-Modelville, rose to popularity with his YouTube video going viral- then funneling that into the real world. It's a classic video- paint, nudity, Kimbra

And I'm not gonna embed that video; I'm sure you've seen it. But I'm also sure you saw that other video that went viral at about the same time.




The Walk of the Earth "Somebody"was so popular, there were people who thought they were the original. N00bs, of course, but still people believed- that's how big it got.

At that point, the floodgates didn't just open; the dam broke like Jean Grey was stuck in the lake.

"Somebody that I Used to Know"got the YouTube treatment.
A PS22 cover



An a Capella group cover

A shredding metal guitar cover

Another pop artist's cover

An angry nerd version


Candyrat records one dude and a guitar I study to this shit...cover


Even a professional European choir tearing it up in epic style cover

The song occupies a unique shared stance in our pop sensibility: not every pop song becomes a meme, and not every viral video becomes a bonafide pop hit. Gotye is in the center of the Venn Diagram, between fun. and Bed Intruder.

There are so many videos out there. It's impossible to watch them all.

WAIT.

Gotye has watched them all?
And compiled them into a supercut?



Holy shit, Gotye.

Apart from the obvious labor of love, this is an unprecedented event for YouTube. Sure, you put out a pop hit and there will be covers on the internet, but Gotye, like a proud father, watches these videos of his own song. And he spent what had to be hours making his own video of our videos.

This is the creator marveling at his creation. This is an artist saying that he likes it when the little people from the peanut gallery tweak his work. This is Gotye being so honored by the masses that he made them a giant thank you letter.

He is officially, the nicest man in pop music.

And by the way, here's the list:
http://gotye.com/reader/items/original-videos-used-in-somebodies-a-youtube-orchestra.html#blog.html