Gotye (real name: Wouter ‘Wally’ De Backer) is a Belgian-born Australian singer who shot to fame following the success of his 2011 single Somebody That I Used to Know. The Grammy-Award winner caused a stir after the release of his first album Boardface, and gained further recognition for his sophomore album Like Drawing Blood.
Gotye became an international star following the success of Making Mirrors which included Somebody That I Used to Know. The album’s success earned Gotye Grammys for Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Alternative Music Album.
This piece will look at what happened to Gotye. Gotye is working on his fourth album.
Gotye announced that he would no longer create music under his stage name but later stated that he is working on a new album
After winning three Grammys, many assumed that Gotye would continue to make music in an attempt to feature on the awards stage again. However, Gotye took a different route. He announced via a blog post that he was done making music under the name Gotye. “There will be no new Gotye music,” he wrote.
“Wait, maybe there will be,” he offered a glimmer of hope. “I’m not entirely sure right now. There are many contingencies.” Gotye might have taken a break from releasing music under his name, but he is still heavily involved in music. He is a member of the band named The Basic that continues to release music. He is also the founder of two record labels.
There is hope for fans waiting for Gotye’s music as he has recently spoken of releasing a new album. In June 2018, he announced that the album would feature a tribute to electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey. In July 2020, Gotye released Live at the Songroom, a live album recorded by Gotye’s bandmates from The Basics.
Gotye has consistently spoken of his love for the music-making process. It is, therefore, unsurprising that he is taking time before releasing his long-awaited fourth album. One Reddit user explained:
“He’s been working on LP4 for fucking ever. I mean I listened to an interview from a few years ago that completely made sense to me about assembling a record over a long period of time until he’s happy with it (like how his last two went). So it’s not like he hasn’t been doing anything. I’m sure he’s been working hard on developing [a] cohesive album.”
In 2012, CNN wrongly reported that Gotye had committed suicide
In mid-2012, CNN reported via iReport that Gotye had passed away due to suicide. Part of the report read:
“At 4:32 am EST, it was reported that Gotye had shot himself in the head with a 9mm handgun. He was pronounced dead at 4:45 AM, and the investigation concluded that the cause was death was suicide. It was confirmed shortly after by family and friends.”
People believed the story because it came from a seemingly credible source. However, anyone in the world could upload a story on CNN iReport without vetting from CNN. The bogus story was uploaded by a user named MJTheDestroy, but it didn’t stop people from sharing it.
Gotye debunked reports of his death by tweeting: “I’m not dead.”