 " Somebody That I Used to Know " is an indie pop song that is four minutes and five seconds long . Gotye uses a sample of Brazilian jazz guitarist Luiz Bonfá 's 1967 instrumental song " Seville " , with additional instrumentations of beats and a xylophone . It was written and produced by Gotye himself , while in his parents ' barn on the Mornington Peninsula , Victoria . Gotye commented that he wrote the song " in quite a linear way " , explaining that " I wrote the first verse , the second verse , and I 'd got to the end of the first chorus and for the first time ever I thought , ' There 's no interesting way to add to this guy 's story ' . It felt weak " . 
