Gotye Backpedals From ‘Glee’ Slam, Praises Show’s “Clever” Use Of His Song

What a difference a day makes. On Monday, word was out that Gotye was none too pleased with the cover of his chart-topping hit “Somebody That I Used To Know” sung by Darren Criss and Matt Bomer on Glee. But during an intimate gig at Hollywood’s Sayers Club last night, the Australia-based singer tried to make the situation go from lemons to lemonade by clarifying his remarks.

“They did such a faithful arrangement of the instrumentals, but the vocals were that pop Glee style, ultra-dry, sounded pretty tuned and the rock has no real sense, like it’s playing to you from a cardboard box,” 31-year-old Gotye initially told the Sunday Mail. “It made it sound dinky and wrong,” the singer then added during a conversation with the Sunday Herald Sun.

But according to The Hollywood Reporter, Gotye did a bit of damage control last night by noting that “the nature of using reverb and space in a recording can change your perception of how a sound appeals to you.”

As for that “dinky and wrong” dis, Gotye clarified that “this xylophone hook in my song — it’s kind of dinky not just in the cover version but the original song.” He then joked, “That becomes the Glee cover I hated and Darren Criss is an asshole.”

If there was any doubt left in the minds of the concert-goers at the Sayers Club, the singer praised Glee by saying, “I thought it was really clever to transpose the song to two guys… It was a great idea.”

Alas, despite all this talk about “Somebody That I Used To Know” — i.e. the song that made Gotye famous worldwide — he chose not to perform it during his gig.