With all this fuss about Gotye it’s easy to forget sometimes that his breakthrough hit ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ is actually a duet with fellow Melbourne-based musician Kimbra.
Hitching a ride on the Gotye train, Kimbra, who is already well established as a recording artist here in Australia and her home country New Zealand, now has her sights set firmly on the market in the United States.
And who wouldn’t, the track has just clocked a third week atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and broke a new record by becoming the first single with three consecutive weeks of digital sales above 400,000 – something even Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars couldn’t accomplish.
But Kimbra and her team are now looking to capitalise on the success of the track and introduce Kimbra to America as a rising star in her own right, and not just the painted woman in Gotye’s now iconic music video – which incidentally is about to clock over 200 million views on Youtube.
““It has been an incredible introduction to a world that one rarely gets to see at my age,” Kimbra told Tone Deaf about the duet. “So I don’t see much negativity in it at all, I’ve talked to Wally about the reaction the song has received, but we are both pretty comfortable about our ability to back it up.”
“I guess it would be different if that was the only thing I had, but one of the reasons I agreed to do it was because I was about to release my album and it’s good to have people at my shows who have heard the hit but are excite to see what lies beyond.”
The album Kimbra is referring to is of course the platinum selling Vows, which helped score her Best Female Artist at the ARIAs. And with a bit of retooling for the US market, Kimbra and her team hope to replicate the same kind of success she’s had here stateside.
Vows will be officially released to the US market on 22nd May, and will include seven songs from the Australian version alongside six new tracks, including the popular ‘Warrior’, her collaborative track with Foster The People’s Mark Foster and A-Trak for Converse.
One of the new tracks destined to be a single is ‘Come Into My Head’, a funky jazz number with attitude which officially premiered over the weekend, following bootleg live recordings from Kimbra’s performances over the past month.
“It’s exciting for me to be a part of this movement where stuff with a greater lyrical depth and musical complexity is rising to the top,” Kimbra told Entertainment Weekly after premiering the track.
”There are many elements of life that are deeply sad, and I think people long to connect with that emotion more in their day-to-day life.”
You can have a listen to the track below.
