Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”, featuring Kimbra, samples “Seville” by Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfá. The borrowed element is a nylon-string guitar passage, which became part of the repeating foundation beneath Gotye’s breakup song.

That means the track has a musical history stretching back much further than its 2011 release. And if you recognise it from Doechii’s “Anxiety”, you are hearing another chapter in the same story.

What is the original song behind the sample?

“Seville” is an instrumental from Bonfá’s 1967 album Luiz Bonfá Plays Great Songs. There is no earlier version of Gotye and Kimbra’s vocal duet hiding in it: the connection is in the guitar recording.

Sound on Sound’s interview with mixer François Tétaz identifies Bonfá’s nylon-guitar sample as a starting point for the track. It is a useful detail because listeners sometimes assume the most memorable sound in a hit was recorded specifically for it.

Here, an older performance helped establish the setting for a new song.

Which part should you listen for?

Focus on the plucked guitar figure beneath the opening of “Somebody That I Used to Know”. Then compare it with the guitar in “Seville”. Listen for the tone and the shape of the short phrase, rather than expecting the whole arrangement to match.

The contrast between the two recordings is part of the appeal. In Bonfá’s instrumental, the guitar belongs to a flowing performance. In Gotye’s track, repetition gives the borrowed passage a different job: it becomes a familiar point of reference while the voices and arrangement develop around it.

For a useful listening comparison, follow three things:

1. The guitar’s texture. Pick out the short, rounded plucked notes.
2. The repetition. Notice how the loop keeps returning beneath the vocal.
3. The changing foreground. Follow what happens when the singing becomes more forceful and Kimbra introduces a second perspective.

You do not need production software to hear the connection. Switching between the two recordings is enough to start recognising how a small musical fragment can support a very different song.

Is “Somebody That I Used to Know” a cover?

No. Gotye’s track uses part of an existing recording within a different composition. It does not perform Bonfá’s instrumental as a new version of the same piece.

That distinction explains why searching for the “original song” can be confusing. “Seville” is the source of a sample, rather than an earlier recording of the lyrics and melody sung by Gotye and Kimbra.

How does Doechii’s “Anxiety” fit into the story?

Doechii’s “Anxiety” uses elements of “Somebody That I Used to Know”, bringing the recognisable backing into another musical context. Radar’s guide to the sample in “Anxiety” explores that later connection.

The listening order is:

• Luiz Bonfá — “Seville”: the earlier guitar recording.
• Gotye featuring Kimbra — “Somebody That I Used to Know”: the song that incorporates it.
• Doechii — “Anxiety”: the later track drawing on the Gotye hit.

Try that sequence if you know only the newest song. The rewarding moment is recognising a sound you associate with one artist inside a recording made decades earlier.

For more connections like this, explore 25 famous songs that borrowed from older hits.