It's only vaguely for me, and only when he's belting. I think they have somewhat similar upper registers. When he's just singing, he doesn't sound like Sting at all.

Heh. Am still listening to Making Mirrors. While reading this, I heard exactly what you're talking about.

The female performer on "Somebody I Used To Know" is NZ singer Kimbra. An example of her work, "Settle Down": [link]

Also, in watching the video, they kinda sorta have similar mouths. Like, there's a bit of a sneer-like curl to the upper lip, and a wide, open mouth when singing out. Mouth shape has a big effect on vocal sound. Whenever singers sound alike in any way, I'm always curious how similar their mouth shapes are when they sing.

I also suspect Gotye and Sting breathe in a similar way when belting. They keys to impersonating other singers are mouth shape, how you breathe the song, and where in your throat, chest and mouth cavity you're resonating.

bt, I just watched that Kimbra video following a link from the YouTube End-Clip-Mural and really enjoyed it. I was wondering where she was from.

Gotye also kicks ass at a pub trivia night: [link]

I love that her voice in the song exists primarily to destroy the romanticism of his memories. I also love that the second time he sings "but you didn't have to cut me off," he's interrupting her to shut out her accusations.

I am also on the love trains for Gotye and Kimbra. They toured together a bit here in the States in the last few weeks, and she was at SXSW.

Is it wrong that I think I like the Glee version of "Somebody That I Used to Know" better than the Gotye version?

I like the harmonies better with the Glee version.

I watched a bunch of Kimbra videos because of you, bt, and I'm quite taken with her. She likes to live multitrack with herself. That's cool.