Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know, a huge hit last year, almost never happened

One of the biggest songs of the past year almost never made it out of the recording studio.

Australian-Belgian artist Gotye found global fame through the viral tune, Somebody That I Used To Know, but he tells Life! in an exclusive interview that he almost gave up on the song.

The 32-year-old multi-instrumentalist says: "I felt like I dragged it over the line on the recording. I had a sense that it had some strength about it when I was first writing it. But as it dragged on, it just became a matter of whether to finish it or not.

"I heaved a sigh of relief when it was done, so I wasn't thinking about how it would be received commercially or how people would connect to it. But it's good that I finished it and I didn't give up on it at any stage."