Earlier this year, when we last spoke to Gotye’s Wally De Backer, he was in a dark place. “I feel like maybe the bigger it gets, the more I think I don’t want to be in this world,” he said on a particularly low morning on a tour stop in a Toronto hotel room. “All the things that come with it, that’s not why I was doing it in the first place.”

After catapulting from modest but measurable success in his home Australia to international fame on the strength of his hit single “Somebody That I Used To Know,” it took some adjustment, but catching back up with De Backer on his most recent Canadian leg, it’s clear he’s making the less than ideal process work to his advantage.

Sudden Fame

“I’ve come to terms with what’s happened,” says De Backer. Relentless touring and attention has forced him to adapt, though what the past year will do to his creative process remains to be seen.

Human Connection

A huge element in De Backer’s recent success has been “Somebody That I Used To Know”’s reach online. De Backer talks about the pros and cons of modern-day online accessibility, both from his perspective, and from the fans’.

Under Pressure

De Backer acknowledges the one-hit wonder stigma, but isn’t concerned with trying to match the past year’s success. “I don’t want to be led by needing to have a #1 single on the next album,” he says, but he won’t deny “going more pop” for the sake of it either.