Gotye's Mouth

Does he even have a top lip?

Thin lips...I got em. In fact, occasionally I seriously spend time looking in the mirror trying out different faces/mouth positions that might somehow make my lips suddenly morph into those of Angelina Jolie...or at least the much inferior, but still substantial lips of Jennifer Aniston. It never works though. My lips are almost always chapped, even though I use so much Carmex I should have bought stock in it back in 1990 when I started playing the trumpet. That's a thing right? Stock in Carmex?

Anyway, probably because I do not have one, I love big mouths. I actually love mouths in general. Some of my friends have the most interesting mouths and just as you might find yourself looking at the length of my eye lashes (because the best feature I have is the HAIR ON MY EYES) when we talk, I probably spend too much time looking at lips. Not in a lusty way, in an envious way. I have this one friend who has this perfect mouth. Her lips are always the right amount of shiny, and never with extreme color, but instead with this natural gloss, like she just licked them and stimulated the exact right amount of blood to make them the perfect pink. When she is emphatic, her lips spread wide across her face, but they always stay full. If I try to imitate her, my lips all but disappear. When she laughs they make a perfect “O” and when she cries they quiver just the right amount. Whereas some of my friends have lips that are too agape and hang open or closed too tightly, this friend has the perfect “resting” position for her lips. Just slightly parted, not in the way someone who is waiting to talk might have theirs parted, but in the way someone expecting to receive a kiss might leave the slightest opening. 

Do you get it now? I mean, I really pay attention to mouths, and I like the ones with full lips. (Cue insecurity in all my friends...)

Barely parted, you can see how the corners of his lips curl up slightly.

So imagine my surprise when Gotye popped up on the scene earlier this year and I found myself completely enthralled by his mouth. I mean, look at it.

It’s nothing special. Where are his lips? Of the people I’ve ever kissed, almost ALL of them had substantial lip size. Someone has to make up for what I’m lacking in that area. And yet, with Gotye, (not that I’ve kissed him, but I’d consider it) his lips are something like a pencil mark, or thinner, a single line of thread. He doesn’t really fit my typical “type” and yet, I cannot stop watching him sing. While his lips are definitely thin, his mouth is kind of big. It’s wide, especially when he opens it fully. And even though his upper lip is almost invisible, when he pronounces certain words, it rolls slightly up, exposing just a tad more pink than usual. In his video of Somebody That I Used To Know, (and I’ve studied it extensively at this point) the corners of his mouth curl up slightly each time his lips part. The words sort of slip and escape through them during the verse, but then when the chorus starts, his mouth gets HUGE. As he sings, it makes the most amazing shapes showing his teeth, tongue, and even his throat at times.

I love the way his upper lip is shaped in this picture.

Ok, I know, this is a little much, probably beyond obsessive and getting into mentally unstable territory. I can admit it; I am hoarding pictures of Gotye’s mouth on this blog. And I’m not done yet. Just hang on.

So...what I love about Gotye’s mouth is what I love about any mouth. It’s watching the muscles work. Having played trumpet for so many years, I learned to isolate the individual muscles around my mouth for various sounds, notes, and other terms that would only prove that I am a band nerd. On a person with thin lips, it’s very easy to see the movement of these muscles. So when I saw Gotye sing his one hit wonder (yeah, I’m calling it) the way his muscles pulled his mouth into various shapes was fascinating to me. 

The right (your left) side of his mouth tends to raise a little higher than the other.

Facial muscular movement = passion. Anyone who has ever talked to me about anything important to me, knows that I will make dozens of faces during the conversation. At one camp I worked at, I was kind of known for my various and unexpected faces. Watch someone watching their favorite football team in a close game, their face will contort and reshape hundreds of times. It’s passion. And I do believe the opposite is true. The deadpan who never raises his eyebrows, never scrunches her nose, never maneuvers his mouth into any somewhat strange shape...well, I’d be willing to bet there’s a lack of passion there. 

Which is fine if you like that sort of thing. But for me...you guys know by now...passion is my jam. It’s a must quality for me. If a person can’t get excited, riled, upset, expressive about something then most likely they become somebody that I used to know. (See what I did there?)

This is what passion looks like.

So back to the song itself, it’s simple. Good, but basic lyrics. The only real surprise is his use of the word “rough” which is maybe my favorite word in the song. It’s unexpected and rolls out. The way he says it is as though he’s been so hurt. Think about what it means to be treated rough. I love that word, the wear and tear of it, the mark it leaves. 

The music itself isn’t much to listen to, the harmonies are very simple. But it definitely made its mark this year and I doubt any of us will forget it anytime soon. Still, Gotye’s other music isn’t that great. It’s unique, some of it too unique. The kind I really try to tell myself to like...but ultimately just can’t do it. I do like one from the Whip It Soundtrack, Learnalilgivenanlovin. But I mostly just want to see him sing it. 

And that is a big mouth. 

And that’s what it boils down to for me when it comes to Gotye. Watching him sing is enjoyable for me. It’s not this John Mayer style borderline orgasmic/seizure situation that makes me nervous and want to laugh and actually distracts me from the singing. It’s an enhancement of what’s already happening. For this reason, I would probably attend a Gotye concert but never actually buy his album. 

Oh, and I’ve had time to consider it and in light of our dual pair of thin lips, it might be strange to kiss him, but I would definitely let him sing to me.

Resignation To the End?

You've heard it. (And just in case you haven't here it is:)

Now that that's out of the way...

I love this song! LOVE IT! I have made all of my students here in China watch it. Even though showing Gotye's midriff is a little risqué for them. When the first class I showed didn't love it, I should have abandoned it for a Katy Perry song rather than forcing it on my other classes. But I LOVE IT, and so I chalked it up to "teaching them about American culture" and forged ahead with it...8...more...times.

I don't know how it came into the mainstream. I heard about it on Facebook. Then a few weeks later it was advertised on a commercial for an upcoming episode of Glee, and from there, of course, it went straight to the top of everyone's playlists. Then the covers started. Some of them are awesome, but none of them capture the angst in Gotye's voice when he sings, "CUT ME OFF" or the softness in "and it feels so rough."


There's no question, the song is a big deal.


But is Gotye a big deal?

Somebody that I'd like to know.

I hate to contribute to the prediction of a One Hit Wonder. 


Gotcha. 


Especially with someone as cute as Gotye. In fact, many times, if I like a song by someone, I will listen to and even buy their album just to support them. Usually it works out all right. I might find a few other songs I really enjoy. I know the hipster thing to do would be to act like I don't really like the song, "Somebody That I Used To Know" and talk about how awesome his other more obscure songs are. I'm never gonna be that cool.


So I TRIED to like other Gotye songs, and I just didn't. I thought that maybe since he sounds so much like Sting, then I would love him. But his other songs don't have the heart that this one has. I heard that he was all the rage at Coachella, and I tried to like his music again because I think that whatever happens at Coachella somehow sets the stage for the music year and also this thing with Tupac happened...but NOPE.


And I'm not the only one. On iTunes, Gotye is at #2 with his single, but click on his other songs and they don't even have "popularity bars" beside them. I heard one, "Eyes Wide Open" had some potential, and he did sound like Sting in a lot of the music, but there was no wailing that I fell in love with in "Somebody That I Used To Know." I wanted the wailing! Instead it was almost like Sting and Mika had a baby and named him Gotye. If you don't know Mika, I can't help you right now. One thing at a time.

Show us the shape of your heart, Gotye!

I don't want Gotye to be a One Hit Wonder...but I'm just not sure he has found a niche other than the music snob, cooler than you,hipster types who like him for his "real work."  

What do you think? Is Gotye soon to be somebody that we used to know?