Doechii’s “Anxiety” follows a chain of musical reuse, not four artists recording the same composition. Its backing draws on Gotye and Kimbra’s 2011 hit “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which had already incorporated a guitar excerpt from Brazilian musician Luiz Bonfá’s “Seville” (1967). Doechii wrote and recorded her own song over Gotye’s backing in 2019; Sleepy Hallow reused part of her recording in 2023; and Doechii commercially released a newly recorded version of “Anxiety” in March 2025.
1967 and 2011: from “Seville” to Gotye’s hit
The earliest link is “Seville,” an instrumental composition by Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfá. Brazil’s Instituto Memória Musical Brasileira lists it on the 1967 Dot Records LP Luiz Bonfá Plays Great Songs. It is a separate, earlier work, not an original version of Gotye’s breakup story or his duet with Kimbra.
When creating “Somebody That I Used to Know,” released in 2011, Gotye took a short nylon-string guitar passage from “Seville” and reshaped it into a repeating pattern. RouteNote traces that sample, while Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) places Gotye’s song within an arrangement built from multiple sampled sounds. Bonfá is therefore part of the recording’s sonic lineage. He did not write Doechii’s 2019 song or record it alongside her.
2019: Doechii turns the backing into a different song
Doechii recorded “Anxiety” in her bedroom in 2019, singing and rapping over the recognizable backing of Gotye’s hit. Her lyrics and treatment of anxiety distinguish her song from “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which centers on a broken relationship. The performance circulated through sessions and videos connected to her independent Coven Music Sessions project, especially on YouTube, but did not receive a commercial release on the major streaming services at that stage.
The sources require a small chronological distinction. NFSA, Billboard Brasil and Universal’s statement place the recording’s origins in 2019. However, uDiscover Music dates a self-released Coven Music Sessions mixtape to 2020, and Universal also points to a 2020 video. Accordingly, 2019 identifies the original recording, not a verified publication date for every related upload or edition.
2023: Sleepy Hallow borrows Doechii’s chorus
On his track styled “A N X I E T Y,” Sleepy Hallow incorporated the chorus Doechii had created and built a separate rap recording around it. She is credited as a featured artist. The song appears on his album Boy Meets World, which Apple Music dates to September 15, 2023. Billboard Brasil likewise distinguishes this recording from Doechii’s subsequent 2025 streaming release.
The sequence is the reverse of what listeners might assume if they first heard Sleepy Hallow’s record: he reused Doechii’s earlier material, rather than Doechii creating “Anxiety” from his track. In Doechii’s public explanation reported by UPI, she said the use in Sleepy Hallow’s song was approved. That account does not disclose licensing contracts, royalty percentages or the commercial terms of either release.
March 2025: the commercial release is not the unchanged 2019 recording
As her earlier performance resurfaced on social media, Doechii moved to release “Anxiety” on streaming services. Apple Music dates the Top Dawg Entertainment/Capitol Records single to March 4, 2025. A March statement from Universal Music Canada confirms a crucial change: she re-recorded her vocals for the new edition. It would therefore be misleading to describe it as simply uploading the original 2019 audio file to streaming platforms.
Universal’s statement is dated March 13 and describes the track as released that day, whereas Apple Music lists March 4. The dates come from different documents about the 2025 distribution and should not be mistaken for the song’s creation date or Sleepy Hallow’s 2023 release. On March 14, 2025, NFSA was also describing the comeback as a re-recording.
Why does Luiz Bonfá appear in the credits?
Qobuz’s catalog entry for the 2025 single includes Jaylah Hickmon (Doechii), Walter Andre E De Backer (Gotye) and Luiz Floriano Bonfá among its composition and lyrics credits, alongside other creative and production personnel. This documents the credited contributions associated with material used in the newer recording. It does not mean Gotye, Kimbra and Bonfá joined Doechii in the studio. Audio sampling, songwriting, featured vocals and catalog credits are different things.
Nor can those credits establish who authorized each use, how much any rights holder receives or whether the 2023 and 2025 releases share identical licenses. Doechii publicly referred to approval for Sleepy Hallow’s use; the 2025 commercial metadata identifies credited creators but does not provide the contracts.
The listening timeline, without mixing up the versions
- 1967, Luiz Bonfá, “Seville”: the recorded guitar passage that supplies the oldest sample in this lineage.
- 2011, Gotye featuring Kimbra, “Somebody That I Used to Know”: a new song that turns Bonfá’s excerpt into part of its backing.
- 2019, Doechii, “Anxiety”: her own song and bedroom recording over Gotye’s backing, circulated independently.
- 2023, Sleepy Hallow featuring Doechii, “A N X I E T Y”: a separate track built around Doechii’s chorus.
- 2025, Doechii, “Anxiety”: the commercially distributed version with re-recorded vocals.
The connecting thread is the successive transformation of recordings. Bonfá’s guitar reaches Doechii through Gotye’s song, whereas Sleepy Hallow specifically reuses an earlier vocal creation by Doechii. Distinguishing the origin of a sample from the origin of a song explains how the two recordings called “Anxiety” can exist without being the same track.
Sources and references
- IMMuB: Luiz Bonfá Plays Great Songs album entry
- RouteNote: the Seville sample in Gotye’s song
- NFSA: Gone viral: from Gotye to Doechii, March 14, 2025
- UPI: Doechii explains the history of Anxiety
- Billboard Brasil: the two related Anxiety recordings
- Apple Music: Sleepy Hallow’s Boy Meets World (2023)
- Apple Music: Doechii’s Anxiety single (March 4, 2025)
- Universal Music Canada: statement on the re-recorded vocals
- Qobuz: Anxiety (2025) track and songwriting credits
- uDiscover Music: the 2019 recording and 2020 mixtape account
