Australian pop sensation Gotye has clarified critical remarks he made about the cover of his hit song Somebody That I Used To Know on TV show Glee, insisting his comments were taken out of context.

The chart-topping track was given the Glee treatment by actors Darren Criss and Matt Bomer during a recent episode of the hit TV musical series, but reports suggested the singer, real name Wouter De Backer, was left unimpressed by their efforts.

In a recent interview with Australia's The Sunday Mail, he was quoted as saying, "They did such a faithful arrangement of the instruments but the vocals were that pop Glee style - ultra dry, sounded pretty tuned and the rock has no real sense, like it's playing to you from a cardboard box. It made it sound dinky and wrong."

However, Gotye has now reached out to fans to clear up the controversy, claiming he was referring to his own work as "dinky".

He says, "This xylophone hook in my song - it's kind of dinky not just in the cover version but the original song. That (erroneously translates into) the Glee cover I hated and Darren Criss is an a**hole."

Instead, the star insists he was pleased to see a fresh take on his collaboration with female singer Kimbra: "I thought it was really clever to transpose the song to two guys... It was a great idea."