Basically, it was always a misunderstanding that Paul Van Haver alias Stromae made naive feel-good music. But even Stromae’s debut single and breakthrough hit “Alors On Danse” (2009) was not a short-sighted perspective on swearing, but made it very clear: Stromae does not believe that disco heals us; he unmasks this solution approach, almost ridicules it in the dance hit.
A lot has happened since then, Stromae’s last album RACINE CARÉE was nine years ago, he’s 36, has become a father and got married to a Catholic. Plagued by depression, he had withdrawn from the public eye and even considered never making music again. Luckily it didn’t get that far, because MULTITUDE is now a big hit, a lesson in how you can remain true to yourself as an artist and still develop further.
With MULTITUDE, Stromae has achieved something that Lady Gaga has failed to do for many years
Because even if the euro-prancing 4-to-the-floor has disappeared from the sound surface, there are ultimately many ingredients that have always enchanted Stromae fans: the Cuban beats and wind instruments, this so-called Son Cubano (the primordial soup of mambo, salsa , Cha-Cha-Cha), but also the Congolese rumba that was so popular across Africa in the 60s and 70s.
And of course: Stromae’s powerful and yet amazingly agile falsetto and bass-strong baritone voice, which you believe every syllable because Stromae never goes on autopilot, but, trained by chanson icon Jacques Brel, constantly has meaningful surprises in store in his inimitable phrasing. So Stromae sings of the burden of psychological problems (“L’enfer”), demands justice for his mom, whom others call a whore (“Fils de joie”), and raves with ironic tidbits about the luck of being a dad who throws up ( “vomis”) and poop (“caca”).
In “Santé” Stromae makes a socialist toast to the class losers of capitalism. Stromae has long been a new type of pop star, but with MULTITUDE he has achieved something that Lady Gaga has failed to do for many years: the transformation from dance-pop star to serious singer/songwriter.
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