STROMAE. Whether in concert or through his catchy songs, the Belgian singer Stromae makes the whole world dance.
By choosing with great finesse the anagram of Maestro, Stromae was predestined to establish himself as an extraordinary artist. He enjoyed success from his first solo album, at the end of the 2000s, thanks to a hit that had become iconic: So we dance. Sold over 500,000 copies across Europe, the song instantly propelled Stromae to the rank of star in the making.
Very quickly after this first attempt, the critics were rave reviews, both for this title and for the album from which it came: Cheese. The latter was also awarded a Victoire de la Musique in 2011. In 2013, it was with the album Racine Carrée that the artist made the whole of Europe dance, with in particular the songs Formidable and Papaoutai. For his third album, entitled Multitude, it will be necessary to wait until the spring of 2022. In this third album is notably the single L’Enfer, in which he tackles the delicate question of depression.
Stromae, or Paul Van Haver by his real name, was born in Brussels on March 12, 1985, to a Flemish mother and a Rwandan father. The latter leaves the home shortly after the birth of Paul, so that he is raised with his sister and his three brothers, by his mother. It was in 1994 that Stromae’s life changed when his father was assassinated during the genocide in Rwanda. It was during this period that he was introduced to drums and percussion, before turning to rap. He chose his stage name in 2000: Paul Van Haver will now be called Stromae, an anagram of Maestro. He sets up, with the rapper J.E.D.I, the group Suspicion. Their song “Faut qu’t’Arretes le Rap” brings them a little notoriety in Belgium. But Stromae thinks big, and decides to embark on a solo career. He then put his talent at the service of various artists, and made a few brilliant hits on the Internet with Les Leçons de Stromae.
Building on the success of his short videos on the Internet, the artist took the opportunity to broadcast a first title prefiguring what would be his first album. The excerpt in question is called So we dance. And as soon as it was released in 2009, Stromae achieved the feat of getting crowds dancing across Europe. The success was such that the title sold 3 million copies worldwide, reaching the top of the charts in several European countries. The album Cheese, from which the single came, also broke sales records, and gave Stromae its first Victoire de la Musique in 2011. In 2013, the artist caused a sensation in the streets of Brussels by letting himself be filmed in drunk. It is in fact a staging intended to promote his new album, Racine Carrée.
Once again, the public is at the rendezvous, and it warmly welcomes this new opus, and especially the singles Formidable and Papaoutai. With this very moving song, the artist pays tribute to his dad who died twenty years earlier. Critically acclaimed, Stromae won numerous awards with this second album, such as an MTV Europe Music Award, an NRJ Music Award and several Victoires de la Musique awards. In 2015, after having managed to conquer the North American public, Stromae experienced a small period of slump, due to health problems. He therefore put his career on hold. It is really only in the spring of 2022 that he comes back in force with a third album entitled Multitude. His single L’Enfer met with great success, after being unveiled live on the TF1 television news set.
Paul Van Haver, better known by the artist name Stromae, is the fruit of the union between a Flemish Belgian mother, Miranda Van Haver, and a Rwandan father, Pierre Rutare. Stromae spent his entire childhood in Brussels, raised by his mother with his three brothers and his sister. He did not know his father very well, who left shortly after his birth. In an interview with journalists, the artist said he had seen his father only twenty times during his childhood. This lack of paternal affection also inspired Stromae for his hit Papaoutai, released in May 2013 as part of the album Racine Carrée.
Originally from Namur, Coralie Barbier is a stylist, famous for being the collaborator as well as the wife of Stromae. The lovebirds met in 2013, when the artist was looking for a stylist to make him new costumes. Two years later, Coralie Barbier marries Stromae in Belgium, during a ceremony kept secret so that the information does not leak. Together, Coralie Barbier and Stromae develop their own clothing line, Mosaert. Coralie Barbier and Stromae became parents of a little boy born in September 2018.
It was hands down the most anticipated record of early 2022: Multitude, Stromae’s third album, hit stores on Friday, March 4. A new opus carried by two first singles, Santé and L’enfer, released in October 2021 and January 2022 respectively. , It’s only happiness, Not really, Laugh, My love, Declaration, Bad day and Good day, two mirror songs co-written with Orelsan.
A multitude of origins for the melodies and instruments, from the harpsichord to the kora via the bagpipes, the violin or the Persian flute, of sounds, of voices, but also a multitude of themes addressed, from Sir Declaration feminism, to paternity with C’est que du bonheur passing through the crisis of the couple on La solassitude, prostitution with Fils de joie or dark thoughts in L’enfer. Rarely has an album carried its name so well.
In addition to the disc, Multitude, Stromae unveiled, on its YouTube channel, two videos entitled Stromae vu par… On the program, the career of the Belgian artist seen by various artists such as Orelsan, DJ Snake, Pierre et Gilles, Jamel Debbouze, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Angèle, Madonna, Black Eyed Peas or Yael Naim.
Stromae on stage, on French television. After long years of absence, the Belgian singer returned to French television on Friday February 11, 2022, as honorary president of the 37th Victoires de la Musique ceremony. On this occasion, he performed on the Seine Musicale stage in Boulogne-Billancourt and performed the single Santé.
The singer opened the evening with a superb performance, first animated as a tutorial to learn the choreography of Santé, a single from his album, which he then performed on the Victoires stage surrounded by his musicians. The Belgian then appeared to present the Artist of the Year trophy to Orelsan.
As a comeback, Stromae offered a memorable new sequence on French television. Guest of the TF1 news on Sunday January 09, 2022, the Belgian singer, after a report on his career and his long break, performed on the set of Anne-Claire Coudray a new song, called L’enfer. It was by answering a question from the journalist about the loneliness, the discomfort he may have felt during these seven years of silence, that Stromae began to sing in front of the camera.
The single L’enfer, which evokes suicide, was also put online on all streaming listening platforms, after the passage of Stromae on TF1. This surprising interview quickly, like the song, made the rounds of social networks, where thousands of anonymous people or personalities salute the performance and the genius of a long-awaited Stromae.
No offense to his detractors and various polemicists, the singer caught the attention of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). “Thank you Stromae for highlighting the difficult subject of suicide in your latest album”, he wrote in a message on Twitter in which he relayed the video of the artist on the set of Anne-Claire Coudray, Sunday evening. “So important to ask for help if you’re struggling and to support those who need help,” adds the WHO boss.
Stromae’s performance on the 20 Heures de France 2 set is obviously reminiscent of another cult moment in his career on television: in 2013, the singer split on the set of the Grand Journal de Canal to perform his song All the same. Another sequence that took viewers by surprise and made a date in the history of French television.
Fears confirmed: Stromae announces the total cessation of its tour. “A few months ago, I felt a deterioration in my state of health which led me to give up a few first dates in France and then in Europe. Surrounded by my doctors, my family, my friends and my team, I I was hoping to be able to get up quickly to get back on the road and find you as soon as possible”, begins the Belgian singer in this press release.
And to announce the news that all his fans feared: “Unfortunately, today I have to accept that this time of rest and remission will be longer than I imagined. It is therefore with great regret that I do not will not be able to honor my promise and that I am announcing the end of the Multitude Tour today. This decision is difficult but necessary in order to be able to get better.”
In recent weeks, Stromae had already announced the cancellation of several concerts, until the end of May 2023. Spectators who have purchased a ticket for the artist’s Multitude tour can claim a refund from their point of sale. .
If the reasons pushing Stromae to cancel the entire rest of his tour have not been detailed, the health of the Belgian singer had already pushed him to withdraw from the media scene for several years.
In the mid-2010s, Stromae had to take a long career break due to serious health issues. The artist indeed suffered from psychic decompensation caused by an unfortunate reaction to an antimalarial treatment. This disease is characterized by the appearance of serious symptoms such as hallucinations, anxiety attacks or even suicidal thoughts. After being treated for this problem of psychic decompensation, the artist nevertheless suffered a relapse in 2017. But let the fans be reassured: the state of health of their idol is now stabilized thanks to an adapted follow-up.
As if to accredit the speculations, the newspaper also gives the floor to a psychotherapist. According to Catherine Aimelet-Perisso, there seems to be no doubt that burnout is at the heart of the problem. If Stromae has come to this, it is “because the artist first saw nothing or wanted to see nothing”. “It’s the famous phrase: No, but it’s fine! There were probably signs, warning symptoms, like fatigue, but he didn’t want to see them. Only the burnout is a call from the body and it was he who sounded the alarm”, she analyzes…
If she admits not knowing her “specific case”, the specialist nevertheless pours out on the “depression”, linked to “an injury, a pain, which can reopen in certain circumstances”, in particular when “we spend a energy beyond reason”. Stromae can come back according to her, if he finds a “new way to invest in his tour”, but without guarantee of escaping relapses.
The first cancellations, from the end of March 2023, were announced by his producer for the concerts in Strasbourg and Amnéville on March 22, 23 and 24, for “medical reasons”. Then Auguri Productions canceled new dates at the Zénith de Nantes, from March 29 to 31, considering that “Stromae’s state of health does not allow him to perform the 3 concerts planned for this week”.
The Belgian will also not be able to perform in Amsterdam, Toulouse, Basel, Geneva, London, Cologne, Berlin, Rome or Lyon, as was originally planned until the end of May. The concerts are purely and simply canceled and are not postponed. A ticket refund procedure will be put in place.
For the time being, no official information on the state of health of Stromae has been communicated by its teams. For his part, the singer said he had to “take the time to [s] recover”, without specifying the nature of his problems.
Stromae has had to put his career on hold in the past due to health issues. In 2013, he disappeared from radar screens, while on the “Racine Carré” tour. After being the victim of psychic decompensation caused by a reaction to an antimalarial treatment, Stromae suffered from psychic problems, comparable to a burn-out or an episode of depression, preventing him from going back on stage. After seven years of absence, he had made a thunderous return to the front of the stage in 2022, confiding in particular on his mental health problems.
