Made in Belgium: Stromae (updated)

5 years ago I blogged here how I heard Stromae for the very first time on the radio.  I predicted the hit of the year and I was right:  "Alors on danse" became a big number 1 hit in over 13 countries (mostly French-speaking regions) . He promptly won 6 Belgian music industry awards as newcomer.

In interviews Stromae revealed that he was afraid to be a one-hit wonder.  There was quickly a new single "Te quiro" but that wasn't exactly a new hit. For long he toured the world on the succes of "Alors on danse".   And then it was log silent.

In the spring of 2013 all of a sudden social media exploded because some people had filmed him completely drunk & hung over at a tram stop in Brussels.  Video here.
A week later he released his new single "Formidable" with a video clip of him....acting completely drunk in Brussels. Ha, it had all been part of a big launch plan. This guy knows how to play the game!  Stromae was a hype again and right with the timing of our national soccer team that was doing great in its selection campaigns for the upcoming world cup in 2014.   "Formidable " was immediately adopted as the theme song by the supporters (despite the the quite sarcastic & negative text of a break-up).




In the fall of 2013, he surprised me again with his genius trans-gender appearance his his clip & live performances of "thus les memes".   Genius, what a genius!





Since then, anything Stromae does becomes an international hit. And I love his music! And his weird style (although I wouldn't exactly buy any of the clothes of his clothing line now. They look great on Stromae because that's how he is but we don't really need to all start dressing like him, do we. But his socks are uber cool, that I must admit).

 

 The official supporter's song of the Belgian Red Devils team at the world cup soccer.

 


Original post here

Comments

Brian Miller said…
what a cool song formidable is....i am glad of the english translation...ha....because the words are cool...and its fun to listen to the language as well...

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