Best of 2022:Stromae "Multitude" (2022)

Multitude

release date: Mar. 4, 2022

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,26]

producer: Stromae

label: Mosaert Label / Universal - nationality: Belgium

Track highlights: 1. "Invaincu" - 2. "Santé" (4, 5 / 5) - 3. "La Solassitude" - 4. "Fils de joie" - 5. "L'enfer" (5 / 5) - 8. "Riez" (4, 5 / 5) - 9. "Mon amour" - 10. "Déclaration"

3rd studio album by Stromae following almost 9 full years after Racine Carrée (Aug. 2013) - a time of both international acclaim and personal turmoil. Stromae went on long tours in the US and in Africa, and then had to pull the plug from performing to recover again. Apparently, he suffered from anxiety and spent a long time rethinking his career. He only resurfaced again in 2021 with his first single from this album, the song "Santé".

Racine Carrée was a step forward from a promising debut and was a massive success - it's really no wonder that the skyrocketing success he has experienced is something that may be more than overwhelming, and with Multitude he not only does it again - he simply takes another step forward. The single "L'enfer" was played everywhere, and I first thought of it as merely another pop song, but it's so much more than just that. Stromae himself is the result of a mixed marriage, but his musical style is a gigantic mix of Euro-pop, American R&B, African and Asian popular music, AND with obvious bits of folkore from all over the world - yet, his music is styled to just fit his expression. All the global influences are destilled into a personal and strict sound that doesn't make you question its coherency.

At first, I found that this new album contained roughly 2-3 great songs but soon more kept surfacing, and here at the end of the year, I think of it as THE best album of the year without a single filler. And of course, it's highly recommended.

[ NME 4 / 5, Pitchfork 8,0 / 10 stars ]

2022 Favourite releases: 1. Stromae Multitude - 2. Hurray for the Riff Raff Life on Earth - 3. Big Thief Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You

Best of 2013:Stromae "Racine carrée" (2013)

Racine carrée

release date: Aug. 19, 2013

format: 2 lp (gatefold) (orange vinyl) / 2 lp vinyl (2026 reissue) (gatefold)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,16]

producer: Stromae with various others

label: Mosaert / Island France / Universal - nationality: Belgium

Track highlights: 1. "Ta fête" - 2. "Papaoutai" - 3. "Bâtard" - 4. "Ave Cesaria" - 5. "Tous les mêmes" (live) - 6. "Formidable" (live on KEXP) - 7. "Moules frites" - 8. "Carmen" - 9. "Humain à l'eau" - 10. "Quand c'est?" - 11. "Sommeil" - 12. "Merci" - 13. "AVF" (feat. Maître Gims & Orelsan) (live)

[ full album live ]

2nd studio album by Stromae following 3 years after the acclaimed Cheese (Jun. 2010) is like that produced by Stromae himself and released on his own label Mosaert via Universal Music France. And 'produced by himself' this time means co-producing with various others. Only Thomas Azier is co-producer on 3 tracks, Aron Ottignon co-producer on 2 tracks, and then follows 13 other artists as co-producers on individual tracks. I guess, Stromae perhaps wanted a more multi-facetted sound on this compared to the strict and more simplistic debut, although, he's still very much in charge of everything.

All songs and music are credited Stromae except three tracks: tracks #4, #8, and #13 are co-composed by Orelsan (aka French rapper Aurélien Cotentin), and track #13 also with Maître Gims (aka Congolese-French rapper Gandhi Alimasi Djuna). The title of the album is French for 'Square-root', which is underlined on the front cover with the symbol '√x' - something that suggests an exploration of his own roots, musically, and with regards to his identity - ultimately, pointing at circumstances and influences that has formed him as an artist and as a human being.

Cheese came out as an international monster hit debut selling Platinum and Gold in a number of countries and making it to number #1 in Belgium, number #6 in France, and Stromae went from quite anonymous to world famous with one single album. Racine carrée follows closely in the footsteps of the predecessor and it contains some of the same identifiable originality that he laid out three years earlier, and then it adds to his characteristica. Musically, it's a stunning accomplishment to par and even better the great debut with something that more than equals and proves his worth as composer, songwriter and arranger by showcasing new dimensions to his talent. The album is filled to the brim with dance-oriented tracks and hooks and then he continues his speciality by mixing chanson with club & dance. Lyrically, this appears to be filled with a critical perspective on modern life, racism, personal relationships, and more. It's all-encompassing in what appears as another exceptional album. He speaks about so many things here that makes it near extreme. He narrates about SoMe, about a poisonous relationsship, a note on cancer, a reminder about mixed races, a song about pretention, and a song about how the human race appears to have evolved beyond what's reasonable, there's a hommage to Cesária Évora, a song about his father... Every song matters and it works on so many levels that it leaves you almost speechless. What a gifted artist!

Strongest recommendation.

[ allmusic.com, Metro 4 / 5, Télérama 4 / 4 stars ]

Edit 2026:

The 2026 reissue is a double vinyl album with 3 tracks on each side but with the exclusion of the final track "AVF" for reasons unknown. The song appears in the original issue of the album. Nothing has been declared regarding the omission. Guesses are basically two-fold: 1) it's about credits as the song is co-composed by the two artists Maître Gims and Orelsan - the latter is also co-writer of track #4, and supposed conflict of interest is the presence of Maître Gims, who has been subject of several controversies, which releates to plagiarism, homophofia, and most recently: he has been subjected to investigations regarding money laundering. I think, Stromae simply wanted to cut the connection by leaving out a track involving Gims. 2) Perhaps the main reason is that the song doesn't represent what Stromae is all about. The title 'AVF' is short for 'Allez vous faire!', which means 'Go fuck yourself!' / 'Fuck you!" and alone that makes much sense sinse the lyrical content of the song doesn't coinside with the other songs on his album, or any other album by Stromae - this is simply not part of his artistic identity. The really bad thing is that it's musically one of the fine ones on the album.

2013 Favourite releases: 1. Stromae Racine carrée - 2. Arctic Monkeys AM - 3. Tindersticks Across Six Leap Years

Stromae "Cheese" (2010)

Cheese [debut]

release date: Jun. 21, 2010

format: cd / vinyl (2022 reissue) (gatefold)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]

producer: Mosaert

label: Mosaert / Vertigo / Mercury / Universal - nationality: Belgium

Track highlights: 1. "Bienvenue chez moi" - 2. "Te quiero" - 3. "Peace or Violence" (4 / 5) - 4. "Rail de musique" - 5. "Alors on danse" (5 / 5) (live) - 6. "Summertime" - 7. "Dodo" - 8. "Silence" - 10. "House'llelujah" - *12. "Alors on danse (90's remix)"

*Bonus track on CD and vinyl (first time on vinyl in 2014).

[Stromae presentation of the album]

Studio album debut by Belgian electronic artist Stromae (aka Mosaert, aka Maestro, aka Paul Van Haver) formerly known as Opsmaestro. The full album debut follows several single releases and the self-released four track ep debut Juste un cerveau, un flow, un fond et un mic… (2007). From early on, Stromae wanted to be in full control of his music and together with brother Luc he established the production label Mosaert (one of several anagrams for Maestro).

Cheese is mostly electronic dance but since Stromae appears to be influenced by Belgian chanson, African music as such and world music in general, there are traits from other styles and genres to be found on an album that still holds up as something almost extremely coherent, thanks to Stromae's sense for arranging and also his unique vocal.

I did not come across the album until a few years later and after listening to the major hit song "Alors on danse" via the satiric sketch video by French actor and comedian Jamal Debbouze.

Cheese is a wonderful and strong debut on which Stromae showcases his speciality concerning subjects and themes. On a superficial level, his music and songs are playful and full of joy and positivity - related to the dance genre - but his lyrics are quite opposite and deals with injustice, prejudice, poverty, discrimination, and personal conflict - a formula he has continued ever since.

Cheese is Stromae's third best album - in a total of three, which may not seem impressive but when this first came out, it was great. It still is.

Highly recommended.

[ 👎allmusic.com, 👎The Guardian 3 / 5, Album of the Year 4 / 5 stars ]