Stromae (pronounced [stromaj]), born Paul Van Haver on March 12, 1985 in Brussels, is a Rwandan-Belgian musician taking the international music scene by storm. Stromae’s sweet beats and easy lyrics transition between hip-hop/rap and electro/dance pop, a combination that keeps listeners tuned in. Stromae has most recently broken out as a solo artists, after venturing with rapper JEDI, releasing his debut album “Cheese”. From his album, the single “Alors on danse” (translated “So They Dance”) has found tremendous airtime in both radio and club scenes, and as I found out it was a perfect medley of social commentary, funky hip-hop rhymes and a killer beat.
Stomae’s “Alors on danse” explores a theme of expectation and disillusionment, a truth about life that we all know too well. The translation and use of colloquial French used by Stomae has brought a lot of criticism to how meaningful the song could be, but an online translation provided a sufficient lyrical rendition to illuminate the appeal of the song- beyond the sound of the beats.
“indeed problems don't come alone.
/Who says crisis tells you world, starvation and Third-World/
Who says tiredness says awakening, still deaf because of the previous day/
So we go out to forget our trouble/
So everybody dances”
In essence, Stomae’s is exploring the inevitability of fate and how those events in our lives that disappoint are momentarily forgotten, but always linger back into existence. In other words, we dance and sing because we cannot prevent bad things from happening, but ignoring those issues perpetuate the ignorance that started them. In the music video for the “Alors on danse,” Stromae portrays an office worker whose problems escalate until he is dragged into a bar, drink after drink his problems seem to evaporate. Before he knows it Stromae is performing in front of a bouncing crowd, but as fate has it he collapses before being dragged back to his office desk. “Alors de dance”, I think, is a pleasurable paradox drawing on two very different (opposing) music genres to produce a club hit with lyrics that warn of dance-aholics in denial of their life outside the dance floor. So it is MY turn to ask “Is Stromae cut out to break into a mainstream US music scene, or is his style not marketable to American music lovers?”
I predict we will be hearing A LOT more of Stromae in the years to come…for more visit http://www.stromae.org/
Signed,
sources (http://en.wikipedia.org)
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