It has been since 2013 that ‘Racine carrée’ was released, the second studio album by Stromae† It expanded on the unexpected global success of Then we dance and even went the extra mile. the hit Papaoutai has been viewed almost a billion times on YouTube to date, the record was the best-selling album in France for two years in a row and the accompanying tour attracted almost two million people. And then came that long radio silence.
Stromae has now outgrown the dance floor and with his new album ‘Multitude’, he longs mainly for the wide world. “World is the new pop”, according to the maestro. The twelve tracks on the record are interwoven with instruments and sounds that the Brussels native imported from all over the world. Then he mixed them in such a way that it is no longer audible where all those sounds come from. “When I wrote the album, I just listened to music from elsewhere. Music from Turkey, China, Brazil, music from everywhere. The world we live in is diverse and I wanted to reflect that.”
in the number Declaration for example is a clarion to hear (a kind of Turkish flute), Solitude contains a erhu (a Chinese violin) and the charango (South American stringed instrument) occurs in Bad day† “I asked specialized musicians from all over the world for this.” For the further, orchestral finish he collaborated with Dirk Brushed and the Belgian National Orchestra.
Stromae opens the plate combatively with Unbeatena song about healing and healing. “Tant que je suis en vie, je suis invaincu.” He triumphs in his return. Besides the few autobiographical songs, ‘Multitude’ is mainly filled with lyrics about various characters. The maestro takes on the role of a son of a whore in sons of joyunstable men in Solitude on My lovea depressed and suicidal person in Bad day and the invisible people in our society in Health† He seems to want to quote Rimbaud’s ‘Je est un autre’. That would at least explain album title ‘Multitude’.
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