Old friends collaborate on fan-favorite track, bridging their long creative history.
“QUE CE SOIT CLAIR” is the second single from Paul Kalkbrenner’s new album THE ESSENCE and has become a fan favorite at festivals and in club sets. It’s a collaboration with Belgian superstar Stromae (whose real name is also Paul), built on a long-standing history: back in 2009, Kalkbrenner created a remix for Stromae’s single “Te Quiero”. Now, they meet again as equals – old friends who have never lost touch over the years.
“QUE CE SOIT CLAIR” is one of the album’s most direct tracks: pounding four-to-the-floor kicks, pulsating synths, and Stromae’s intense spoken-word vocals. The title translates to “Just to be clear…” – and that’s exactly what the track is about. A love that knows no boundaries. No nations, no origins, no categories. What matters is the connection between two people.
The track is accompanied by a striking new video directed by Kelzang Ravach of Temple Caché, known for his surreal, hybrid visual language. Set in a dreamlike parallel Berlin, the film follows Stromae’s perspective as he stumbles into Paul Kalkbrenner’s party — a feverish celebration where bodies, light, and space dissolve into one another. Ravach uses first-person immersion, shifting canvases, and morphing imagery to blur the line between reality and abstraction, evoking Berlin nightlife at its most fluid and cosmic. 
“It reminded me of nights I experienced in Berlin — pushing a door without knowing where it would lead. You find yourself in the middle of something, feeling the energy unfold around you. That’s how I wanted the audience to discover this party: at once inside it and watching it, until Stromae appears, like a reveal, and we realise we’ve been seeing it through his eyes all along.” — said Kelzang Ravach, founder of Temple Caché and director.
Kalkbrenner appears as a kind of sonic architect, shaping the atmosphere with his gestures, while Stromae drifts through the chaos, only glimpsed in fragments and reflections until a late reveal. The video rejects conventional storytelling in favor of sensory cinema, channeling the energy of the rave into a collective, borderless experience of love and transformation.
Over several years, in an apartment blending mid-century modern with 1970s luxury—complete with real tungsten bulbs, vintage TVs, palm trees, and a mix of stone, wood, and fur—THE ESSENCE took shape as a collection of organically grown tracks.
“It’s about the essential. This is an album I can truly stand behind. I consider it my best.” Kalkbrenner says. “Sure, there may be more well-known hits on my other albums, but there were always two or three filler tracks. This one doesn’t have a single filler. Not even a filler moment!”
Born in 1977 and raised amid the first wave of ‘90s rave culture, he began producing music early – and always preferred playing live to DJing. By the time Berlin Calling and the single “Sky & Sand” were released, he had become an icon: a unique artist bridging club culture, cinema, and the main stage, never swayed by trends. Eight albums, sold-out arena tours, headline slots at Tomorrowland, and an invitation from the German government to perform for 400,000 people at the Berlin Wall anniversary. Paul Kalkbrenner hasn’t just shaped electronic music; he’s redefined its boundaries.
