Stromae returns with third studio album ‘Multitude’ and exciting new single ‘Fils De Joie’, will be performing at Coachella & new tour dates announced
The twelve-track full-length was composed by Stromae, produced by his creative label Mosaert, and features previously released favorites ‘Santé,’ ‘L’enfer,’ and today, reveals the remaining album tracks, as well as his latest focus single ‘Fils De Joie.’ ‘Multitude’ is available on digital, CD and vinyl, including special colored version for D2C.
‘Multitude’ comes after a period of forced hiatus from the stage. With it came enforced furlough and its silver linings: settling down, leading a more relaxed, structured life, closer to family, making work exciting again, expanding his sources of inspiration and, most of all, making what he went through worth it by reinvesting the dividends of this challenging phase into the core of new songs.
The unstable men in La Solassitude and Mon Amour, the prostitute’s son in Fils de Joie, the depressed and suicidal protagonists of Mauvaise Journée and L’Enfer, the mismatched couple in Pas Vraiment, the invisible people in Santé, the suffering women in Déclaration; he embraces them all with kindness and altruism, providing each with a touching portrait. By doing so, he gives the title ‘Multitude’ a deep resonance, the same one that Walt Whitman conveys in his poem, of which Stromae could take up the opening: “I am large, I contain multitude, I am of every hue and caste, of every rank and religion.”
An alchemy of opposites, shaped by the will to testify without judgement or contempt to the human condition in all its diversity, and to the urge to explore the lives of others, sometimes your own (Que du bonheur on fatherhood, Invaincu on healing). ‘Multitude’ is Stromae’s other way of exploring the world, while staying firmly attached to his roots.
Last month, Stromae also announced his North American arena tour, set to commence this fall on October 21 in Vancouver, making stops on the east and west coast including the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York City, where Stromae made music history as the first ever exclusively French-singing artist to sell out the venue in 2015.
Following a sold-out arena tour across all continents, also becoming the undoubtable breakaway highlight act from 2015’s Coachella Festival, critically acclaimed Stromae went on an 8-year hiatus to focus on other creative endeavors via his creative label Mosaert (est. 2009) with co-founders Coralie Barbier and Luc Van Haver, including making award winning music videos for the likes of Dua Lipa (IDGAF) and Billie Eilish (Hostage), as well as continuing to release high-end fashion capsule collections.
Fast forward to October 2021, Stromae made a much welcomed and surprise return with Santé , which has since accumulated more than 100 million audio streams and 23 million views on YouTube. In December, the song debuted on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
In January, Stromae released his second single, “L’enfer” (translation: “Hell”); a talisman to fight the darkest of thoughts, where Stromae skillfully juggles a spectrum of emotions, exploring the most intimate of themes of suicide and depression. The song debuted live on the French news channel TF1 on Sunday night, where Stromae created a true performance-art moment on live TV and surprised viewers by answering the last question from the news-anchor with the first few lines of ‘L’enfer.’ He then continued to perform the entire song while sitting at the news desk.
The music video — co-directed by Julien Soulier, Luc Van Haver, Coralie Barbier and Stromae himself — is a sequence shot that starts on Stromae’s eye. As the camera pulls back, we discover him alone in a setting that is both sober and disturbing in its immensity. This continuous zoom out is punctuated by the singer’s dark thoughts that gradually take over. The clip ends with a return on the eye of the singer, like the endless loop that can sometimes represent suffering and depression.
