Wednesday 18 December 2013

STROMAE TOUS LES MÊMES

Well now. This is interesting. I didn't know who this guy was until I googled him – is that bad? Who cares. I just saw that somebody shared the video on Twitter and I watched it and was not only intrigued by the video itself but also, and of course otherwise I wouldn't be writing this, by the music. Anyway if you can't read what I'm probably going to say in a tweet about this post, nor the title of this post, then I suppose the right thing to do is to say this is Stromae with 'Tous Les Mêmes'.

Yeah, it's a Francophone song. Everything about it is in French. If that scares you, I'm sorry; if not, then that's good. But who is Stromae? Well, you may remember a pretty funky nocturnal dance number called 'Alors On Danse' from 2010 that was like, huge everywhere – that was his song. He's called Paul Van Haver and he's from Belgium and he writes and sings songs. What else do you want to know? Have a look at Wikipedia for that. All I know is that this video is a strange and entertaining display of a man, Stromae, seemingly living the best – or worst? – or both worlds with lashings of jaunty choreography.

As for this song, it's a swing-infused tune that features the smooth, slightly melancholic vocals of Stromae singing about men being "all the same" ("tous les mêmes") in essence. There's a Latin lilt to it, in the subtly moody chords of the piano and the sweaty brass sounds that give it a bolshy kind of cabaret atmosphere, a hint of fierceness in its syncopated rhythms and a whole dose of electro-funk slo-house feel, thanks to that nicely understated, overlapping-itself bassline and the lush beat with its unbeatable claps. Catchy and destined for dancefloors and radio play (probably) all over Europe, this is a classy song from a pretty unique musicmaker.

This, btw, comes from Stromae's most recent album, Racine Carrée (that's 'Square Root' in English).



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