{"id":539910,"date":"2020-09-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/numero.com\/non-classifiee-2\/interview-stromae-on-test-2\/"},"modified":"2020-09-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","slug":"interview-stromae-on-test-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/numero.com\/en\/non-classifiee\/interview-stromae-on-test-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Stromae on test"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The biggest French-speaking pop star of recent times, Paul Van Haver, better known by his stage name Stromae, mixes world music, Weltschmerz and joie de vivre. But is this seemingly earnest young man as smooth as he at first appears? Num\u00e9ro Homme<\/i> found out.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Rather like with your tracks where you set difficult themes \u2013 cancer, abandonment, alcoholism \u2013 against very chirpy music. Are you inviting us to a danse macabre<\/i>, like in those medieval paintings where all the figures are feasting with death even though everything\u2019s lost?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Yes, even if it means dying\u2026 But it\u2019s not like I\u2019m singing odes to death either! We\u2019re all going to die, obviously, so in the meantime let\u2019s keep smiling and not go about moping. I know I\u2019m not in a position to preach \u2013 when you live through your work, and live well, it\u2019s always easier. I\u2019m just suggesting we don\u2019t constantly talk about it. But in spite of the recession, people are still partying, still celebrating their birthdays\u2026 That\u2019s human nature.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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You set yourself up as the bard of positive thinking yet you\u2019re often criticized for dwelling on the world\u2019s miseries.<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

I hope I\u2019m not making anyone depressed! And if it reassures you, I believe there\u2019s an opinion poll out there that says I\u2019m considered to be among the most optimistic public figures. But you\u2019re right, the satirical puppets on Canal + portray me that way, always singing and having fun despite the serious subjects I deal with. And they\u2019re not wrong \u2013 I can understand that my joy or optimism in the face of such issues might appear indecent. But I also can\u2019t help thinking there\u2019s some good in everything. That\u2019s how I am.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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You\u2019re incorrigible!<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

What I\u2019m selling is based on that attitude. It\u2019s also my way of protecting myself. Actually, in the logical order of things, it\u2019s more my way of protecting myself than a sellable product. [Laughs.]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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And what do you need to protect yourself from?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

I\u2019m know it\u2019s going to sound predictable, but all the fame and attention I get frightens me. I\u2019m sorry to be so trivial, but it\u2019s true. I\u2019m not complaining. There\u2019s absolutely no malice from the public, but it is a handicap. And extraordinary, in the literal sense: beyond the ordinary. I think it could end up being very unhealthy for everyone. So I need to keep a certain distance from it all. Putting everything into perspective is my way of protecting myself.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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I\u2019ve noticed that you often talk about Stromae in the third person, as if you and Stromae were two separate entities. Is this another way of protecting yourself?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Before I became successful, I thought about using \u201cPopol\u201d as a stage name \u2013 it\u2019s what my mother called me, and still calls me actually. In the end I didn\u2019t, and I think I was right not to. It would have made the project too personal. Because I prefer to think of Stromae as a collective project. In that way I can be in or out of it as and when I chose. Stromae isn\u2019t me. Or rather, it isn\u2019t just me.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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And yet you yourself took part in the exacerbation of this poisoned fame when you posted that video of you wandering through the streets completely drunk without explaining that it was actually part of your next video. You must have been hoping to generate a bit of scandal?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

True. And I got called the king of buzz. But I never expected the video to be so successful. Maybe in Belgium\u2026 But definitely not in France. We liked the idea and so we did it. It\u2019s as simple as that. And it wasn\u2019t its success that made it a good idea, and even less our needing to stirr up a buzz every time. I really want to get past that now, go back to something less expected, more classic. As long as people are expecting a big buzz from me, I\u2019ll do everything to avoid it. I\u2019m not a rebel. I don\u2019t want to make myself puke onstage. I\u2019m not looking to shock, far from it. And when it happens I immediately regret it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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You tend to tell universal stories anchored in the banality of daily life. Where does your inspiration come from?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

I\u2019m an obsessive note taker. It drives me crazy how those around me never take notes, and I force them to. But once I\u2019ve started the writing process I get drawn to the memories which naturally come back up to the surface and not necessarily the notes. For Formidable<\/i> the memory of a tramp who once rudely shouted at me in the street came flashing into my mind. He said, \u201cUgh, have you seen yourself? Do you think you\u2019re good looking?\u201d And that became a line in the song\u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Do the lyrics come before the music?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

No, it\u2019s the opposite. The music comes first. Then it\u2019s time to write the lyrics, time for the memories. Memories of a guy who I met totally drunk in the street, a friend I went to Italy with and who drank bad alcohol one night and started crying, another friend who can\u2019t get off drugs\u2026 And a character forms, made up of all these experiences. It\u2019s a strange phenomenon which I both participate in and observe from a distance at the same time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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You share with a certain part of the French scene \u2013 Fauve# or Orelsan \u2013 an attraction for the loser.<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

We all have very different aesthetics, but we do have that in common, it\u2019s true. Personally I suffer from terrible anxiety in the face of success. I really do think that the moment all the planets become aligned is the worst time to react. When they\u2019re waiting for me, when everything has been achieved, I feel totally disarmed. It\u2019s like asking a comedian to make you laugh and he gets totally lost for words\u2026 The loser\u2019s garb that I frequently put on is a way of fighting against that. I\u2019d prefer to lose and look like an idiot because I\u2019m always better when there\u2019s an element of danger and when I\u2019ve still got everything to prove. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

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What\u2019s your ambition today?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

To remain normal\u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Oh please, we\u2019re not on prime time! Haven\u2019t you got anything less consensual to say?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

I\u2019m quite serious. Maintaining a straightforward relationship with your family and friends is a good ambition. As is maintaining normal contact with people. I\u2019m quite happy to sign autographs, but the public also has to leave me in peace to have dinner with my mum at a restaurant. That\u2019s what I want to tackle after the intense tour we\u2019re committed to until 2015. That return to reality makes me scared after such a long period of work, far from everything.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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The melting pot you defend is evident in your way of mixing up all different types of music from around the world. But aren\u2019t you worried about ending up with a big mishmash of cultures that just dilutes them?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

I think the primary danger for cultural diversity is English. Or rather the temptation everyone has to sing in English and abandon their own language. Cultures evolve through contact with one another, and that\u2019s a fact. Will they lose their particularities because of that? I don\u2019t think so. I have great faith in the strength of the cultures I\u2019ve come into contact with. Africa is a good example. They aren\u2019t as traditional as they were 40 years ago, but they are still super interesting. In Dakar or Abidjan these cultures, even though they\u2019ve been increasingly mixed up with Western culture, are totally thriving. The danger lies with the supremacy of a culture, not the actual mixing. A number of things will evolve, sure, but, within limits, their essence will remain.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Everything has to change for nothing to change?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

My brain seems to be structured in such a way that I think fundamentally things won\u2019t move. It\u2019s like we will always know a certain kind of status quo. And that comes, I\u2019m sure of it, from my education and the very Catholic values instilled in me by my family. When I think about it I realize I\u2019m actually deeply conservative.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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I\u2019d have thought you were more of a rebel. Didn\u2019t you start rapping as a reaction to the very bourgeois boarding school where you studied?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

I\u2019ve known that need for social revenge, faced with a bourgeois milieu which was totally foreign to me. With time though you realize that no one cares. And you understand that actually your best friend back then was also one of those \u201cnasty\u201d bourgeois people, you just didn\u2019t realize it\u2026 [Laughs.]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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To end this interview with style, could the politically correct Stromae oblige us with an unnuanced, unsentimental declaration?<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Yes. I think I\u2019m a arsehole. <\/p>\r\n\n

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