Trivia / Stromae

• I Am Not Spock: When not in character as Stromae, or when not discussing the project of Stromae, Paul Van Haver would prefer you call him "Paul". Paul has described Stromae as a caricature of himself, and he has explained his 2015—2018^note strictly speaking, 2015–2017, as he (as Stromae) released an instrumental piece to promote Mosaert's collaboration with Repetto in 2017. However, because Stromae did not release or do anything of great musical notoriety between the videos for "Quand c'est ?" and "La pluie", the hiatus was only considered "over" by fans when the latter song dropped in 2018. hiatus as Stromae "being on vacation".
• No Export for You: The Angel Haze remix of "Papaoutai" was intended for the UK and US releases of racine carrée only. However, it is also available for digital download in Canada via iTunes.
• Referenced by...:
  • One Non Mais T'as Vu Ce Que T'écoutes gives to "Formidable"'s lyrics a mixed review, while pointing out the song has a weak text, until you listen to the full text at once and notice the metaphor pursued in the whole song. He also points out "Formidable" is much better in a live performance. Other sequences of the video include a mashup of "Alors on danse" with "Ne me quitte pas'', as well as a mashup of "Papaoutai" with "Le Tirelipimpon".
  • Les Guignols de l'Info parodied "Papaoutai" as "Emploi, où t'es?" ("Employment, Where Are You?") to mock the rise of unemployment during François Hollande's presidency; the music video alternates between Hollande looking for jobs in various corners of the presidential palace (as if he was looking for a literal, tangible object) and scenes of Hollande and his team dancing. Also, Stromae's puppet occasionally appears in skits, including one where he can be hired as the entertainer for various depressing events (firing, chemotherapy, stoning...).
• What Could Have Been:
  • Paul revealed in a Stringray Music interview that an early version of "Papaoutai" touched more on his personal relationship (or lack thereof) with his father.
  • He considered asking Cesaria Evora to do a collaboration when he met her, but between seeing her declining health and being too starstruck to say much of anything, the opportunity passed by and cannot happen now.
  • The version of "Je Cours" that appears in la Leçon n°2 is vastly different from the final version. The lyrics are largely the same (though there are variances), but that's about it.
    • Les Leçons in general showcase various examples of this in hindsight, from songs that did not get released at all, songs that were released on Mixture Elecstro but not on a major album, and versions of singles with different melodies or alternate lyrics. (The latter outtake did get incorporated into an official remix, though.)
  • He and Madonna had "talked about working together". Nothing ever came of it.
    • Likewise, will.i.am expressed an interest in working with "that dude". So far, nothing's happened.
  • Multitude was originally going to be called Folklore. Another high-profile artist beat Stromae to it, though, so Multitude was chosen instead.