Ah, the French language! So charming, so romantic, so softly evocative of beautiful times. It’s easy to allow Belgian singer/rapper Stromae’s resonant tones to drift dreamily past on his third album, though the language of love takes on a different hue on C’est que du bonheur (“Nothing But Joy”), a mix of accordion and clattering beats that sees him considering the experience of parenthood. Those who understand French will hear him summing up his love for his son, who was born in 2018, thus: “You’ll see, it’s nothing but joy/You’ll see, it’s pure happiness/There are nappies and foul smells/There is vomit, there is shit, and everything else.”
Marriage and fatherhood are two reasons for the 36-year-old’s long absence from music. This is his first album in nine years, a disappearing act that’s surprising considering that when he left the stage he was one of Europe’s biggest stars. His last release, Racine carrée (or “Square Root”, beating Ed Sheeran to that particular mathematical symbol) was the highest selling album of both 2013 and 2014 in France and Belgium. He also crossed over to non-Francophone countries, especially when his early single Alors on danse hit number one across the continent. Even so, English speakers have so far been resistant despite his appearances on songs with Kanye West, Lorde, Haim and Coldplay.
