In a relatively short career, Belgian singer/songwriter Stromae has synthesized music genres and visual influences to create a body of work that defies easy categorization, making him that rare contemporary pop figure to not only justify the hype around them, but to transcend it. He’s what so many others claim to be, try to be, and simply fall short of being.
Whether he’s channeling iconic French figures like Jacques Brel, layering gorgeous melodies over House grooves, or breathing rare humanity into EDM tracks, he’s always coming at things from slightly left of center – and that’s just with the music. While some of his videos bear the mark of someone who’s declared he’s a passionate Wes Anderson fan, they do so less out of slavish imitation than a shared sense of quirk and the ability to quickly sketch a character through visual choices.
His latest video for “Quand C’est?” (literally translated, it means “When is it?”) is a sparse, deceptively elegant affair that finds him literally battling cancer as he rattles off a list of people in his life (mom, dad) who’ve been affected by the disease. Largely filmed in silhouette for maximum visual punch, the clip showcases Stromae in choreographed modern dance mode, stretching, bending and contorting his long spindly body into all manner of shape as he confronts then retreats from his sinister foe.
Dressed in a black turtleneck and slacks, performing on an otherwise empty stage, he looks like a beatnik but moves like a Martha Graham disciple. His moves are both precise and fluid, fearlessly androgynous. At times his hunched back and slender spidery fingers evoke Murnau‘s Nosferatu, making him appear as fearsome and formidable as his opponent. But that’s just an illusion. He’s eventually plucked up and hurled into an endless criss-crossing web along with countless other bodies that have been snared by the disease. Hypnotic in its slow-creeping sense of dread, the clip is the very definition of haunting.
And here’s a bonus clip, “Peace or Violence.”
