Stromae
Alors On Danse
Release date: TBC Label: Island
'Its blend of French flow, trance stabs, ravey sax and la-la-la vocals offer no less than four melodies perfect for drunken chanting...so it's going to be massive. And yet, it's about the awfulness of existence.'
Guardian.co.uk
Half Rwandan and half Belgium Stromae produced European Billboard no.1 hit 'Alors On Danse' on his computer at home with a desktop mic.
Even more remarkable, he created his buzz when filming homemade 'lessons in how to make a hit' for his Youtube channel, starting in January 2009 ('Les Leçon De Stromae' or 'Stromae's Lessons'). Lesson no. 8 'Alors On Dance' became a viral sensation and then a real hit on Europe's radio airwaves, getting to no.1 across the continent (11 countries so far!) and running up 7 million Youtube plays.
It started when the internet excitement from his music production Youtube shows caught the attention of DJ Julie on the dance specialist NRJ Mash Up Show of France's biggest radio station in June 2009. Getting rave reactions on the specialist show it was moved to playlist rotation proper and from there it shot to no.1 in both France and Germany.
French language blog Fluo Kids described 'Alors on Danse' as like 'Calabria X tranxene'. 'Calabria' referring to Alex Gaudino's 2007 dance hit and tranxene referring to the anti-depressant pills proscribed for anxiety.
Stromae (born Paul Van Haver) fits his smart stream of consciousness lyrics into dance music. He has reimagined the sound of his native Belgium's late 80's New Beat. Groups like Snap! And Technotronic produced worldwide hit records by retooling Chicago house with European je ne sais quoi.
Stromae's has had the first #1 single in Germany in the French language since 1988. With English speaking clubs and blogs worldwide already heating up for 'Alors On Danse' this product of global list of influences could end up sitting on a global hit.
Track listing:
1. Uk Club Mix
2. Sean Finn Bigroom Mix
3. Sean Finn Rework
4. Uk Dub Mix
5. Radio Edit
6. Sean Finn Bigroom Radio Edit
7. Sean Finn Edit
8. Uk Club Edit ft Eric Hassle