This was pretty funny. It was all over the news here in Belgium. The media saying Stromae was losing it etc..but it was all staged, filmed with hidden camera s. He s such a unique artist!
Stromae is so sneaky... This was all over the news, people saying Stromae had totally lost it, wandering around Bruselles drunk and making a fool of himself and then BAM... one week later Formidable drops and everyone loses their shit haha
I lives in Brussels and I have seen police or security dealing with drunk peoples several time : they were always polite and patient with them. They always try to keep them calm, even when they're not. So no Stromae didn't get that much of a special treatment (even though one of the police man was clearly a big fan) also the police actually intervened twice so Stromae had to break the scene and explain to them that he was actually acting for a clip but of course they didn't include that in the video :p Also Stromae lives in a pretty normal neighborhood of Brussels so it's not really a big deal.
Don't take the dad thing too seriously. It's been at the heart of Stromae's art work, he questions fatherhood, wh'at does it take to be a good father, why do some fathers leave, what makes a father cheat ... it's all to do with his relationship with his own dad. He doesn't mean to insult or deminish all dads, he just answers questions that he has encountered in his life.
I think his interpretation here was rather superficial. The lyrics represent a drunk taking a piss at the world and feeling like crap because he was just dumped, harassing a minor in public just to tell them that mommy is afraid of age and daddy is running after younger women. The point really isn't the daddy thing, the point is several layers about: stereotypes, human relationships, self-perception and peer pressure, alcohol abuse, social interaction, going beyond appearances etc. etc.
Stromae talks about fathers being assholes and cheating or being violent in a lot of his songs, I don't think it's because he's making fun of fathers, but instead being very critical of a lot of behaviors he's seen first hand and he's not afraid of talking about the darker side of some men.
As usual Stromae is playing with the words like a maestro 👌 Formidable = wonderful Fort minable = pathetic It sounds very close, but the meaning is totally opposite
I realize this is in Belgium, but I've actually seen some really interesting differences between France (and probably other countries) and, say, the USA when it comes to police handling intoxicated people. I was in Paris a few years back for Bastille Day and this guy was wasted. The police showed up with a van and took him inside, but kept him there and gave him water and stuff to help clear his head before letting him back out onto the street. This was only one incident, but it gave me the impression that the French actually know how to handle drunk people and help them rather than criminalize them.
As a belgian I can tell you that normally when you are drunk and endanger yourself or others police in Belgium take you home under force or somewhere safe like police quarters. I guess they left him because he's THE Stromae.
@@TheLookylook if you're drunk ''normally'' in Belgium but you're not really bothering anyone or endangering yourself or others, police will usually not intervene at all here. I know I've lived here all my life. There's an entire street full of bars and clubs here in my city that's closed off on a regular basis so students can wonder around it the entire night drunk. I've been to many parties, clubs, bars etc where police were even right outside keeping an eye out, and they'd just let you walk or cycle home just like that even if you're obviously drunk. Police here in Belgium are VERY tolerant of public drunkenness.
@@johanwittens7712 hi! I know, where do you think I live? You should read my first comment again. Because I know of a few cases where police intervened, that was a case of heavy drunkenness and endangering other people and themselves. In other words you have to be a violent drunk. Of course they have to be around or called, which is not often the case. 🤭
Thanks for your reaction. Like your work a lot! Before he made this video, Stromae was filmed eating Taboule in his car by some dudes. Stromae didn't like that, remained polite anyway, but refuses to sing for them. The video vent viral and had a lot of views. Stromae was hurt about that and said in an interview: ,They wanted blood so I gave them blood'. He had the idea of him faking to be drunk in public, giving people the opportunity to film him. He wanted to see, where this would leed. This video was something like an experiment and showed him in the end, that people were much more respectfull than he antiscipated. On the subject of female / masculine stereotypes: Stromae plays with them well knowing, what he is doing. He is a beautifull man, often wearing ,female' cloths, living and working with a strong partner. So I believe he thinks, this granny- / cheating- stereotype is bullshit too. All the best from Switzerland!
regarding 8:17 you ask "why is only the daddy an asshole by cheating" But Stromae preceded that verse saying "in life theres no nasty guy, no nice guy"
Stromae is a real artist, as soon as he starts to sing he reminds me of old French chansonniers like Charles Aznavour , Gilbert Bécaud and Jacques Brel. As soon as Stromae starts to sing I hear an old soul with such a voice which gives me goosebumps, so beautiful. Love his music and lyrical skills, superbe!
"Formidable" is what the French language calls a "faux ami", basically a word spelt the same in English and French, but not meaning the same thing. Also, police don't always react the same way depending upon the action and reactions of the person in front of them. Belguim police are pretty cool from my interactions with them (as are the Dutch police, for example), and the UK police can be up there too. The less said about some of the US cops, the better
well, I get what you guys mean when you say it's a "faux ami" being french myself, but I actually think the word came from one language to the other (probably from french to english) since, in french, a "formidable adversaire" , a formidable opponent would be literally a wonderful opponent, as someone really challenging you, to the point you overcome yourself and enjoy said opposition. hence having both the difficult and enjoyable meanings in one
@@Guillean22 The structure of the sentence of your example is wrong for French. It *should* be an "adversaire formidable." Either way, it still doesn't prove the origin of a word. And unlike the French, who have a stick so far up their collective asses about things like this, the English speakers don't give a f*** about the origin of a word.
it's not really a false friend, the term means pretty much the same in both languages. It means someone amazing, powerful, well asserted, a force to reckon with. That's why it applies to both an adversary and to what Stromae says here: the ex is formidable, now that she's left him he feels like he's worth nothing, uncomparable to her.
@@pirimpallopirimpalli4932 The word has far more of a positive connotation in French, basically meaning "great", whereas the English is the definition you stated.
When this video clip was released, Stromae wasn't yet the megastar he is today. Many people knew him already from his first hit video 'Alors on danse' but he was still a new interesting talent waiting to be confirmed, which you can see in the clip where about everyone ignores him (this was a candid camera btw)... This clip confirmed his talent as his second formidable hit!
Thank you for your reaction mate, thoughtful and intelligent . Keep in mind that it was his early work , and especially this song is very hard to translate. Formidable ( great, wonderful,fantastic) , Fort minable ( pathetic ,weak, common , not up to the task) = beautiful wordplay. A guy just broke up with his relationship, drank his sorrows through the night , trying to take the first tram home That is what we are looking at. As a guy from Amsterdam , but with some French family , when I got through a break-up years ago ,this song hit at the time. I tried to translate it , but it is one of those songs... Two words with so many different meanings, connected together makes sense in French. I am sure someone can translate it for you in the also beautiful british language.
I love that song, the lyrics and the way he plays with French language, the music and his intelligence... I definitely have respect for this French language lover... Yes he plays all the time but you can see how he's respected anyway, everyone loves him. This guy is "formidable"
I think the point he was making was, even showing how obviously broken he was at that moment....nobody really wanted to help him. Just help him! They just wanted to take pics and point. The local news started talking etc. He eventually really did leave the public eye and stayed away for a very long time. So very glad he's back!
It was so interesting to see you process this video. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions with you; you were surprised, confused, shocked, angry, amused. You're so raw in your reactions, I love it💕
The whole point of him getting drunk was not the breakup itself, but the reason for the breakup, which is that he can't have children.. He loops back around at the end of the song when he says, just give me a baby monkey He'll be wonderful. About the cheating: He portrays himself on the stories he tells. He was cheating and assumes it's everybody's case too since he's drunk and everything is about him, hope that helps :)
The video was made in the early stages of his career and his first song ever, "Alors on dance" was instant hit and it was immediately choosen as official World Championship song for the Belge Football team. Lots of people knew the song but not the face. If you watch closely it's only the young folks who are informed as they're secretly filming with their phones. He made a nice prank here and in addition advertised his Mosaert fashion label as he is in full clad... - He really pulls the strings. Funny! Clever! Smart!
Actually for the police it depends a bit on where you are in Belgium but some police are really friendly with the citizens of their legal area. Of course the popularity surely helps this gentle treatment for a "drunken state on the road". But if the cops know you not because of your criminal record but more as a "good" person, then they will be understanding.
When I heard “Déclaration” off the new album, I found so many links to this song. He certainly has themes in his work and being critical of gender roles is one of them.
i was rolling my eyes when he did that comment ahah, this is belgium… not the uk… if you don’t know how people are in another country, don’t assume it’s like in yours lmao
I don't know where Belgium ranks compared to UK as a 1st world country (I prefer our social welfare over the UK's but that's another debate), but not all police are the same, so most of them are kind to non-famous-drunks as well ; )
It was filmed with hidden cameras while he was coming home drunk. "Fort minable", almost pronounced the same way as "formidable", means "very pathetic".
About the police, at least in my country it's pretty ordinary that police take drunk people home or at the police station. Dealing with drunk people is everyday work for them, so they are usually pretty chill about it. I'd imagine it's similar in Belgium
I looked it up and “formidable” is from the Latin root formidabilis, meaning fearsome. Both English and French get the word formidable from this root, but in French over time it changes to meaning wonderful, and in English it changes to mean difficult. It’s the same way that in English the word awesome used to mean fearsome and slowly changed to the usually positive meaning we now use today. But you will sometimes still see it used to describe “the awesome power” of something, which is both impressive and a fearsome.
As a Belgian, I can tell you that it's going to depend on the cop. Some of them can be verry chill, some of them can be in a good mood and just chose to let it go. We do have assholes like everywhere but in general, they're ok.
I hear what you are saying about taking the Mick out of dads, and I agree completely with you. That being said, the fact that Stromae's dad wasn't around and then was killed in the Rwandan genocide, means that he has a lot of pain in this area. I think that there are also a lot of people that can relate. My grandfather was busy building up a business, so my father never saw how a father is supposed to be around for their family. As such, as a kid, my father would leave us frequently to go and play golf for the weekend. It's tough.
From interviews and what I've heard, although his father died when he was young, his dad traveled all the time and while away from the family he had affairs. As much of Stromae's lyrics deal with parental issues, I wouldn't be surprised that his personal experiences with fathers are portrayed in these lyrics.
Formidable is actually also used for a formidable opponent. In french in means "great". So in the case of a relationship or just as a standalone word, it means wonderful. For an ennemy it would mean that this ennemy was mighty, it gives an idea that you are very impressed by and have a lot of respect for this ennemy. I guess english lost the "wonderful" aspect with time but sure enough, it was used like in French some time in the past since many aristocratic people in England used to speak French to be more fancy
Belgium is so close to England that you could very easily take a trip and see for yourself whether the police are actually polite to people. Because they don't all need to be assholes everywhere.
6:49 yeah it’s a first world country but the rest of Europe sees UK the same as how the rest of the world sees the US 😂 Very developed/powerful countries but in some areas they appear to be a bit backwards and not up to the standards you’d assume them to be (healthcare and homeless in US, and various other smaller issues in the UK)
I'm french and i just discovered your Channel. It's amazing to see a british guy that talks about the musiques I always heard as a kid and a pre-teenager. Stromae is one of the best artist in the french and belgium music world. Thanks you for analysing his musics and clips, the way you do that is brilliant :))
I love your assessments of Stromae's music, I really enjoy how you put into words your analysis of a given song, THANK YOU!! (Yes, two exclamation marks, indeed I am from U.S.) I am a very recent Stromae convert, and your videos have helped my understanding of the lyrics.
On an French interview a few months ago he revealed why he did this. He just released "tous les mêmes",when he got filmed by some guys when he was eating in the back of a car. They where really annoying and frankly rude. They posted this online and the video of stromae eating went viral. Stromae was annoyed by this that his music was less important than his eating habits. That's where he got the idea from.
To put it in context, there was a lot of buzz around the production of the clip. We could see many videos upstream showing Stromae drunk. Then the clip fell and everything cleared up in the eyes of all
The song was born from an encounter Stromae had with a homeless man. He called out to him while he was walking in Brussels with his wife, saying to him: “awesom, you think you are handsome, because you are married? " ......
Another artist with very strong lyrics you can check is Woodkid and incredible video clip as well. Particularly should check out In your likeness, saw him live performing and the song is very powerful!
Formidable, in french and english, means stg that you envy... Fact : the english word come from litteraly of the French word. The meaning too😉 it's a synonym of incredible
Stromae told in interview that the cops actually came back to force him to go home: he had to show them the hidden cams to let them understand that he was staging...
Love you content to Stromae! Its really fun to rediscover an artist that you like from another fresh eye's perspective. You should really check out Orelsan! He is a french lyricist rapper that is on the top of his game in the past few years. He is also a good friend of Stromae. He helps him a lot with his text writing. Have a good day man!
He starts the song by pointing out that his girlfriend leaves him because he can't have kids...so he's pointing out the selfishness of a women...and then he just happens to point out a man who cheats for the same reason...selfishness. Stromae is an "equal-opportunity offender"...we're all pathetic, and we do selfish, superficial things to feel "wonderful".
nah actually in belgium it's sometimes common by police to walk up to you first check if yur okay. If they see ur not making trouble by attacking people or sum they won't drag u. That's my experience tho
At the time this sing was al over the news everywhere literwlly everywhere , Strowme made this as the people perceptions on what they they see on the news and everyone thought he lost it, obviously. Not so just becuase is on the news evrywhere andis the celeb dienst mewn it is true , thats was his point that he cleares after the video
Formidable in French is not just "wonderful", but also carries the sense of "amazing" and "powerful". So it's a bit closer to the English "formidable" than the "Wonderful" translation suggests.
6:30 I'm Belgian and I can say the cops would most probably have treated a 'regular' civilian that way too. Police here tend not to be power hungry power tripping idiots. They're trained to de-escalate and treat people with respect. Of course there's always a-holes, but usually police are pretty polite here. On top of that, public drinking is perfectly legal here. Its Only public drunkenness that's illegal, but even then this is rarely acted upon and prosecuted. It's only of you're being a public nuisance annoying people while you're drunk that police might arrest you, but even then they'll usually just let you sleep it off in a jail cell without prosecution. It's only if you're really bring agressieve, being a hooligan, destroying public property etc that they'll arrest you and prosecute you. We have a very different drinking culture from the Anglo-Saxon world here. Here we take out time eating and drinking, often only even starting to go out at 23h-00h at night, pacing yourself drinking to keep going until 4-5-6h in the morning. Bars never have had a closing time here for the most part, and clubs don't have closing times at all but for the ones they set for themselves. Some clubs just continue untill the afternoon the next day. I've been in clubs untill 11-12h the next day. If someone is already stupid drunk at 21-22-23h at night that's a dead give away here in Belgium that they're tourists (usually British, American, Irish, Australian or other former empire) or they're teenagers that are out for the first time. Legal drinking age is 16 here so it's only "silly teenagers" that don't know how to pace themselves. Drinking yourself into a stupor by midnight like many Brits tend to do is frowned upon here very much, since that's something only silly teenagers do. One example: The city where I live here in Belgium is a student town and there's one street that's full of student bars and clubs near the university. On busy days/nights they simply close off the street to traffic and then the street is full of completely drunk students and people the entire night. The police just patrol on foot to make sure everyone is safe and no fights break out, but that's it. We also have a 10 day festival here right in the city center with multiple squares that have stages and concerts, where the entire city center is closed off and full of people drinking. Most squares don't close untill 3, and the last ''party'' square only closes at 8h in the morning for the entire 10 days, with it only closing at 10h the last night/morning. So yeah. Police here are VERY used to dealing with drunk people, even in the day, especially in the mornings. And there's a low priority for arresting and prosecuting, since they'd have to arrest hundreds of people every day from Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon. Belgium has this reputation of being somewhat boring, untill you discover where the parties are at...
So why this video, Stromae was eating lunch alone in his car and some teens made fun of him. He decided to make this music video to be "pathetic" like they said
In February 2013, news sites took over an amateur video of him eating tabbouleh and being pissed off by a guy who made fun of his Fiat 500: ruclips.net/video/TGv9TnwI_lE/видео.html With "Formidable", he traps the media which are talking about his supposed decline and also all the people who are only looking for this kind of content. Thank you for your videos and your great analysis, it's really cool to watch!
Stromae avait dit qu'il avait dit aux flics hors caméra qu'il n'était pas bourré et qu'il faisait semblant, parce que généralement si t'es bourré sur la voie publique les flics t'embarquent
People should be nice to each other, even if you have the power that doesn't mean you have to be mean to peoples. Some countries even if they have good economy or rich, they treat their citizens bad 😢
They threw alcohol on his clothes so it would be even more believable. This took 18 hours to make with hidden cameras all over the square in Brussels. Even on parked bicycles.
Anglo Saxon attitude toward society is different and harder than in countries in most of Western Europe. Cops in the Netherlands and Belgium are much more friendly and agreeable than cops in the UK and the especially the USA. There is a problem with handhavers, who have received much less training and generally try to enforce certain laws. Like traffic violations, littering and not paying for public transport. They become more violent sooner than well trained cops.
I know this isn't really in theme with your videos but I'll suggest something from KATE BUSH. Maybe you already are familiar with her work. Best album is HOUNDS OF LOVE. Anything from that album. RUNNIN UP THAT HILL (A DEAL WITH GOD), CLOUDBUSTING, or JIG OF LIFE are great choices. Take care!
Just watched this ... in all honesty, I would have had the same reaction regarding Police but miy mnext door neighbour is a (female) police officer and all I'm hearing is very positive. But she also says that ... well ... there are limits. I guess all of our miles (kilomters BTW) vary ...
This was pretty funny. It was all over the news here in Belgium. The media saying Stromae was losing it etc..but it was all staged, filmed with hidden camera s. He s such a unique artist!
that's an excellent publicity stunt
We're all happy that he's kinda representing our country
It was all over France as well :-) he’s a marketing genius!
There's is no better publicity than the media hating on you
yep
Stromae is so sneaky... This was all over the news, people saying Stromae had totally lost it, wandering around Bruselles drunk and making a fool of himself and then BAM... one week later Formidable drops and everyone loses their shit haha
I lives in Brussels and I have seen police or security dealing with drunk peoples several time : they were always polite and patient with them. They always try to keep them calm, even when they're not. So no Stromae didn't get that much of a special treatment (even though one of the police man was clearly a big fan) also the police actually intervened twice so Stromae had to break the scene and explain to them that he was actually acting for a clip but of course they didn't include that in the video :p Also Stromae lives in a pretty normal neighborhood of Brussels so it's not really a big deal.
Don't take the dad thing too seriously. It's been at the heart of Stromae's art work, he questions fatherhood, wh'at does it take to be a good father, why do some fathers leave, what makes a father cheat ... it's all to do with his relationship with his own dad. He doesn't mean to insult or deminish all dads, he just answers questions that he has encountered in his life.
I think his interpretation here was rather superficial. The lyrics represent a drunk taking a piss at the world and feeling like crap because he was just dumped, harassing a minor in public just to tell them that mommy is afraid of age and daddy is running after younger women. The point really isn't the daddy thing, the point is several layers about: stereotypes, human relationships, self-perception and peer pressure, alcohol abuse, social interaction, going beyond appearances etc. etc.
Stromae talks about fathers being assholes and cheating or being violent in a lot of his songs, I don't think it's because he's making fun of fathers, but instead being very critical of a lot of behaviors he's seen first hand and he's not afraid of talking about the darker side of some men.
This by far is the most stupid reaction on stromare I have seen .
I agree
sons vrai
As usual Stromae is playing with the words like a maestro 👌
Formidable = wonderful
Fort minable = pathetic
It sounds very close, but the meaning is totally opposite
Formidable = wonderful
Fort minable = very pathetic ( juste pour préciser)
@@juma2619 "just for precising"
I realize this is in Belgium, but I've actually seen some really interesting differences between France (and probably other countries) and, say, the USA when it comes to police handling intoxicated people.
I was in Paris a few years back for Bastille Day and this guy was wasted. The police showed up with a van and took him inside, but kept him there and gave him water and stuff to help clear his head before letting him back out onto the street. This was only one incident, but it gave me the impression that the French actually know how to handle drunk people and help them rather than criminalize them.
As a belgian I can tell you that normally when you are drunk and endanger yourself or others police in Belgium take you home under force or somewhere safe like police quarters. I guess they left him because he's THE Stromae.
@@TheLookylook if you're drunk ''normally'' in Belgium but you're not really bothering anyone or endangering yourself or others, police will usually not intervene at all here. I know I've lived here all my life. There's an entire street full of bars and clubs here in my city that's closed off on a regular basis so students can wonder around it the entire night drunk.
I've been to many parties, clubs, bars etc where police were even right outside keeping an eye out, and they'd just let you walk or cycle home just like that even if you're obviously drunk. Police here in Belgium are VERY tolerant of public drunkenness.
@@johanwittens7712 hi! I know, where do you think I live? You should read my first comment again. Because I know of a few cases where police intervened, that was a case of heavy drunkenness and endangering other people and themselves. In other words you have to be a violent drunk. Of course they have to be around or called, which is not often the case. 🤭
Thanks for your reaction. Like your work a lot!
Before he made this video, Stromae was filmed eating Taboule in his car by some dudes. Stromae didn't like that, remained polite anyway, but refuses to sing for them. The video vent viral and had a lot of views. Stromae was hurt about that and said in an interview: ,They wanted blood so I gave them blood'. He had the idea of him faking to be drunk in public, giving people the opportunity to film him. He wanted to see, where this would leed. This video was something like an experiment and showed him in the end, that people were much more respectfull than he antiscipated.
On the subject of female / masculine stereotypes: Stromae plays with them well knowing, what he is doing. He is a beautifull man, often wearing ,female' cloths, living and working with a strong partner. So I believe he thinks, this granny- / cheating- stereotype is bullshit too.
All the best from Switzerland!
Also the reason for the "This is not a lesson" at the beginning.
regarding 8:17 you ask "why is only the daddy an asshole by cheating"
But Stromae preceded that verse saying "in life theres no nasty guy, no nice guy"
Stromae is a real artist, as soon as he starts to sing he reminds me of old French chansonniers like Charles Aznavour , Gilbert Bécaud and Jacques Brel. As soon as Stromae starts to sing I hear an old soul with such a voice which gives me goosebumps, so beautiful. Love his music and lyrical skills, superbe!
"Formidable" is what the French language calls a "faux ami", basically a word spelt the same in English and French, but not meaning the same thing.
Also, police don't always react the same way depending upon the action and reactions of the person in front of them. Belguim police are pretty cool from my interactions with them (as are the Dutch police, for example), and the UK police can be up there too. The less said about some of the US cops, the better
well, I get what you guys mean when you say it's a "faux ami" being french myself, but I actually think the word came from one language to the other (probably from french to english) since, in french, a "formidable adversaire" , a formidable opponent would be literally a wonderful opponent, as someone really challenging you, to the point you overcome yourself and enjoy said opposition. hence having both the difficult and enjoyable meanings in one
@@Guillean22 The structure of the sentence of your example is wrong for French. It *should* be an "adversaire formidable."
Either way, it still doesn't prove the origin of a word. And unlike the French, who have a stick so far up their collective asses about things like this, the English speakers don't give a f*** about the origin of a word.
it's not really a false friend, the term means pretty much the same in both languages. It means someone amazing, powerful, well asserted, a force to reckon with. That's why it applies to both an adversary and to what Stromae says here: the ex is formidable, now that she's left him he feels like he's worth nothing, uncomparable to her.
@@pirimpallopirimpalli4932 The word has far more of a positive connotation in French, basically meaning "great", whereas the English is the definition you stated.
One reason for his lyrical relationship with fathers might be because of his own? I've read that his father was very absent before his death.
When this video clip was released, Stromae wasn't yet the megastar he is today. Many people knew him already from his first hit video 'Alors on danse' but he was still a new interesting talent waiting to be confirmed, which you can see in the clip where about everyone ignores him (this was a candid camera btw)...
This clip confirmed his talent as his second formidable hit!
Pls try his song Carmen..i think you will have a lot to say about that one.
I subscribe to that one. Would love to see it. Masterpiece.
Thank you for your reaction mate, thoughtful and intelligent . Keep in mind that it was his early work , and especially this song is very hard to translate.
Formidable ( great, wonderful,fantastic) , Fort minable ( pathetic ,weak, common , not up to the task) = beautiful wordplay.
A guy just broke up with his relationship, drank his sorrows through the night , trying to take the first tram home That is what we are looking at.
As a guy from Amsterdam , but with some French family , when I got through a break-up years ago ,this song hit at the time.
I tried to translate it , but it is one of those songs...
Two words with so many different meanings, connected together makes sense in French.
I am sure someone can translate it for you in the also beautiful british language.
I love that song, the lyrics and the way he plays with French language, the music and his intelligence... I definitely have respect for this French language lover... Yes he plays all the time but you can see how he's respected anyway, everyone loves him. This guy is "formidable"
Police in Belgium is always that nice never had a bad cop like they say😅
👏💗
I think the point he was making was, even showing how obviously broken he was at that moment....nobody really wanted to help him. Just help him! They just wanted to take pics and point. The local news started talking etc. He eventually really did leave the public eye and stayed away for a very long time. So very glad he's back!
It was so interesting to see you process this video. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions with you; you were surprised, confused, shocked, angry, amused. You're so raw in your reactions, I love it💕
The whole point of him getting drunk was not the breakup itself, but the reason for the breakup, which is that he can't have children..
He loops back around at the end of the song when he says, just give me a baby monkey He'll be wonderful.
About the cheating: He portrays himself on the stories he tells. He was cheating and assumes it's everybody's case too since he's drunk and everything is about him, hope that helps :)
The video was made in the early stages of his career and his first song ever, "Alors on dance" was instant hit and it was immediately choosen as official World Championship song for the Belge Football team. Lots of people knew the song but not the face.
If you watch closely it's only the young folks who are informed as they're secretly filming with their phones.
He made a nice prank here and in addition advertised his Mosaert fashion label as he is in full clad... - He really pulls the strings. Funny! Clever! Smart!
This song one of my favourite. Lyrics are so strong..as every Stromae 's songs by the way. He is a genius
Actually for the police it depends a bit on where you are in Belgium but some police are really friendly with the citizens of their legal area. Of course the popularity surely helps this gentle treatment for a "drunken state on the road". But if the cops know you not because of your criminal record but more as a "good" person, then they will be understanding.
You can also hear "Ta fête" which was the Belgian anthem for the football team !
When I heard “Déclaration” off the new album, I found so many links to this song. He certainly has themes in his work and being critical of gender roles is one of them.
Looking forward to see you react to other (older) video's from Stromae ! And most of the Police are friendly in Belgium, if you aren't agressive
Unless traffic police i've never met non agressive ones 🤣
i was rolling my eyes when he did that comment ahah, this is belgium… not the uk… if you don’t know how people are in another country, don’t assume it’s like in yours lmao
I don't know where Belgium ranks compared to UK as a 1st world country (I prefer our social welfare over the UK's but that's another debate), but not all police are the same, so most of them are kind to non-famous-drunks as well ; )
It was filmed with hidden cameras while he was coming home drunk. "Fort minable", almost pronounced the same way as "formidable", means "very pathetic".
the police over here does treat civilians like that, I've been dropped off at home after a night of drinking and having no cash for a cab
👏🧡
About the police, at least in my country it's pretty ordinary that police take drunk people home or at the police station. Dealing with drunk people is everyday work for them, so they are usually pretty chill about it. I'd imagine it's similar in Belgium
I looked it up and “formidable” is from the Latin root formidabilis, meaning fearsome. Both English and French get the word formidable from this root, but in French over time it changes to meaning wonderful, and in English it changes to mean difficult. It’s the same way that in English the word awesome used to mean fearsome and slowly changed to the usually positive meaning we now use today. But you will sometimes still see it used to describe “the awesome power” of something, which is both impressive and a fearsome.
You are so intelligent and your analysis is usually spot on. I like your work, thanks.
As a Belgian, I can tell you that it's going to depend on the cop. Some of them can be verry chill, some of them can be in a good mood and just chose to let it go. We do have assholes like everywhere but in general, they're ok.
Notice how Belgium people police and people are sooo nice❤ I love Belgium
I hear what you are saying about taking the Mick out of dads, and I agree completely with you.
That being said, the fact that Stromae's dad wasn't around and then was killed in the Rwandan genocide, means that he has a lot of pain in this area. I think that there are also a lot of people that can relate. My grandfather was busy building up a business, so my father never saw how a father is supposed to be around for their family. As such, as a kid, my father would leave us frequently to go and play golf for the weekend. It's tough.
From interviews and what I've heard, although his father died when he was young, his dad traveled all the time and while away from the family he had affairs. As much of Stromae's lyrics deal with parental issues, I wouldn't be surprised that his personal experiences with fathers are portrayed in these lyrics.
Formidable is actually also used for a formidable opponent. In french in means "great". So in the case of a relationship or just as a standalone word, it means wonderful. For an ennemy it would mean that this ennemy was mighty, it gives an idea that you are very impressed by and have a lot of respect for this ennemy.
I guess english lost the "wonderful" aspect with time but sure enough, it was used like in French some time in the past since many aristocratic people in England used to speak French to be more fancy
Belgium is so close to England that you could very easily take a trip and see for yourself whether the police are actually polite to people. Because they don't all need to be assholes everywhere.
6:49 yeah it’s a first world country but the rest of Europe sees UK the same as how the rest of the world sees the US 😂
Very developed/powerful countries but in some areas they appear to be a bit backwards and not up to the standards you’d assume them to be (healthcare and homeless in US, and various other smaller issues in the UK)
I just love your reactions to his music!
Lots of love from Bosnia!
I'm french and i just discovered your Channel. It's amazing to see a british guy that talks about the musiques I always heard as a kid and a pre-teenager. Stromae is one of the best artist in the french and belgium music world. Thanks you for analysing his musics and clips, the way you do that is brilliant :))
I love your assessments of Stromae's music, I really enjoy how you put into words your analysis of a given song, THANK YOU!! (Yes, two exclamation marks, indeed I am from U.S.) I am a very recent Stromae convert, and your videos have helped my understanding of the lyrics.
Keep them coming👏🏼 fire reaction as usual 🔥🔥
7:10 no they don’t, we are just not in America here police doesn’t kill people because they are drunk, they listen to them and try to help them
I know he is from uk but it’s the same, European cops are very nice
@@Vladimir_Makarov-_-il vient de Belgique 😊
@@angeliquecatherine8504 nan je parlais du youtubeur, il vient du royaume uni mais oui stromar viens de Belgique
@@Vladimir_Makarov-_- ok man ✌
Teddy tu es Formidable🙌 j’adore ta manière de réagir. Stromae est un génie
On an French interview a few months ago he revealed why he did this. He just released "tous les mêmes",when he got filmed by some guys when he was eating in the back of a car. They where really annoying and frankly rude. They posted this online and the video of stromae eating went viral. Stromae was annoyed by this that his music was less important than his eating habits. That's where he got the idea from.
To put it in context, there was a lot of buzz around the production of the clip. We could see many videos upstream showing Stromae drunk. Then the clip fell and everything cleared up in the eyes of all
The best song in the whole world. We love Stormae from Israel.
Yeah tthis is his bestie song ❤️❤️🫵🏼
Great artist STarOMAE
The song was born from an encounter Stromae had with a homeless man. He called out to him while he was walking in Brussels with his wife, saying to him: “awesom, you think you are handsome, because you are married? " ......
Another artist with very strong lyrics you can check is Woodkid and incredible video clip as well. Particularly should check out In your likeness, saw him live performing and the song is very powerful!
ever since assassins creed i fell in love with woodkid xD
Formidable, in french and english, means stg that you envy... Fact : the english word come from litteraly of the French word. The meaning too😉 it's a synonym of incredible
Stromae told in interview that the cops actually came back to force him to go home: he had to show them the hidden cams to let them understand that he was staging...
Bro Ave Caseria by Stromae goes so hard!
From cambodia 🇰🇭 a big fan of stromae ❤️
loving all the stromae and stray kids reactions atm!
Love you content to Stromae! Its really fun to rediscover an artist that you like from another fresh eye's perspective.
You should really check out Orelsan! He is a french lyricist rapper that is on the top of his game in the past few years. He is also a good friend of Stromae. He helps him a lot with his text writing.
Have a good day man!
Depending on context, "formidable" can mean either "wonderful" or, indeed, "formidable". ;) Languages..... :P
He starts the song by pointing out that his girlfriend leaves him because he can't have kids...so he's pointing out the selfishness of a women...and then he just happens to point out a man who cheats for the same reason...selfishness. Stromae is an "equal-opportunity offender"...we're all pathetic, and we do selfish, superficial things to feel "wonderful".
nah actually in belgium it's sometimes common by police to walk up to you first check if yur okay. If they see ur not making trouble by attacking people or sum they won't drag u. That's my experience tho
I was once so drunk that I couldn't get back home and the police gave me a ride home.
At the time this sing was al over the news everywhere literwlly everywhere , Strowme made this as the people perceptions on what they they see on the news and everyone thought he lost it, obviously. Not so just becuase is on the news evrywhere andis the celeb dienst mewn it is true , thats was his point that he cleares after the video
Merci de réagir sur les chansons de notre belge préféré 😍🙌🙌kevyn de Belgique 🇧🇪
I like your reaction concerning the police officers.......you are absolutely right.
Great artist !
I like your reaction very much and also feel the same it important that man be more open and free amotionaly and stromae put it forward
Formidable means both wonderful and formidable. French has less adjectives for the same thing than English does.
I'm amazed as how quickly you pick up on the french
belgian police actually pretty nice, they will always try talking first, if you're not aggressive, they will be nice to you.
Formidable in French is not just "wonderful", but also carries the sense of "amazing" and "powerful". So it's a bit closer to the English "formidable" than the "Wonderful" translation suggests.
I think you'll REEEEAALLY like Tous Les Memes by the MAESTRO Stromae
6:30 I'm Belgian and I can say the cops would most probably have treated a 'regular' civilian that way too. Police here tend not to be power hungry power tripping idiots. They're trained to de-escalate and treat people with respect. Of course there's always a-holes, but usually police are pretty polite here. On top of that, public drinking is perfectly legal here. Its Only public drunkenness that's illegal, but even then this is rarely acted upon and prosecuted. It's only of you're being a public nuisance annoying people while you're drunk that police might arrest you, but even then they'll usually just let you sleep it off in a jail cell without prosecution. It's only if you're really bring agressieve, being a hooligan, destroying public property etc that they'll arrest you and prosecute you.
We have a very different drinking culture from the Anglo-Saxon world here. Here we take out time eating and drinking, often only even starting to go out at 23h-00h at night, pacing yourself drinking to keep going until 4-5-6h in the morning. Bars never have had a closing time here for the most part, and clubs don't have closing times at all but for the ones they set for themselves. Some clubs just continue untill the afternoon the next day. I've been in clubs untill 11-12h the next day. If someone is already stupid drunk at 21-22-23h at night that's a dead give away here in Belgium that they're tourists (usually British, American, Irish, Australian or other former empire) or they're teenagers that are out for the first time. Legal drinking age is 16 here so it's only "silly teenagers" that don't know how to pace themselves. Drinking yourself into a stupor by midnight like many Brits tend to do is frowned upon here very much, since that's something only silly teenagers do.
One example: The city where I live here in Belgium is a student town and there's one street that's full of student bars and clubs near the university. On busy days/nights they simply close off the street to traffic and then the street is full of completely drunk students and people the entire night. The police just patrol on foot to make sure everyone is safe and no fights break out, but that's it.
We also have a 10 day festival here right in the city center with multiple squares that have stages and concerts, where the entire city center is closed off and full of people drinking. Most squares don't close untill 3, and the last ''party'' square only closes at 8h in the morning for the entire 10 days, with it only closing at 10h the last night/morning.
So yeah. Police here are VERY used to dealing with drunk people, even in the day, especially in the mornings. And there's a low priority for arresting and prosecuting, since they'd have to arrest hundreds of people every day from Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon. Belgium has this reputation of being somewhat boring, untill you discover where the parties are at...
So why this video, Stromae was eating lunch alone in his car and some teens made fun of him. He decided to make this music video to be "pathetic" like they said
12:15 - you’ve found your job 👀❤️
L'intro ps1 🤩
In February 2013, news sites took over an amateur video of him eating tabbouleh and being pissed off by a guy who made fun of his Fiat 500: ruclips.net/video/TGv9TnwI_lE/видео.html
With "Formidable", he traps the media which are talking about his supposed decline and also all the people who are only looking for this kind of content.
Thank you for your videos and your great analysis, it's really cool to watch!
Stromae avait dit qu'il avait dit aux flics hors caméra qu'il n'était pas bourré et qu'il faisait semblant, parce que généralement si t'es bourré sur la voie publique les flics t'embarquent
I love
You should check out his song Carmen. It’s insaaaneeee
7:34 BAHAHAHHA DYINNNGG😭😭😭 DROP THE ADRES😭
Thank you for this reaction. Stromae is so creative. Try the song « Santé »
People should be nice to each other, even if you have the power that doesn't mean you have to be mean to peoples.
Some countries even if they have good economy or rich, they treat their citizens bad 😢
Who has never thought "I was so great yesterday, and today I'm just a piece of shit"....
You MUST react to his Alors on Danse!
Formidable is Amazing. Could be good or bad, usualy good.
Teddy as tu visionner son concert à Montréal , il est complet sur RUclips , c’est formidable 👍👍❤️❤️
Belgium is also a first-world country bro
its ok in EU I live in Berlin in good area they are really nice they gave me a number of psychhelp
They threw alcohol on his clothes so it would be even more believable. This took 18 hours to make with hidden cameras all over the square in Brussels. Even on parked bicycles.
01:50 Just wait, son! Just wait...
Hey, Teddy, check out the Montreal version 😉 enjoy.
Love your work mate..
Anglo Saxon attitude toward society is different and harder than in countries in most of Western Europe. Cops in the Netherlands and Belgium are much more friendly and agreeable than cops in the UK and the especially the USA.
There is a problem with handhavers, who have received much less training and generally try to enforce certain laws. Like traffic violations, littering and not paying for public transport. They become more violent sooner than well trained cops.
I like your réactions man ! "Soolking Guérilla" you should give it a shot, great song. Peace ✌️
In fact wonderful gets more translated as "Magnifique"
It's big joke, formidable!
I believe in France they actually have to wait for people to cross and not the other way around
I know this isn't really in theme with your videos but I'll suggest something from KATE BUSH. Maybe you already are familiar with her work. Best album is HOUNDS OF LOVE. Anything from that album. RUNNIN UP THAT HILL (A DEAL WITH GOD), CLOUDBUSTING, or JIG OF LIFE are great choices. Take care!
Just watched this ... in all honesty, I would have had the same reaction regarding Police but miy mnext door neighbour is a (female) police officer and all I'm hearing is very positive. But she also says that ... well ... there are limits. I guess all of our miles (kilomters BTW) vary ...
Stromae singing that part about fathers is mocking that stereotype. He's saying dads punch moms cause moms get old. That's obviously taking the piss.
I Want to see him on an Edith Piaf Remix.
That would be awesome!
react to Stromae video clip of dong "Carmen" it is a masterpiece about our modern times...you would not believe the video clip mastery