In 2015, Stromae retired from the media scene after falling seriously ill. On the rise and after having chained several concert tours, the Belgian artist had to be repatriated urgently in June of this year when he was preparing to start his tour in Africa. Two years later, it was in an interview with Liberation that the singer explained what really happened to him: “After 150 dates, I was flat. I couldn’t stand my anti-malaria treatment, that gave me hallucinations. I thought I had gone crazy, I was diagnosed with psychic decompensation. I could have done something stupid, I was no longer myself.”
Since then, the interpreter of “Papaoutai” is better and signed a resounding return in October 2021 after six years of absence… with a title entitled “Health”. And it is with a sad irony that the father of a little boy must once again bow out, precisely because of new health concerns…
Stromae still forced to leave the scene
This Tuesday, April 4, 2023, the 38-year-old artist who has just started a new tour called “Multitude Tour” made a worrying announcement: “I have to resign myself to the fact that my health unfortunately does not allow me to continue to come to your meeting for now. I share this news with you with great sadness. But I have to listen to my limits… I have to take the time to recover to resume, when I can. The rest of the concerts “can -we read in the press release relayed on its social networks.
Just before this new media withdrawal, Stromae confided in the columns of Madame Figaro. The opportunity for him to explain the dark side of some of his songs: “My lyrics can be dark, but that’s because life is sometimes. It’s not black or white… As I sings it in ‘Bonne Journe’, there are no ups without downs and downs without ups. I am not a salesman of crisis, I collect moods” he declares in this interview dated March 17 2023.
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Stromae makes a point about a shock photo
He then goes backstage on the writing of his song “L’Enfer” which speaks directly of suicide: “I wrote it in one go, in 2018. I was not talking about a particular moment, it could be linked to a period like adolescence, or when I finished touring. I sing it: ‘I sometimes had suicidal thoughts and I’m not proud of it.’ We all know times when we’re not well. I remind you at the beginning of the piece: ‘I’m not alone in being alone’.
On January 9, 2021, Stromae also signed a shock performance live from the JT of TF1, a show which sparked controversy but which also showed how much the thought of suicide affects a large number of people in France. About this performance, he makes a point about a photo of him with the rope around his neck: “I saw a montage of me with a rope around my neck. I found it quite funny. I repeat: this text does not represent my current state of mind. But yes, it talks about mental health, a subject perhaps not mentioned enough during this pandemic. I tackled a taboo: suicidal thoughts. Many thank me for ‘having talked about it’.
Elizabeth Sall