We are proud of our ridiculousness. That's what made our Surrealism. Proud and ashamed of everything at the same time. I think that's my definition of Belgium.
Stromae
If we can listen to English music without understanding nothing, and dance on it, and feel the groove, feel the feelings, I'm sure everybody can do exactly the same for each language.
I prefer to talk about our problems, to be proud of them, in place of trying to hide them. Because you can't. And I prefer to dance, to smile on it, to laugh on it.
I do not want the things I do to be easy and predictable. I want them to be real.
As much as only playing clubs can become tedious, performing in huge venues can also become off-putting. To go from one to the other feels great. And sometimes playing clubs can be even more stressful, because you really have to think about what you're going to tell the audience between songs.
Being honest and spontaneous is important when making music. But I'm also really logical when I compose.
People like Brel were sensitive and vulnerable; on stage, they dared to take risks.
The prime minister in Belgium gave our album to Barack Obama. I was really surprised that he decided to give a CD of us.
I'm trying to focus on my job. I don't think that being famous is a job. My job is composing, singing, performing, but not being a star.
I was also so happy to learn how to do the Djatence. Djatence is when you show your clothes off in the street - it's something between a dancing, showing off, and trying to get attention turned on you. It was a really cool experience with people who are more refined than I could imagine.
Who do you want to be: the radical man who can make a choice in one second, or the man who never takes decisions? That's the question: who's the best? Actually, there is no best.
I always need a reason to do something on stage, for me. I am not judging anyone: there is not a good way; there is not a bad way. You just have to justify everything.
I'm sure, ever since I was really young, that happiness is not a bottle of champagne and a girl and a limousine and a swimming pool.
In Belgium, we know the U.S. culture through the television, but it's not the truth. It's interesting to see that Philadelphia is really industrial. I love industrial cities. Everybody hates them, but I think they're the best places to be creative. The more gritty it is, the more I love it.
I always have the same problem when I try to buy something straight off the rack: If I put on a medium, it's perfectly fitted in the torso, but the sleeves are too short. If it's a large, the sleeves are long enough, but it's too baggy. So made-to-measure suits are especially important for me because I'm 6'2'' and so skinny.
I get the feeling that my songs aren't that dark. There is a cynicism but humour also - it's not depression upon depression upon depression. It's a blend.
At the time I learned drums, I wanted to be the drummer of Hanson. I wanted to be this guy because he was so young, and he was already drumming in the band, you know, so I just wanted to be like him. And later, I discovered hip-hop music at boarding school.
I want to have not only the good side of life but the bad side of life. And the both combined is just my music. It's funny at the same time as it's sad.
There are artists in Belgium who try to imitate American artists. But it's like, if you're Belgian pretending to be American, you won't be better than the American because you aren't American. You have to do your own stuff.
We are all human, and we are all able to listen to music that we cannot understand. I used to listen to English music like Notorious B.I.G., and I didn't know what he's talking about in all of his tracks, but I'm a fan. It's rhythm and a groove that makes me dance, so I'm convinced that my music can work in the U.S.
I'm trying to stay normal, that's all. But it's hard.
I think it's good to eat a bit of everything, but when you eat too much junk food, it's bad for you and for your brain. You don't understand why, but you feel sad. It's because of the junk food!
Music is the only place that I can have no taboos. In real life I have a lot of taboos, and I can't talk about everything easily.
It's my job to be ridiculous.
To me, 'Alors On Danse' is the definition of clubbing. Because everyone is just trying to forget their problems, but actually, it's so sad, clubbing. We try to sell happiness in clubs, but you can't.
WME and IMG both truly understand and value my music and Mosaert's creative visions; they are forward-thinking, all-encompassing, and thoughtful in how they envision me continuing to grow.
The way we always want to compromise between everything, I think that's really Belgian. I think I'm really Belgian for that, because I never make choices. That's my problem, actually.
I have four or five custom suits, including one that's velvet, and a gray one I wear onstage. It's wool.
The last thing an Englishman wants to hear is a man from Brussels trying to imitate his language - you want to hear a different point of view. You may not be able to understand the details, but you can understand the feeling.
When I'm on stage, that's a job. It's acting, it's faking, just making fun of yourself, telling bad jokes - I'm pretty good in this - dancing, just to entertain.
It's a fact that Anglo-Saxon supremacy impacts other cultures. That is plain and simple.
Success is a gift, but it's a handicap at the same time, I think.
I have crazy, different influences in my songs. I want rap music, I want Congolese rumba, I want salsa, I want dance music, I want hip-hop music, all mixed into one!
I'm not making music for intelligent people or dumb people. I'm just making music for people.
That's what's interesting: When you release an album, everyone hears it their own way.
I already visited Rwanda when I was five, but I don't really remember my roots.
There is always a good part in everything.
No genre of music is better than another, whether it's country, hip-hop, trap, classical, whatever. It's all music.
I don't want to have success to have success.
I've learned how to trust someone else's ideas with mine.
I do my music for me, second for my entourage, and at the end, for the people. It's healthy to work that way.
Music is like a medicine.
The first time I performed on stage, that was almost the first concert I went to, so that was pretty interesting and a bit weird at the same time.
I think the Congolese music is more important in the African community that Rwandan. You know, Rwanda is not musically really important in Africa. It's interesting, of course. But Congolese rumba was so huge in Africa that everybody was inspired by it.
I'm not so radical about Twitter, but I think it's sometimes dangerous if you think that Twitter is real life.
I'm more the kind of man who never makes decisions. But impulsivity is not the opposite of courage; I think it's possible to do both.
Our ambition isn't just to be big, it's to be listened to and supported by people. And to have the success - if we deserve it, of course.
I'm a composer like every maestro on this earth.
Everyone should have a suit that's really well fitting - if a suit just doesn't fit, it looks ridiculous. It can purposely be too large or too small, if that's what you want, but it has to fit with your image and personal style.
I'm just part of the people.
