There are many different kinds of artists from all over the world.  We tend to only listen to music from other areas if it is popular in America. Well I happened to find this next artist by listening to an American band that covered this artist’s song. Stromae, an artist from France, released a song called Papaoutai. Papaoutai, means “Where are you, Papa?” I found this song when Pentatonix covered it on their third album. Papoutai is the story about a boy who has a father who is physically there but not emotionally.

The video on YouTube shows Stromae struggling with father because a mannequin to represent his father not really being there is playing him. The video has received over 280 million views on YouTube.  Stromae was born March 12th 1985 in Belgium to a Rwandan father and Flemish mother. Stromae was inspired to write Papaoutai because his real father. He was mostly absent during his childhood and was later killed in 1994 Rwandan Genocide. He later debuted his EP in 2007 and signed a 4-year record deal with “Because Music.”

In 2009, Stromae interned a musical radio station NRJ in Brussels.  The music manager began to play Stromae’s first single on air “Alors on danse” and he soon signed a deal with Universal Music Group Worldwide. Since then, Stromae released his first album in 2013 titled “Racine Carree”. The album charted #1 in Belgium and France and #2 in the Netherlands. Racine Carree spawned 3 number one singles in Belgium and France including Formidable, Tous Les Memes and Papaoutai. In 2014 Stromae is featured on the song Meltdown that was included on The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay, Part 1 soundtrack.

Stromae began playing in the United States in 2015. He was a featured artist for the SXSW festival, the Coachella Concert, and most recently Lollapalooza this past summer. He will also be playing a concert this October at the famous Madison Square Garden Center. It is safe to say that Stromae has become an international success with his song charting on iTunes in 18 countries and over 230 Million Views on YouTube. It seems like he will only be getting bigger as time goes on. Stromae’s entire album is available on Apple Music and Spotify for you to listen to.