This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Racine carrée (French for 'square root', stylised as √) is the second studio album by Belgian musician Stromae. It was released digitally on 16 August 2013 and three days later physically in France and Belgium. Stromae expressed his desire to incorporate Caribbean and African musical influences along with his signature 1990s-inspired dance beats. The album, recorded in an attic, explores themes as diverse as alienation from social networks, relationship issues, discrimination, cigarettes and lung cancer, AIDS and absent father figures. Prior to its official release and afterwards, Racine carrée received critical acclaim for its thoughtful lyrics and gained comparisons to fellow Belgian recording artist Jacques Brel. The album was a commercial success across Western Europe, including non-francophone countries. Racine carrée topped the charts in France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy, as well as reaching the top ten in Canada, and the top forty in Germany. In his native Belgium, it remained at the top the charts for multiple weeks and been certified twelve times platinum by the BEA. In France, the album has been certified quadruple diamond by the SNEP and become one of the highest-selling albums in recent years after amassing over one million copies sold four months after its release. Racine carrée yielded three chart-topping singles: "Papaoutai", "Formidable" and "Tous les mêmes".
Alors, bedoel, Stromae’s Art, the way he performs, the topics he raises and the unity he brings to Belgians (although he sings in French) makes him one of the most import performers of Belgium this decade. Hope he is well.
Ok, now this is some really interesting French music, and I love the Afro-Caribbean inspirations.
Formidable!! How Stromae puts dark and depressive lyrics on a heavy house beat is incredible. And the variation of ballads and more dancable songs is stunning.
Masterpiece. Still an bsolute banger.
4 or 5 Yea thats a 5 Every single european probably knows half these songs by heart
Vraiment bon, je connaissais bien du au fait que ca a jouer comme ca a pas de sens quand c'est sortit mais ca du bien d'avoir prit un pas de recul pour apprécié d'avantage. 4.5
In a bit of serendipity my friend introduced me to Stromae a few weeks ago. Cool Belgian party music
Nice one. Should have been on the list 100%
This was pretty cool. Catchy europop. Didn't go off on too many strange tangents. Just did what it suggested it would. 4/5.
I don't why I don't listen to this more often. It is so good and catchy. And I respect and admire his guts to speak up about difficult subjects like cancer, suicide, etc. Great job!
surprise album! really enjoyed it, even not knowing what the heck they were singing about. Dig it. Gonna go listen to Cheese now.
Stromae proves as interesting at least as many of the French artists featured on the main list. This album lost a bit of steam in the second half, I found, though there's the language barrier and unfamiliarity with international dance music (hah! all dance music) scenes. Brings energy without the cliché of certain French rap.
Interesante por determinados conceptos.
House ehhhh. French House. Not horrible but nothing I wanna hear at home. Take me to da club.
DESPITE the FRENCH there are some catchy moments in here that make an energetic morning listen
Starting out I was feeling this activated my main gripe with so much on the kind of EDM spectrum in that I just find the music boring. It grew on me throughout the album though and finished strongly. As always being unable to appreciate the lyrics due to my language barrier makes it hard to fully assess.
I like tous les memes. Don't really like papaoutai. Everything else is decently listenable. 6/10
Very interesting blend of Belgian/French dance/ world music. I must admit that prefer the other great Belgian group Balthazar though.
Dude really masters putting together some very catchy tunes and a stage persona to go with it.
I'm sorry I'm tired and don't feel like going to the club tonight. You go ahead without me.
Listened to three songs. More than enough to know this isn't my thing. I feel bad for the kid, because based on the picture I saw of him on the album cover, he's just a disembodied head. Sad really. 2 stars.
Tough call on this one – while the LP picked up in the back half with better arrangements and varied instrumentals, I can't shake the PTSD of the 2011-2014 EDM period that this invokes in me. The front half especially leans hard into synth presets that defined (for better but mostly worse) the techno revival of the early 'teens and felt a bit flat songwriting-wise. Later tracks like 'Formidable' are beautiful and carry a quiet strength, but aren't enough to outweigh an album that's perhaps a bit overstuffed with dated content.
A French electronic album. I couldn't understand the words which is fine. It wasn't too long but it felt like it went on a little too long. It's between a 2 and a 3.