Singer Stromae openly addressed his suicidal thoughts in the past in a television interview.

The journalist Anne-Claire Coudray asked the Belgian on the 8 p.m. news on the French TV channel TF1 whether music had helped him to break free from loneliness.

The 36 year old artist started to sing - and delivered the answer with his new single "L'Enfer" (German: Hell). 

"I'm not alone in feeling all alone," are the first lines of the song, which Stromae performed visibly moved. "I've had suicidal thoughts a few times and I'm not proud of them," it says in the course of the text, and: "All these thoughts made me go through hell." Again and again the singer had to swallow and rub his face. It was the first time that he performed “L'Enfer” in public.

The artist had spoken about his mental health a number of times in previous interviews. In 2015 he had to cancel a tour through Africa due to anxiety, since then things have become quieter for the Belgian. In 2017, he admitted the panic attacks would continue to affect him. A year later he said in an interview on the French broadcaster France 2: “Even if you sell dreams, it remains a profession. And if you work too much, as in any other job, you burn out. "

“L'Enfer” is part of Stromae's album “Multitude” to be released in March, his first work after “Racine carrée”, which was released eight years ago. As the title, which means something like "multitude" in German, already suggests, Stromae was inspired by different genres of music. Together with his mother, he traveled to many countries with the backpack - trying out and exploring a lot, and combining many influences, that was also the idea for the new album, as he explains in an interview with Coudray. “I love to mix things up. To get inspiration from everywhere without being able to point to a specific country. " For example, a Chinese erhu lute, a harpsichord and Rio funk meet.

Stromae, whose real name is Paul Van Haver, had his breakthrough in 2009 with his song “Alors en danse”.

In Germany, the song reached number one in the singles charts the following year as the first completely French-language song since 1988.

Stromae also had great success with other songs like "papaoutai" until he retired in 2015 for health reasons.

In October 2021 it celebrated its comeback with the title "Santé" - a homage to workers.