How a Viral Pop Song ‘Papaoutai’ Is Linked To A Horrific Event

As we move toward the National Heroes Day, celebrating the heroes during the 1994 Rwawadan genocide, we thought we tell about a famous song surprisingly connected. the horrific event.

If on Youtube, you’ve most likely come across Belgian artist Stromae’s viral pop sensation “Papaoutai.” The song blew up when it was released in 2013, and the music video has garnered over 1 billion views on YouTube, making it the second-most-viewed French-language video on the platform, according to Billboard. But did you know that despite its upbeat and catchy tune, the song actually has a sad backstory? Let us explain.

If you’ve watched the music video for “Papaoutai,” then you probably already have a clue what that sad story is. In the video, a young boy spends time trying to get his father—a life-sized mannequin played by Stromae—to interact with him, but he can’t make him come to life, not even for a game of catch. What makes the video even more heartbreaking is that the son watches the other kids on his cul-de-sac have good relationships with their parents, who are full of life. The music video is a direct reflection of the lyrics.

The title “Papaoutai” is a play on the phrase “Papa où t’es?,” which translates to “Dad, where are you?” in English. Stromae is reflecting on a frustrating childhood as he tries to understand where his dad disappeared to.

Born Paul Van Haver, Stromae is the son of a Belgian mother and a Rwandan father. He didn’t really get to know his father before he died in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when Stromae was just 9 years old, according to an interview he did with NPR.

“Of course, my personal life is that I didn’t really know my father. I met him, like, sometimes, and he died in the Rwandan genocide. So that’s why I was educated by my mother only,” he said.

The Rwandan Civil War, which included a 100-day genocide, was the culmination of decades of ethnic hostility between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority. This conflict led to the systematic mass killing of 800,000 to one million people in 1994, concluding when Tutsi-led rebel forces took control of the nation. Stromae’s father was a Tutsi, according to the Parisian independent magazine Worldcrunch.

In the song, Stromae isn’t only asking where his dad went. As he’s grown up and thought about fatherhood more by becoming a dad himself, he also wants to know what makes a good father.

“And, of course, it’s a question that I have, but it’s not because I didn’t grow up with my father that I have this kind of question; it’s just because I’m a man. The question is, what’s a good father, what’s a father, what’s a bad father? And actually, the answer is we’re just trying to do our best,” he said in the NPR interview.

Continuing, he added that the song was a cathartic release for him to get out the anger of his dad not being around: “And until before I created the song I was still a little bit angry, but I decided to have less angry about my father and just decided to say, OK, I’m already 28 and I think I have to grow up because he’s not there anymore. And… I have to do my best for the next one, that’s all.”

While the song has been loved and played around the globe, in the NPR interview, Stromae said that his mom was the song’s first fan.

“Actually, she was touched by the song, of course, because I’m his son. But she loved the song, yeah, she loved the song. She’s a fan. I think she’s my first fan. “