Racine carrée

Introduced to the world via his smash hit “Alors on danse”, Belgian songwriter/producer Stromae manipulates the brightly coloured building blocks of pop, hip-hop and house music to create club-ready singles with lots of heart. Stromae’s expansive musical palate—led by the banging bass and interwoven Afropop guitars of “Papaoutai”—makes his third full-length album, Racine Carrée, one of 2013’s most inventive dance pop albums. After slinky synth lines and a speaker-rattling thump start the party, heart-aching hooks like the album’s second single, “Formidable”, offer an undercurrent of melancholy.