Tous les Mêmes by Stromae is a hit song whose lyrics voice the perspective of two characters, one male and one female, who are arguing. The lyrics reference a lot of stereotypes that some women make about men, and some that men make about women. We break down the song lyrics and translation, and analyze them to show that the song may be saying something quite different than a surface-level review of the lyrics would reveal. Read on!
Tous les Mêmes Lyrics and Translation
| French | English |
|---|---|
| [Couplet 1] | [Verse 1] |
| Vous les hommes êtes tous les mêmes | You guys are all the same |
| Macho mais cheap | Cheap macho men |
| Bande de mauviettes infidèles | Bunch of unfaithful fools |
| Si prévisibles, non je ne suis pas certaine, que tu m'mérites | So damn predictable, no I'm not even sure you deserve me |
| Z'avez d'la chance qu'on vous aime | You're lucky that we love you |
| Dis-moi "Merci" | Go on, thank me |
| [Refrain] | [Chorus] |
| Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous au prochain règlement | The date, the date, the date is set for the next argument |
| Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous sûrement aux prochaines règles | Save the date, save the date, definitely save the date for the next "that time of the month" |
| [Couplet 2] | [Verse 2] |
| Cette fois c'était la dernière | I swear that's it, that was the last time |
| Tu peux croire que c'est qu'une crise | You can say I'm just throwing a fit |
| Mate une dernière fois mon derrière, il est à côté de mes valises | Take a last look at my ass, it's ready to leave with my suitcases |
| Tu diras au revoir à ta mère, elle qui t'idéalise | Tell your mom goodbye, who puts you up on a pedestal |
| Tu n'vois même pas tout c'que tu perds | You don't even know what you're losing |
| Avec une autre ce serait pire | It will be worse with anyone else |
| Quoi toi aussi tu veux finir maintenant? | What you want to break up now? |
| C’est l'monde à l'envers! | You've got it all wrong! |
| Moi je l'disais pour t'faire réagir seulement... toi t'y pensais | I just said that to get a rise out of you... and you were actually thinking of doing it! |
| [Refrain] | [Chorus] |
| Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous au prochain règlement | The date, the date, the date is set for the next argument |
| Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous sûrement aux prochaines règles | Save the date, save the date, definitely save the date for the next "that time of the month" |
| [Couplet 3] | [Verse 3] |
| Facile à dire, je suis gnangnan | It's easy to say that I'm whiny |
| Et que j'aime trop les bla bla bla | And that I talk too much: "blah blah blah" |
| Mais non non non, c'est important | But no, this is important |
| Ce que t'appelles les ragnagnas | This thing you call "your period" |
| Tu sais la vie c'est des enfants | You know life is for having kids |
| Mais comme toujours c'est pas l'bon moment | But it's "never the right time" |
| Ah oui pour les faire là tu es présent | Oh, sure you're down to make them |
| Mais pour les élever y'aura qu'des absents | But when it comes to raising them, you're gone |
| [Pont] | [Bridge] |
| Lorsque je n'serais plus belle | By the time I'm no longer beautiful |
| Ou du moins au naturel | Or at least "au naturel" - |
| Arrête je sais que tu mens | Stop, I know you're lying |
| Il n'y a que Kate Moss qui est éternelle | Only Kate Moss is eternally beautiful |
| Moche ou bête, c'est jamais bon! | Ugly or stupid, it's never right! |
| Bête ou belle, c'est jamais bon! | Beast or beauty, it's never right! |
| Belle ou moi, c'est jamais bon! | Beauty or me, it's never right! |
| Moi ou elle, c'est jamais bon! | Me or her, it's never right! |
| [Refrain] | [Chorus] |
| Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous au prochain règlement | The date, the date, the date is set for the next argument |
| Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous sûrement aux prochaines règles | Save the date, save the date, definitely save the date for the next "that time of the month" |
| [Outro] | [Outro] |
| Tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes et y'en a marre | All the same, all the same, all the same and we're sick of it |
| Tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes et y'en a marre | All the same, all the same, all the same and we're sick of it |
| Tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes et y'en a marre | All the same, all the same, all the same and we're sick of it |
| Tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes | All the same, all the same, all the same and we're sick of it |
Tous les Memes Lyrics: Analysis
As in many of Stromae’s songs, the lyrics of “Tous les mêmes” incorporate a lot of word play that is important to understand. If you haven’t watched the official music video (embedded above), I highly recommend that you do that.
In the music video you can see that the lyrics alternate back and forth between the female character and the male character. The female character sings basically all the verses, and the male character sings the chorus. In the final bridge the two characters alternate back and forth, and then they both sing the outro, singing “they’re all the same and I’m sick of it!”
Now I want to make one thing clear:
In my opinion, this is a song with a TWIST. By the end of the song, the comment that Stromae seems to be making at the beginning is actually turned on its head.
So stay with me until the end because at first I did not really like the message of this song, but after reading Stromae’s own words about why he wrote it and what he was trying to explore, I came around to it. And credit where credit is due, he *committed* to the concept – complete with multiple performances with him dressed as a woman. I think to understand the song, you need to understand not just the lyrics, but have the context of the rest of this album and Stromae’s life in order to really get it.
Stromae Interview
To introduce the song, here’s what Stromae said while discussing it in an interview:
Translation
Stromae: It’s actually about a relationship and how a man and a woman can be so ridiculous. I wanted to show the ridiculous part of a love story, which isn’t the part we always want to show. You know the situation; for instance, when the girl says she wants to break up the relationship and she says ‘Okay, I think we have to finish’ but it’s just acting, and the boy says ‘Okay you want to finish, let’s finish’, but he’s also acting. It was a different version of a love story, and I wanted to have this half and half to also show my feminine side, and because I’m trying to talk from the perspective of a woman. Of course I can’t realise the vision precisely, of course it’s a clichéd vision of a girl. I think they’re the only two races on earth, women and men, and I wanted to represent them both.
—
So let’s look at the first verse.
Lyrics
Verse 1
This verse is sung in the voice of the female character. In the video Stromae wears makeup and a chiffon bun on half of his face and head to indicate that he is speaking as the female character. In the video he is also lighted in pink when he is speaking in the female voice.
There are multiple layers to these verses, so let’s start with the surface level. The first verse is sung in the voice of the female character, arguing with her male partner by listing off the negative cliché things about men, which are also things that are easy to brush off as things that women “always say.” So she says that men are “macho but cheap” – they have negative views of women and think they are lesser humans (macho), and that they are “better,” yet are still unable or unwilling to play the traditional role of breadwinner/provider in the relationship (cheap).
Also note that the first line “Vous les hommes êtes tous les mêmes” seems to be the source of the song’s title, but by the end we’re going to hear both sides singing “all the same” over and over.
It’s interesting to note that Stromae sets this up as an argument between one woman and one man, but for the whole first verse the woman is complaining about men in general rather than saying anything specifically about the man who we presume is in the room with her having this argument. Stromae said in an interview (in English):
“In the first verse, she’s supposed to sound a little bitchy and nervous, but in the second verse, we understand that the guy she is with might be the one to blame. That is what’s beautiful in a relationship. Love is ‘un connard et un conasse’ (translation: two assholes). In my own life, it was difficult for me to understand that love requires both people being assholes and then getting over it. It doesn’t seem to make sense, but it’s the only way you build trust in the other person.”
In the first verse the woman is spouting off clichés about men and we’re about to hear some clichés about women in the chorus…
Chorus:
In the chorus Stromae sings from the perspective of the man, simply repeating “the date is set for the next argument.” A “règlement” is a legal term for a disposition – and in this case he is using it to mean “argument.” The word règlement sounds like the word “règles,” which is short for “règles hormonales” slang for “that time of the month.” Essentially he’s saying “we’ve already made an appointment for the next argument, it will surely be around that time of the month.”
Now obviously this a very dismissive and reductive way to talk about women and Stromae is doing this on purpose. I highly recommend watching this short video of an interview that Stromae did as BOTH his male and female personas. He really committed to the female persona that he created for this song, showing up to his performances in full female hair and makeup, looking just like he did in the video:
In the intro here Stromae in his “male persona” says that he wrote the whole song and his female persona just “checked his spelling” and that really she didn’t do much (“elle ne fait pas grande chose”). He is being deliberately dismissive of his female persona. Stromae in his female persona says that while that’s mostly true, the idea was to keep a “masculine vision, a caricature” so she “let him do it, mostly [do most of the work]”. The interviewer then asks female Stromae “that didn’t annoy you too much?” and “she” replies “well in fact I think the part that shocked me the most was “rendez-vous au prochain règle” (save the date for the next “that time of the month”) because I thought it was very reductive and sexist.” While Stromae’s female persona is saying this, the male Stromae persona shifts uncomfortably, bites his nails, and is visibly irritated and then speaks to the interviewer, without looking at his female person “you know very well, as a journalist, that when we remove a word from its context it no longer means the same thing. I think there is enough of an explanation that proves that I am not “macho/sexist” and if I was, this person [he looks at his female persona] wouldn’t be here if I was, and in fact I think this is the last time that she will accompany me for a television appearance.” [Ed. note: I think “sexist” is a better translation given how they’re using this word, but he literally says “macho.”]
Stromae’s female persona then looks offended and hurt, and then she starts the song. I think this interview and performance show that while Stromae is using the song to examine a common dynamic in relationships – that men and women both use on generalizations to criticize, diminish, and dismiss their partners – ultimately women do have a valid underlying point to some of these criticisms. Stromae’s male persona (and I say persona here because it’s really a caricature of an obnoxiously macho man) is played as straight up gross and sexist, but in a casual way. He picks his nose, smacks his partner’s ass (in the video), and in this interview he completely dismisses his female persona’s contribution to the song, even though “she” sings almost the entire song and he just sings the chorus.
Verse 2
As mentioned in the quote above, Stromae wanted to show the ridiculous parts of a relationship – where both parties are acting and neither actually wants to break up.
I do think this is a fight that a lot of young couples have when they’re both insecure in the relationship – each one wants the other one to beg them to stay. In this case the female voice says that she didn’t really want to break up, she was just trying to get a reaction from him. While it’s easy to see how this would be infuriating from the male perspective, I think Stromae is also challenging us to see how infuriating it is to have all your concerns dismissed as just “hormones.”
Now I’m going to talk more about the larger point that I think Stromae is making here with not just the song but the performances, but first we need to look at the final verse.
Verse 3
Here the female voice is addressing clichés that her male partner appears to be using against her. She says “facile à dire que je suis gnangnan” – “être gnangna” doesn’t have a direct translation but it means to be sentimental in a silly and naive way – this is usually a descriptor aimed at women who like cliché romatic gestures like flowers and drawing hearts all over their notebooks. “J’aime trop les bla bla blas” means basically “I like to talk too much” – the implication in context being that she likes to have stupid conversations about her feelings. So she is saying that he is trying to dismiss her feelings as being silly and girlish and just her talking too much.
Then she gets into the real meat of what she’s trying to say, which is essentially that she wants to have kids but her partner keeps putting it off saying it’s not the right time, and that she worries that he won’t stick around to help her raise the kids even if he agrees to have them. She also worries that once she’s older and less beautiful he will leave her – and she doesn’t seem reassured by his (implied) assertion that she will stay beautiful forever (only Kate Moss is eternal!).
It’s important to understand how seriously Stromae takes the question of whether a father will be around to raise his kids. After all, Stromae’s first huge hit on this album was Papaoutai (check out my translation) is an autobiographical song about Stromae looking for his father as a young boy. Stromae’s father was killed during the Rwandan genocide and he and siblings were raised by his mother.
So the choice to have this woman’s insecurity about whether or not her partner will be a good, reliable father is one that I believe Stromae made deliberately to show that underneath clichés about women’s behaviour are very real and valid concerns that their male partners may fail to address. But I also like that he gave this woman space to be dramatic and cliché off the top – he didn’t make her seem like some perfect angel of a woman, but rather like an annoying cliché, as if to say “even the most crazy-seeming cliché behaviour can have a very real concern underlying it.” As Stromae said in an interview “in the second verse, we understand that the guy she is with might be the one to blame.” He challenges us to look past our tendency to dismiss women’s concerns and communication style as dramatics or PMS and to really hear what’s underneath.
Well that’s my take on the song – what do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.