“Fils de joie”, Multitude ’s fourth title , tackles the subject of prostitution through the prism of various characters. For its three verses, Stromae first takes the point of view of a client, then that of a manager of prostitution networks and finally that of a policeman, rather saddened by the situation. Within the chorus, the Belgian puts himself in the shoes of a child of a prostitute supporting his mother and pleading for greater recognition and visibility.

Also seeming to support an improvement in living conditions for these women, Stromae also performs a fusion in the title of the track. Indeed, it takes up both the generalized insult in Francophonie “son of a bitch” — used in the chorus —, but also the expression “girl of joy” , synonymous with “prostitute”. This allows him to be voluntarily ameliorative of sex workers and to be able to affirm that the child in his chorus does not live with the burden of being the son of a prostitute—quite the contrary.

Prostitution and pimping , illegal in France , remain differentiated in Belgium, Stromae’s country of origin. Thus, non-forced prostitution is not illegal, but becomes so under duress . Pimping is therefore completely prohibited. Despite this, in 2015 there were approximately 37,000 prostitutes in France according to Statista, and between 15,000 and 23,000 prostitutes in Belgium in the same year.