"Papaoutai (Afro Soul)" is a song by mikeeysmind and Chill77, released through Swedish label Unjaps AB on December 20, 2025. It is an AI-generated cover of the original song written and recorded by Stromae. The track was uploaded to YouTube on January 9, 2026, after which it went viral.
The song became one of the most viral tracks of early 2026. In January, it was the highest new entry on the Global Spotify charts, debuting at #168 with 1.29 million streams. In the week of January 24, 2026, it debuted at #2 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales and #172 on the Billboard Global 200. The song accumulated over 14 million Spotify streams within its first month. Its corresponding TikTok sound plays in over 235,000 posts as of January 2026.
As of February 11, 2026, the track was distributed by Universal Music Group.
The cover's viral spread was significantly amplified by videos featuring Congolese-Russian singer Arsene Mukendi appearing to perform the track. Mukendi, who had previously placed fourth on season 8 of The Voice Russia, posted multiple videos of himself lip-syncing to the AI-generated vocals without initially disclosing that the voice was artificial.
Initial media coverage misidentified Mukendi's performance as him singing vocals over the instrumental track. On January 12, 2026, Mukendi clarified on Instagram that the vocals were AI-generated, writing "I wanted to put my emotions and my soul on this masterpiece" and apologizing "for the confusion." He credited mikeeysmind as the version's creator and videographer Arsen Dishekov for producing his video.
The French performing rights society SACEM confirmed that the cover is legal, stating "it is not fraud" but rather a cover, as neither the melody nor lyrics were modified from the original. The original writers are properly credited, and royalties from the cover will be paid to Stromae and the original rights holders.
Aron Ottignon, co-composer of the song, stated he recognized it as AI immediately but found "the spirit of the cover interesting" and believed it was "good for" Stromae as it brings renewed attention to the original song. He compared AI in music to the vocoder in the 1970s, calling it "just a new instrument."
Stromae himself has not publicly commented on the cover. Universal Music France, Stromae's distributor, declined to comment.
Swiss public radio SRF declined to play the song in its regular programming despite its chart success, citing unclear origins and editorial guidelines regarding AI-generated content. The French streaming platform Deezer labels the track as "AI-generated content," making it the only major platform to explicitly identify it as such.
The song raised ethical concerns particularly because Stromae's original "Papaoutai" is deeply personal, written about his father Pierre Rutare, who was killed during the Rwandan genocide. Tà ¡eliso Monaheng of OkayAfrica questioned "what happens to the idea of art when emotional authenticity becomes optional" in relation to the cover, noting that the track "functions as an aesthetic and emotional stand-in for the original, reproducing its melodic contours, dramatic arc, and vocal affect with remarkable fidelity."
Guillaume Fraissard of Le Monde wrote that "knowing that a work is fake necessarily changes the nature of the emotion it gives us."
Andrew Simire of Trickle Media described the incident as highlighting concerns about whether AI in music removes "the essence or ingredient that makes [art] original, pure, and human-made."
Zaghrah Anthony of Bona Magazine wrote that the cover "stays true to the originalâÂÂs spirit but transforms it into a slower, more immersive production."
Social media reactions were mixed. Some listeners praised the arrangement, while others criticized it as lacking genuine soul. One Reddit user called it "slop" with "no actual violin, percussion or soul."