Hallucine comes from the verb halluciner, meaning "to hallucinate" or "to be delusional". It's a vivid and somewhat dramatic word that immediately grabs attention.
In the song, the narrator repeatedly exclaims, "Maman, j'hallucine, je vois les morts" (Mom, I'm hallucinating, I see the dead). This word is central to the song's theme of a fantastical, dreamlike state where the line between reality and imagination blurs, making it both memorable and key to understanding the lyrics.
Ever feel like the real world is a bit boring? In "Mercredi," Pierre de Maere sings about escaping into a much more interesting one inside his own head. On Wednesdays, he says, "je crois aux fantômes / Aux fées aussi" (I believe in ghosts / In fairies too). He's not scared of these things; in fact, he hopes to see them, wishing, "Si j'ai de la chance je verrai les morts / Danser la nuit" (If I'm lucky I'll see the dead / Dance at night).
This isn't just a daydream. He sees a huge monster dancing in his living room, which turns out to be his dad panicking and thinking he's an idiot. He tells his mom he's hallucinating, but it sounds like a wonderful party he's in charge of: "Regarde-les qui dansent devant moi / Du bout de mes doigts, je guide leurs pas" (Look at them dancing in front of me / With my fingertips, I guide their steps). The song is a fun, defiant celebration of imagination over boring reality, rejecting people who "ne crois qu'en la sainte Ă©vidence" (only believe in holy evidence).
Pierre de Maere is a Belgian singer-songwriter born in 2001 in Uccle, near Brussels. Entirely self-taught, he started writing songs on GarageBand as a kid and built his sound without ever taking a formal music lesson.
His breakthrough single, "Un jour, je marierai un ange," became a huge hit across the French-speaking world, climbing the charts in Belgium and France and eventually earning a diamond certification. That success won him the Belgian Revelation of the Year award at the NRJ Music Awards and, in 2023, the Victoire de la Musique for Male Revelation of the Year.
"Mercredi" appears on his debut album, Regarde-moi, released in 2023, and captures his knack for turning dreamy, theatrical melodrama into catchy French pop. Openly gay, de Maere has become one of the most striking new voices in Belgian music, known for his flamboyant style both on stage and off.