![]() Throughout his career, Bowie continued to push artistic boundaries and experiment with different genres, including soul, funk, electronic, and art-pop. In the early 1970s, Bowie introduced his most famous alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, a flamboyant and otherworldly character that became synonymous with his breakthrough album, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” The album, featuring hits like “Starman” and “Suffragette City,” catapulted Bowie to international stardom and solidified his reputation as a visionary artist. From his early folk and pop beginnings in the 1960s to his experimental and avant-garde art-rock in the 1970s, Bowie pushed the boundaries of what was considered mainstream and challenged conventional norms. With his ever-evolving sound, distinctive voice, and boundary-pushing persona, Bowie became a trailblazer and a cultural icon.īowie’s career spanned over five decades, during which he constantly reinvented himself and explored various musical styles and personas. Saxophonist Donny McCaslin, who plays on the album, told Rolling Stone that Bowie claimed the song is about ISIS, although other collaborators told the magazine they don’t know what the song is about.David Bowie, born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947, in Brixton, London, was an iconic English singer-songwriter, musician, and actor who forever changed the landscape of popular music. The video for the song – whose imagery includes a faceless monster, crucified scarecrows, a jeweled skull inside a spaceman’s helmet and Bowie singing with bandages (again) over his eyes – almost defies interpretation. “Something happened on the day he died / Spirit rose a meter and stepped aside / Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried / I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar,” he sings. The album’s ominous title track, almost 10 minutes long, contains references to death and resurrection. The story behind David Bowie’s stunning new album “He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift.” His death was no different from his life – a work of Art,” Bowie’s longtime producer, Tony Visconti wrote, in a Facebook post. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. It’s hard not to wonder: Was this Bowie saying goodbye? The video ends with Bowie rising from his bed and slipping into a darkened (some might say coffin-like) armoire.įor fans, listening to the song or watching the video is a surreal experience. “I’m in danger / I’ve got nothing left to lose,” he sings in “Lazarus.” “This way or no way / You know, I’ll be free.” It’s dangerous to assign interpretations to works by artists as complex and intelligent as Bowie, but a listen to the jazz-inflected album, which topped the iTunes charts Monday, reveals a man who appears to be grappling with his own mortality.īecause the British rock star hadn’t been seen much in recent years and rarely gave interviews, some observers are calling ★ Bowie’s farewell, the final message from a global pop icon whose lyrics’ meanings had long been elusive. In a staggering stroke of timing, Bowie released an album, ★ (pronounced “Blackstar”), on his 69th birthday Friday – two days before he died. Today, it feels positively haunting.Īs the world reels from the startling news that Bowie died Sunday after a secret 18-month battle with cancer, fans are seeing his final songs and videos in a new light and poring over them for hints of his impending death.ĭavid Bowie, master of reinvention, dead at 69 On Thursday, when the video was released, it seemed like another dark artistic statement from an artist who has long explored themes of anguish and doom. “Look up here, I’m in heaven,” he sings over the forlorn wail of a saxophone. In the video for his mournful new song “Lazarus,” David Bowie lies in what looks like a shabby hospital bed, bandages over his eyes, straining his frail body upward.
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