“And the stars look very different today.”
David Bowie captured our attention in 1969 with “Space Oddity” and we never looked back.
Throughout his long and innovative career, David Robert Jones was known by many different names — Bowie, Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Pierrot, Halloween Jack, Thin White Duke. The list goes on, because Bowie showed us the only constant in music is change. If you didn’t like who you were at the time, you could always take on a different persona. Reinvention is key, image is fluid and audience perception is adaptive.
He was an icon, a legend, and a game changer, but most of all, he was his own person, who inspired everyone to embrace their idiosyncrasies and live on their own terms.
He was his own unconventional, independent genre, and we loved him for it. He was different, refreshing and weird. He redefined music, art and fashion. Just when we thought we finally understood him, he morphed into something else unexpected. He always was one step ahead of the rest of the world.
Bowie died on Jan 10, 2016, after enduring cancer for 18 months. On Jan 8, his sixty ninth birthday, Bowie released his twenty fifth studio album, “Blackstar,” just two days before his death. The timely release of his album is Bowie’s parting gift to fans, a final farewell to those who loved him so much.
The seven track album has a single star for cover art, and was created in three months in the beginning of 2015, over the duration of three sessions.
It’s classic Bowie, and by that, I mean the album can’t be classified by one genre. Rather, it transcends them all, with his own sound and flair. “Blackstar” is original, like all content Bowie produces, but doesn’t fail to remind the listener of Bowie in his ‘70s beginning, experimental and too far ahead of his time. It’s reminiscing, with morose undertones, but also contains a haunting note of finality.
Lyrics from his album reveal Bowie seemingly foreshadowing the end of his life. In the third track, “Lazarus,” Bowie opens with the lyrics “Look up here, I’m in heaven,” while lying in a hospital bed in the music video. In “Blackstar” and “Dollar Days,” similar eerie, emotional lyrics impact listeners as they interpret Bowie’s last goodbye.
Bowie’s last work of art mirrors his life — beautiful. And we are lucky just to watch it unfold.