David Bowie – A Thought

David Bowie –  January 8, 1947 – January 10, 2016

Monday we received the tragic news that David Bowie had passed away at the age of 69 after an 18 month private battle with cancer. To some he was ‘Ziggy Stardust’, to others he was ‘The Goblin King’. Bowie was fearless in his actions and empowered a generation of young people questioning their place in society. He paved the way for all aspects of the creative industry, whether it be Music, Fashion or film, Bowie always did things on his terms. I find myself sitting here wondering how to even word this. How do you sum up a man that meant so much to millions in a couple of paragraphs? This is the thing. You will never understand the man, how do you separate him from the art? I, a photographer drew so much inspiration from Bowie with his style and was a fan of his music for many years and longed to see him live. When ‘The Next Day’ came out there was speculation that possibly there may be a one-off performance. I wondered if that it could have been a pay per view performance live-streamed to theatres across the globe, similar to a ‘Stagit’ show. Sadly this was not to be.

Then came the announcement of ★, This album was beautiful and as soon as I heard ‘Lazarus’ I knew this was going to become a new Bowie classic. 2 days after its release on his 69th Birthday, Bowie had passed. The world mourned the loss. When I heard I felt disoriented. I tried to understand why we feel such loss for a man that many never met? The closest I have come to an explanation was by BBC Radio 6 DJ, Shaun Keaveny, when he said ‘It’s like losing 75 different artists at once when David Bowie dies because he created all these different worlds.’ With many of our heroes, we see them as invincible, but with David, it felt as though he was immortal. ★ has taken on a whole new meaning. As the world tries to come to terms with such a loss, It has left fans searching for answers. Discussions are taking place deconstructing the videos looking for clues within the imagery and the lyrics. Bowie always thought about the details – everything is there for a reason. Tony Visconti has confirmed in a recent interview with Rolling Stone Magazine that ‘he was planning the follow-up to Blackstar,” and that he had written and demoed 5 new tracks and wanted to return for one last time to the studio. What intrigues me is this. ★ was described as Bowie’s goodbye to fans ‘He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift’ explains Visconti in a moving tribute on Facebook.

So if he had approached ★ as a departure album, then what theme do you give to a follow-up album? Perhaps just like the biblical character ‘Lazarus’ Bowie intended this album to be a musical resurrection of sorts? released from the other side? Time will tell.

Kieran White