november 2015

David Bowie

I love David Bowie’s music. The moment he touched me I became a fan. That was back in 1983. His voice is soothing and the music just gets in your DNA. I love almost every song he has made. He has meant a lot to me and still does. I always say: “Bowie guides us through life.” (us, meaning his fans)

★ Blackstar

With the fear still in the legs after the Paris attacks on the 13th of November along came a 10 min. long video of “Blackstar” last Thursdaynight. I was completely flabbergasted. The music is fresh and new and David’s voice touched my heart as he always does. The music made me cry. It was overwhelming. I loved the song immediately and the vid also. What happened next, is that I was actually telling my twitter followers: “I’m a Blackstar.” I was completely sucked into the story after about 4 minutes. Shortly after that David’s warning became clear.

Own eyes

David definitely has taught me a lesson: I must remain the observer, always. The short film is actually about what is happening in the World right now, I think.

And what he is also showing us is that maybe we shouldn’t worship David Bowie like a Messiah. Of course everybody is entitled to his own opinion, but let me tell you how I see his new Blackstarvideo. Feel free to comment.

Religion

Let me explain the way I see the story: Blackstar is a religion, all its followers are called Blackstars. The followers seem possessed by Blackstar who died as an astronaut on a dark planet. There is no light because of a total solar eclipse.

Blackstar’s skull is being worshipped. We see David blindfolded with black eyes sown in. This stands for following Blackstar blindly. The black eyes only preach Blackstarreligion, nothing else.

David warns us for this blindness and sings “At the centre of it all, your eyes.”

Then David becomes Blackstar and makes fun of all his followers to see if we are really that blind. He says: “Just go with me” and “Imma take you home.” But I will take everything away from you. Only then you have the right to become a follower and may call yourself a Blackstar. All the other stars he sings of must be banned. Like: “I’m not a white star, I’m not a filmstar, I’m not a popstar” etc. There is only one star and that is Blackstar.

He sings: “On the day of execution” which means the women are ready to die in the name of “Blackstar”. We see that in a ritual dance.

The scarecrows we see are the non-believers that are being punished for not believing the religion of Blackstar.

David’s lesson

It is important to always look with your own eyes. You must remain the observer and form your own opinion. This is my interpretation: Religion is based on fear. Religion can sometimes take over completely and makes you do things you couldn’t have imagined. And worshipping Idols can lead you away from reality.

Please note that the fantastic artwork is by Jonathan Barnbrook. See Jonathan explain here. I do not own any rights.

UPDATE: after David Bowie passed away, Jonathan has released the artwork for fans to remember David by! 

Watch the short film here: David Bowie’s channel

For more info on David Bowie: davidbowie.com