Bowie, always the master of unpredictability and oddity, has done it again with his newest video for The Stars (Are Out Tonight). As where Bowie’s previous new single, Where Are We Now is a somewhat melancholy piece of music (which we loved btw), The Stars (Are Out Tonight) is quirky and somewhat ambiguous. Staring Tilda Swinton alongside Bowie, the video is more like a short film than music vid, following a day in the life of middle aged couple Bowie and Swinton as they grocery shop, cook dinner and watch tv – but their neighbors are an odd bunch, as are the apparitions that suddenly are haunting the couple’s subconscious both waking and sleeping. With nods to Bowie’s Thin White Duke, his androgynous period, and even a subtle reminiscence of Cat People tossed in for good measure, its a haunting commentary to Bowie’s colorful and prolific past.
As for the song itself? Love it. The lyrics too are haunting – The Stars could mean celestial bodies, but in this instance, don’t. ‘Celebrity’ is the star here – the various ‘stars’ that Bowie has lived as throughout his life, that he can’t shake off (but doesn’t perhaps want to shake off) – ‘we will never be rid of these stars, but I hope they live forever… they know we toss and turn all night.” Listen to it a few times – it’s a thinker.
We rate The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
4.5/5
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