David Bowie

The world has been alight with excitement ever since The Thin White Duke himself, David Bowie, announced a new album,★– his 28th in his long, accomplished career. January 8th marks the date for it’s release, and now fans have been treated to an on-air performance of the record’s first song- sort of.

In lieu of Bowie himself, esteemed actor Michael C. Hall performed the song. Hall is currently playing the lead role in Bowie’s new theatrical adaptation of The Man Who Fell To Earth, retitled Lazarus- the same name as Bowie’s new single. Ahead of the show, the below video gave a disclaimer of sorts for fans. A little “heads up”, if you will.

“Hello, it’s me David Bowie. Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, and now, in my most outlandish persona yet, acclaimed actor Michael C. Hall,” The video said. “Don’t recognize me? Well, I’ve had a plastic surgeon make some ch-ch-hanges.”

However, this is Bowie we’re talking about, so it’s not like he was going to get some two-time hack to perform for him. Hall and the cast of Lazarus pulled off the first performance of the mysterious, brooding single with such ease and style that it now makes total sense why Hall is playing that role in the first place.

The theatrical adaptation has only been open since December 7 in New York City, so this would also have convinced a few more folks to head along to the show.

David Bowie’s ★ is out January 8, 2016. It’s an eagerly anticipated release, with Bowie citing Death Grips, Boards of Canada and Kendrick Lamar as influences. Check out Michael C. Hall’s performance of Lazarus below!

For an artist who hasn’t given an interview for over a decade, David Bowie is certainly skilled at engineering his own hype in other ways. With over half a century in the industry and as a master of identity, it’s unsurprising that Bowie still manages to hold our attention – even when it isn’t him doing the talking.

Details of his next album, ★, have been drip fed over the last few months and seemingly creating an increasingly bewildering image. The overarching message appears to be that the intent was to create something entirely new and experimental, recapturing the avant garde nature of previous albums like his Berlin Trilogy – but without returning to that sound.

Unveiling the first track, and video, from the album last week, Blackstar is definitely something out of the ordinary. Still utterly recognisable as Bowie’s inimitable style, the track does hold a wealth of new elements. And following the release, Bowie’s team have dropped a string of hints as to where this new inspiration came from. Producer Tony Visconti previously commented that the team “were listening to a lot of Kendrick Lamar.” And now more surprising influences have been noted. An article featuring in Uncut magazine listed the industrial hip-hop outfit Death Grips, as well as Scottish electronic outfit Boards Of Canada.

At first glance – or more like double take – this list is starting to seem a little far fetched. It’s hard to reconcile Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke with the brash attitude of Death Grips, or the ambient explorations of Boards Of Canada. But what they do have in common is the fact that they have all explored outside of a genre, carving new sounds and styles. Visconti also commented on Lamar’s sound that “he didn’t do a straight-up hip-hop record. He threw everything on there, and that’s exactly what we wanted to do.” Also let’s not forget that Bowie has proved himself time and again the king of reinvention, and also his unerring ability to stay relevant throughout changing times.

London professor Will Brooker, who teaches film and cultural studies at Kingston University, plans to spend several months experiencing specific moments of David Bowie’s life. As the hugely revered artist has had a professional career spanning more thang Bowie’s eating habits, limiting himself to the same literature and visiting the same places will help him gain a deeper understanding of the man’s mind at work.

“The idea is the inhabit David Bowie’s head space at points in his life and career to understand his work from an original angle, while retaining a critical and objective perspective at the same time – a kind of split persona perhaps.”

Hey, so it’s not the most conventional method of researching a past icon, but we can’t fault his originality.

So far Brooker has visited Brixton, Bromley and Beckenham and has plans to visit Berlin next month. He has limited his diet to red peppers and milk during weekends, and spent hours pouring over literature by authors such as William Burroughs, a seminal postmodernist writer of the Beat generation, Aleister Crowley and Friedrich Nietzsche. As for the… shall we say more decadent aspects of Bowie’s lifestle, Brooker does what he can.

“The levels of cocaine Bowie was consuming is not just illegal for a professor like myself, but it’s much too expensive – as well as unhealthy. So at the weekend I had a six-pack of energy drinks to try and simulate the experience of illegal substances. It made me very jumpy.”

He spoke to the Guardian about the effect that all of this is having on his overall mood and sense of wellbeing.

“If you’re reading some strange science fiction and books about magic you can kind of get into Bowie’s head and see it’s sometimes quite a strange place. A dangerous place, a place you wouldn’t want to be too long.”

The incredible commitment to detail borders on fanatic obsession, or perhaps a personal midlife crisis. But you know what? Who cares. Brooker sounds like he’s having a fantastic time, and as long as he sticks to those energy drinks and not the hard stuff then who’s to stop him?

Now, David Bowie has decided to try his hand at show business. It was announced last week that a musical adaption of the 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth, will feature some of his new songs. The project, entitled Lazarus, will also have some of Bowie’s new arrangements of older songs.

It marks the glam king following in the footsteps (or boot-steps) of Cindy Lauper, whose musical Kinky Boots became one of the most successful of 2013. Not only did it win some of the most prodigious awards musical theatre has to offer, but it took home a Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album in 2014.

The original film, The Man Who Fell to Earth, follows the story of an alien who comes to Earth seeking refuge for his people following a terrible drought. Bowie starred as Thomas Jerome Newton in the film, but will not be reprising his role in the stage production. He was originally supposed to compose music for the film as well, but a contractual dispute encouraged producers to go in a different direction.

He will collaborate with Tony-winning playwright Edna Walsh to bring this sci-fi 70s cult classic to life. At this stage, the musical will be shown off-Broadway only later on this year. Its popularity will determine whether it will move to Broadway.

Will Bowie be able to pull a Lauper and make his mark in show business? We shall see when they bring up the curtain.