Blackstar Theory takes a close look at David Bowie's ambitious last works: his surprise
'comeback' project The Next Day (2013) the off-Broadway musical Lazarus (2015) and the album
that preceded the artist's death in 2016 by two days Blackstar. The book explores the swirl of
themes that orbit and entangle these projects from a starting point in musical analysis and
features new interviews with key collaborators from the period: producer Tony Visconti graphic
designer Jonathan Barnbrook musical director Henry Hey saxophonist Donny McCaslin and
assistant sound engineer Erin Tonkon. These works tackle the biggest of ideas: identity
creativity chaos transience and immortality. They enact a process of individuation for the
Bowie meta-persona and invite us to consider what happens when a star dies. In our universe
dying stars do not disappear - they transform into new stellar objects remnants and
gravitational forces. The radical potential of the Blackstar is demonstrated in the rock star
supernova that creates a singularity resulting in cultural iconicity. It is how a man
approaching his own death can create art that illuminates the immortal potential of all matter
in the known universe.
