David Bowie, “Blackstar”
David Bowie, Blackstar (2016)
ISO, Sony Records
Designer: Jonathan Barnbrook
Blackstar was David Bowie’s parting gift to the world. Released two days before his death on January 10, 2016, it was met with universal acclaim, with many citing the record as his best work in decades. Fueled with singles including the title track and “Lazarus,” Blackstar became his only chart topper in the Billboard 200.
Even a year after his death, the album’s vinyl artwork continues to mystify fans and critics. The album was designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, who was also responsible for Bowie’s art for Heathens, Reality, and The Next Day. Seemingly simple, the artwork on the inside grows more and more complex as time goes on, with more fan theories and hidden messages being discovered. The album’s front cover artwork shows a five-pointed star, and five star segments that spell out the name BOWIE. On the digital and CD edition, the cover is a simple image of the black stars on a white background. On the vinyl edition, the cover is black on black, with the star die-cut, revealing the black LP underneath.
When the record is removed, a hidden picture of a star field his revealed when held up to the light. This feature was discovered months after the album’s initial release.
Even more recently, another secret image was discovered by NME reader Chris Gray, all beginning with him nothing something odd about the page in the booklet that features the lyrics to the track “Girl Loves Me.”
“What you have to do is bring the booklet to within about 10cm of a wall in a blackened room and shine a torch on the images that appear in the booklet (such as the stars, the man and woman, the ‘Lazarus’ title etc, etc,) and what you get is a range of fantastic coloured and 3D images. The lyrics also appear 3D with red shadow colouring…”
Barnbrook has said that there are plenty more secrets to be discovered within the pages of the Blackstarartwork. It’s going to be one of Bowie’s longest lasting parting gifts as fans try to discover it all.
