Not to sound utterly narcissistic or anything, but I’ve found my reaction to the deaths of musical icons Prince and David Bowie… interesting. Neither man’s work was a favorite of mine while they were alive, but in death, I’ve somehow gained a much deeper appreciation for them as artists.
Consider Bowie’s final album, Blackstar. It’s well-understood at this point that the album was his exploration of his own mortality, and the eerie, melancholy song and video “Lazarus” his farewell to the world. But today there’s news going around that he may have left us one final gift from beyond:
…a curious (or irresponsible) Imgur user recently discovered yet another secret feature of the Blackstar gatefold. Expose the LP cover to sunlight (without the record inside, of course), and the matte black background within the star outline transforms into a starry night sky. The Reddit thread about this phenomenon goes into more detail about how long it takes—perhaps anywhere from one to three hours—and notes the cosmos appear only under direct sunlight. (In other words, it’s not a permanent thing.)
Here’s what it looks like:
The star pattern is evidently artwork from a vinyl booklet found inside the gatefold, so it might be just an accident of chemistry resulting from exposure to light, and nothing that anyone, least of all Bowie himself, planned. But somehow — and maybe this is just my romantic nature talking — I don’t think so. I like to think that somewhere, a very long way from here in no particular direction, a thin, handsome man just smiled because somebody finally found his message…
Bowie, man… you truly did rock.
