This film have the actress Tilda Swinton as David Bowie's wife. The person who "sings" as a former Bowie character, played by the Norwegian female model Iselin Steiro. Love this song and video.
Hi Faye! I think this song is actually about celebrity, but more precisely, celebrity as a cult: famous people are presented like ancient greek gods and semi-gods both in the song ("they'll burn you with their radiant smile") and in the video (the gutter press newspaper was named "Pantheon", home of the Greek Gods in the Olympia). As usual with Bowie, many interpretations are possible : mine is, Bowie is showing the danger of fame and the business made around this celebrity race : in the end, it drives everybody unhappy ("un"-celebs find their lives even more boring and uninteresting and end up trying to live one by proxy through the media, while celebs dreams of a "normal, boring life" where they could finally do as they please without having said media dissecting each and every move they make). The fact this comment comes from Bowie (who experimented both sides) only adds to its pertinence. And of course, the music and the vocals are pure Bowie : after all this years, I'm still amazed at how the man could do such energetic and classy music effortlessly (or so it seemed :) ) !
What hijikaelemenope3127 said. I feel like it reverses the idea of the media and people stalking celebrities and prying into their lives. In this the celebrities are aggressively stalking people with normal lives, prying into their lives and possessing them. It's also dealing with the pervasiveness of celebrity culture and how one can not escape it & I think it's a continuation from songs he''s done in the past dealing with Stardom, such as Starman.
This film have the actress Tilda Swinton as David Bowie's wife. The person who "sings" as a former Bowie character, played by the Norwegian female model Iselin Steiro. Love this song and video.
Hi Faye! I think this song is actually about celebrity, but more precisely, celebrity as a cult: famous people are presented like ancient greek gods and semi-gods both in the song ("they'll burn you with their radiant smile") and in the video (the gutter press newspaper was named "Pantheon", home of the Greek Gods in the Olympia). As usual with Bowie, many interpretations are possible : mine is, Bowie is showing the danger of fame and the business made around this celebrity race : in the end, it drives everybody unhappy ("un"-celebs find their lives even more boring and uninteresting and end up trying to live one by proxy through the media, while celebs dreams of a "normal, boring life" where they could finally do as they please without having said media dissecting each and every move they make). The fact this comment comes from Bowie (who experimented both sides) only adds to its pertinence.
And of course, the music and the vocals are pure Bowie : after all this years, I'm still amazed at how the man could do such energetic and classy music effortlessly (or so it seemed :) ) !
What hijikaelemenope3127 said. I feel like it reverses the idea of the media and people stalking celebrities and prying into their lives. In this the celebrities are aggressively stalking people with normal lives, prying into their lives and possessing them. It's also dealing with the pervasiveness of celebrity culture and how one can not escape it & I think it's a continuation from songs he''s done in the past dealing with Stardom, such as Starman.