Released 17 December 2015 Genre Jazz-rock
gothic rock | Format Digital download Label ISO
Columbia | |
Recorded 2015 at The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios
(New York City, New York) Length 6:22 (album version)
4:05 (video edit) | ||
"Lazarus" is a song by English rock musician David Bowie. It was released on 17 December 2015 as a digital download, making it the second single from his twenty-fifth studio album, ★ (2016), as well as Bowie's last single released before his death on 10 January 2016. The single received its world premiere on BBC Radio 6 Music's Steve Lamacq on the day of its release as a single. In addition to its release on Blackstar, the track is used in Bowie's off-Broadway musical of the same name. The official music video, directed by Johan Renck, was released on 7 January 2016, three days before Bowie's death.
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Bowie never performed the song live, but on 17 December 2015, Michael C. Hall appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, singing "Lazarus" to promote both the single's release and the musical running at New York Theatre Workshop starring Hall.
"Lazarus" was Bowie's first top 40 hit single on the Billboard Hot 100 in more than 28 years, landing at number 40 in the week after his death.
Billboard ranked "Lazarus" at number 40 on their on their "100 Best Pop Songs of 2016" list. Pitchfork listed "Lazarus" on their ranking of the 100 best songs of 2016 at number 5. In the annual Village Voice's Pazz & Jop mass critics poll of the year's best in music in 2016, "Lazarus" was ranked at number 8.
Background
According to Bowie's producer Tony Visconti, the lyrics and video of "Lazarus" and other songs on the album were intended to be a self-epitaph, a commentary on Bowie's own impending death.
Music video
The official music video for "Lazarus", featuring a shorter edit of the song lasting just over four minutes, was uploaded on 7 January 2016 to Bowie's Vevo channel on YouTube. The video was directed by Johan Renck (who also directed the music video for Bowie's previous single, "Blackstar") in November 2015; during the week of shooting, doctors reportedly informed Bowie the cancer was terminal and that they were ending treatment. The filming location was a studio in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The video is shown in a 1:1 aspect ratio and prominently features Bowie, appearing with a bandage and buttons sewn over his eyes as in the "Blackstar" video, lying on a deathbed. A director's cut exists restoring the original widescreen aspect.
The video finishes with Bowie retreating into a dark wardrobe. In the scenes featuring the wardrobe, Bowie is wearing a diagonally striped suit referencing the back cover of the 1991 CD reissue of the Station to Station album, where he is pictured sitting on the floor drawing the kabbalistic Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is also referenced in the Station to Station lyrics, a "magical movement from Kether to Malkuth".
The video was nominated for three awards: Best Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Editing, at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.
Personnel
Personnel adapted from Blackstar liner notes.