The Stars (Are Out Tonight)

Album: The Next Day (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • The second single from The Next Day finds Bowie singing about the eternal status of celebrity, as he reflects, "The stars are never sleeping. Dead ones and the living." Producer Tony Visconti noted to NME: "This one could be of (1972's) Ziggy Stardust...It's a big stadium rock song."
  • Floria Sigismondi helmed the song's music video. The Italian/Canadian photographer and director was also behind the clips for Bowie's "Little Wonder" in 1996 and "Dead Man Walking" in 1997. The visual stars Bowie alongside British actress Tilda Swinton, whom you might recall from her role of Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton, which won her a Best-Supporting Actress Oscar. Bowie and Swinton portray a married couple who is harassed by their younger celebrity neighbours, (played by Saskia de Brauw and Andrej Pejíc).

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