Year In ReView: Vanyaland’s Top 25 songs of 2016

2. David Bowie, “Lazarus”

Perhaps if we didn’t take David Bowie’s artistic mystique for granted, we would have seen this coming. On January 7, Bowie gave us his final masterpiece with “Lazarus,” the lead single and music video from his 2016 release Blackstar. While Bowie’s usual fuzzy “out-there” synths carry the song into the stratosphere, the lyrics, unfortunately, carried Bowie into outer space, too. “Look up here, man, I’m in danger/I’ve got nothing left to lose” he warned on the track only a few days before his untimely death. Paired with the eerie music video, featuring Bowie floating and quivering in a drab hospital gown and bed, the tracks remains haunting, even after nearly a year after Bowie’s passing. In the rearview mirror, it’s clear that Bowie released a song a final message, but some light peers through the solemn dirge. “You know, I’ll be free/
Just like that bluebird/Now, ain’t that just like me?” he sings, perhaps partially as some reassurance about his final destination. Once again, Bowie peered into the future before the rest of the earthlings could, except this was his ultimate premonition.

— Victoria Wasylak