On his 69th birthday, David Bowie defined music genres, and released his 25th album Blackstar. Shortly after the album was released, Bowie unexpectedly passed away due to an 18-month battle with cancer. It is safe to say that the man behind the album was not only a musician, but an artist. He broke boundaries, creating art not only sonically, but visually. From his vast array of music, to his stage productions, to his award winning music videos such as China Girl and Dancing in the Street, and movies, such as Labyrinth and The Man Who Fell to Earth, David Bowie propelled pop culture in ways that most people cannot even imagine.

The production behind his latest album has been revered as a musical phenomenon that twists the borderlines of musical genres, pulling inspiration from categories, such as rap and smooth jazz, in order to encompass a new sound within the music industry.

The composition of Bowie’s album Blackstar began in a jazz bar situated in the heart of New York City. Bowie pulled together a crew of musicians from a jazz quartet that had been previously recommended to Bowie by a friend. In order to give the album a unique sound that correlated mainly with both hip-hop and jazz, Bowie found inspiration within other artists as well as his new band members.

One artist that Bowie claimed he was fascinated by was Kendrick Lamar. The fact that Lamar does not necessarily stick to one genre in the creation of his music spoke to Bowie and greatly influenced songs such as Dollar Days, which contained a few hip-hop beats and a saxophone.

While some songwriters often pull inspiration from personal experience, Bowie has been known to turn towards political and global events to influence his lyrics. Although fans may be curious about the true meanings of his songs, Bowie believed that his songs should be left to the fans to interpret.

Fans grew confused as to why Bowie had stopped doing interviews all together, while some people, such as McCaslin, inferred that the reason was probably due to the fact that Bowie felt his lyrics were more self-expressive than a conversation with a reporter.

Bottom line, fame and fortune were not important reasons behind the making of Bowie’s music. His ideas expressed that making music was an art form. The director for Bowie’s music video Lazarus, John Renck, conveyed that Bowie had fascinatingly deep ideas without being pretentious. However, the ideas Bowie had behind his final single, Lazarus, were not limited to a song and a music video. He also co-wrote the script and also helped compose new music for the play, which was released on Dec. 7, 2015.

The world will continue to mourn the loss of this accomplished artist, but even though he is no longer with us, his music will live on forever.