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David Bowie’s “I Can’t Give Everything Away” Gets Animated Video

It’s still hard to believe that David Bowie is no longer with us. His final album★ (pronounced Blackstar) was released on January 8, Bowie’s 69th birthday; the legend passed away two days later. The album, all the more haunting because of the timing, rocketed to the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, and we’re still getting videos from the album, including for the song “I Can’t Give Everything Away.”

The video was released on Bowie’s official YouTube channel today, April 6, and is an animated lyrics video featuring a swirling background of stars and hearts. There is no visual of Bowie, and in a way, that totally makes sense. It’s mesmerizing, especially considering the lyrics about modern society and how much of ourselves we give away to people. As the song reaches its peak, the black, white and grey graphics become a wildly-colored psychedelic riot, featuring an animated spaceman drifting off into the great beyond.

The video was created by artist Jonathan Barnbrook, who’s work is featured on the album. In a statement, Barnbrook said, “This is really a very simple little video that I wanted to be ultimately positive. We start off in black and white world of ★, but in the final chorus we move to brilliant color, I saw it as a celebration of David, to say that despite the adversity we face, the difficult things that happen such as David’s passing, that human beings are naturally positive, they look forward and can take the good from the past and use it as something to help with the present. We are a naturally optimistic species and we celebrate the good that we are given.”

We want to know what you think of the video. Tweet us @Nerdist and let us know. What’s your favorite Bowie song of all time? Can you even pick?

HT: DavidBowieVEVO, Rolling Stone
Image credit: DavidBowieVEVO

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