Just when we were all finally recovering from that celebrity-filled ‘Imagine’ video from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, along comes this David Bowie tribute.
To mark what would have been the chameleonic singer’s 75th birthday on Saturday, January 8th, W Magazine decided the best way to do this was reshare a video of a trio of young stars covering the late star’s classic 1972 hit ‘Changes’.
The 2016 clip, directed by Lynn Hirschberg, sees Euphoria‘s Zendaya, Willow Smith, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina‘s Kieran Shipka belt out the song, with seemingly no pre-planning on style or pitch. “Watch as the stars deliver a heartfelt rendition of the legendary rocker’s hit song,” as the caption puts it.
Now we’re sure everyone involved had the best intentions going into it but that doesn’t mean it’s not a tough watch. Their version of ‘Changes’ left a lot of fans downright bemused and offended.
“Bowie is lucky that he is dead and can’t see this,” someone wrote on Instagram, a comment that was liked almost 600 times. “I thought this was gonna be cute but instead it felt blasphemous,” another commented.
Others noted the quality of the performances. “Why are they reading these iconic lyrics off a page!!??? If they don’t know them off by heart like any Bowie fan then,” questioned someone. “Y’all didn’t even give them a key to sing in huh?” said another. “Why on earth would you give them a Bowie song when, obviously from watching this, they have no concept of what a Bowie song is??” asked someone else.
It also reminded people a lot of that infamous ‘Imagine’ video from 2020 that starred celebrities like Gal Gadot, Jimmy Fallon, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, and National Portman. It took Gadot almost two years to apologise for the aggravating video; expect Zendaya and Willow’s humble apologies around 2024.
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