Kameran Falley, who said he has previously worked as a banker for the Illuminati, said in a video: "If you look at the end of the lyrics, there is the date of when the 'dark star' is meant to come and 1 August, 2016 is the date." The first object known to have passed through a black hole has just been spotted. UFO obsessives and those who believe in a hidden planet have claimed that Bowie's lyrics are further proof of a collision between Earth and what has been called Planet X or Nibiru. Some even took the physics analogy to be knowledge of a cosmic apocalypse. Meanings of the term black star include a scientific stage between the collapse of a star and a black hole, a hidden planet, and a cancer lesion. "When a man sees his black star," the song declares, "he knows his time has come." Coincidence? With the album Blackstar, released two days before the announcement of the star's death, the theorists hit the mother lode.Įlvis Presley, with whom Bowie shares a birthday and who was an influence on the younger star, had himself recorded a forgotten song called Black Star. The conspiracy theory: Because David Bowie's work was always loaded with extra meaning, narrative strands and the presence of stage personas, it has a way of humouring those looking for conspiracy theories.
The lyric: "Something happened on the day he died / Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside" - Blackstar (2016) The truth (as far as we know it): Lorde was indeed born in 1996, as was proven when Hairpin journalist Emma Carmichael applied to New Zealand for the singer's birth certificate and published it online. 'Lorde age truthers', as they came to be known online, cited the above lyrics from Team. In a jokey piece for Gawker, which relied on the fact that Lorde hadn't got the World Wars mixed up, writer Jordan Sargent calculated the generational gap to be impossible. Later, speaking to Lena Dunham for Dazed she said her mother was the daughter of escapees from the First World War. In a 2014 interview with Rookie Mag she said a book resonated with her "as a teenager… I mean, I am still a teenager". How could a 17-year-old write music with such polish and knowledge of the world? Her age was surely a hoax.įor one thing, she made slips. The conspiracy theory: When New Zealand musician Lorde, real name Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 19?) came to public attention with her 2013 hit Royals, there seemed to be a disparity of age and wisdom. The lyric: "I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air / So there / I'm kinda older than I was when I revelled without a care / So there" - Team (2013)