Bowie cover of the week: Stella Wembley performs “Loving the Alien”

Amidst the expected weekly covers of “Heroes,” “Space Oddity” and “The Man Who Sold the World,” I found this one, of the less-covered, “Loving the Alien.” I have a feeling that the title of this song is more familiar than the song itself. Bowie had to be deliberately deceptive in that the song has nothing to do with space aliens, but has more to do with multiculturalism, or, to be more specific, religious tolerance. I guess. There are some ambiguities left in the lyrics (but it’s not about space aliens!)

“Loving the Alien” is at once both one of the strongest parts of the argument that Tonight is not as bad an album as its reputation would hold, and, paradoxically, under-appreciated because it was on Tonight. In part of this reason, I like that Stella Wembley separated it from its 80s pop origin and made it a Goth song. From the look of her web site appears to be an aspiring professional singer, and this video was made as promotional material, not just for fun. She mixes religious, sexual and violent imagery in a way that is vaguely reminiscent of Bowie’s video for “The Next Day.” Like the song itself, Wembeley’s video clearly has something to do with religion, but is also a little ambiguous in terms of telling an actual story. I like it! And I hope Stella Wembley finds success.