Prof. Alex Sharp on Bowie and Existentialism

In this interview, I welcome back Professor Alex Sharpe of the University of Warwick to discuss her new book examining Bowie and existentialism, We’re Nobody’s Children. Alex explains how she uses Bowie both to make existentialist philosophy accessible and to consider whether Bowie himself can be understood as having lived an existentially authentic life. We discuss thinkers including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus and Simone Weil, and the significant differences between atheist and Christian forms of existentialism.

A central theme of our conversation is authenticity. Alex explains that existentialist authenticity does not require discovering a fixed, “real” self hidden beneath changing identities. Instead, existentialists commonly emphasize choice, freedom and responsibility: human beings are not born with a predetermined essence but continually make themselves through the choices they make. We consider how that idea relates to Bowie’s continual reinvention and his resistance to conformity, groupthink and what Heidegger called “the they.” We also discuss Bowie’s own description of periods when he made music according to what he thought other people wanted, and how such periods can be understood through the existentialist concept of “falling” back into conventionality.

We examine the recurring presence of “nothing” in Bowie’s work and two different philosophical ways of understanding it. Alex describes the atheist existentialist view in which nothingness provides the freedom to create and continually remake oneself, while Simone Weil offers a Christian conception of moving toward nothingness through humility and self-effacement. This leads us to consider a broader tension in Bowie between creating meaning for oneself and looking toward God as a source of meaning.

Another major theme is angst. Alex distinguishes existential angst from ordinary fear and explains how it can interrupt unreflective everyday existence, forcing people to confront their freedom and the choices available to them. We discuss Bowie’s longstanding engagement with alienation, dread and anxiety, both as subjects in his work and as feelings his music can provoke in listeners.

Death provides another important point of connection. We discuss Heidegger’s emphasis on confronting mortality as part of authentic living and Bowie’s own lifelong preoccupation with death, extending from his early work through Blackstar and Lazarus. Alex explains why Bowie’s late-period imagery connects with the existentialist demand to keep mortality in view rather than treating death as an event safely confined to the distant future.

Throughout the conversation, we also consider Bowie’s refusal to dictate definitive interpretations of his work. Alex connects the openness of Bowie’s lyrics and imagery with existentialist writers who deliberately resist creating followers, leaving readers and listeners responsible for interpretation and choice themselves.