Billboard and CNN wrote that Bowie's lyrics seem to address his impending death, with CNN noting that the album "reveals a man who appears to be grappling with his own mortality".

By mid-2015, as the studio sessions for Blackstar were completed, it was hoped that the cancer was in remission, but by November 2015, around the time his single "Blackstar" was released, the cancer had spread throughout his body and Bowie was told by his doctors that his condition was terminal.

The video for David Bowie's last single “Lazarus” — released days before the late singer lost his 18-month battle with cancer — hauntingly referred to death and rebirth.

"Lazarus" is a song by English rock musician David Bowie. Released on 17 December 2015 as a digital download, it was the second single from his twenty-sixth and final studio album, Blackstar (2016). It is Bowie's last single to be released during his lifetime.