When David Bowie released his haunting final album, Blackstar, just days before his death in 2016, fans and critics alike saw it as a carefully orchestrated farewell—a parting artistic statement shaped by his cancer diagnosis and an unflinching acceptance of mortality. But as it turns out, Blackstar was not Bowie's last creative endeavor. Hidden away in his locked New York study, archivists have now discovered the blueprints for a secret and unfinished project: an 18th-century musical titled The Spectator.
The existence of The Spectator was a revelation, even to Bowie’s closest collaborators. According to the BBC, the notes for this musical—pinned to the walls and tucked into notebooks—were found exactly as Bowie left them, undisturbed in a room where only he and his personal assistant ever held the key. It was only after his passing, as archivists began cataloguing his vast collection, that the project came to light.
Now, these notes—along with the rest of Bowie’s extensive archive—have been donated to the V&A Museum in London. They will be on public display for the first time when the David Bowie Centre opens at the V&A East Storehouse in Hackney Wick on September 13, 2025. For fans and scholars, this offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the mind of an artist who was, even in his final months, chasing new creative frontiers.
So what exactly was The Spectator? Bowie envisioned it as a musical set in the bustling, chaotic world of 18th-century London—a city teeming with contradictions, from high society to criminal underworlds. The project took its name and inspiration from an actual daily periodical, The Spectator, which ran for 555 issues between 1711 and 1712, offering sharp commentary on the manners, fads, and follies of London society. Bowie devoted an entire notebook to the publication, summarizing and scoring its key essays, and even jotting down ideas for possible subplots and characters.
One of the stories that caught Bowie’s eye was a morality tale about two sisters—one beautiful but “vain and severe,” the other plain but kind—where the latter wins the suitor’s heart. “Could be a good subplot,” Bowie wrote in the margins, awarding the essay eight out of ten. Another entry that amused him was about Mr. Clinch of Barnet, a man famous for his uncanny ability to imitate horses, hounds, an old woman, and even a bassoon, all with his own voice.
Bowie’s fascination with 18th-century London went beyond its social satire. He was particularly drawn to the city’s notorious criminal element, imagining scenes such as surgeons fighting over corpses after public hangings and considering the inclusion of infamous characters like “Honest” Jack Sheppard, a petty thief who became a folk hero. The notes also reference Jonathan Wild, the so-called “thief-taker general” who orchestrated Sheppard’s arrest and execution, and the Mohocks, a gang of young aristocrats who terrorized the city’s streets in drunken rampages. As Professor Bob Harris of the University of Oxford told the BBC, “London, at that stage, was such an exciting, vibrant and diverse city. It was the largest city in western Europe, with a population of over half a million, and it had an ebullient print media that was constantly commentating on the fashions and follies of the age.”
Beyond the intrigue of crime and punishment, Bowie’s notes reveal a deep interest in the broader cultural shifts of the era. He mapped out a chronology of early 18th-century London, noting the emergence of painters like Joshua Reynolds and William Hogarth and the founding of the Royal Academy. He was also captivated by the evolution of musicals and their role in political satire, particularly against the government of Robert Walpole. Madeleine Haddon, the lead curator of the Bowie collection, told the BBC, “He was interested in the development of musicals themselves in London in this period, and how musicals were used for political satire.” She speculates that Bowie may have been drawing parallels between the Enlightenment and the modern day, reflecting on the power of art to create change in turbulent times.
For Bowie, The Spectator was more than a historical exercise—it was a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream. “Right at the very beginning, I really wanted to write for theatre,” he told BBC Radio 4’s John Wilson in 2002. “And I guess I could have just written for theatre in my living room – but I think the intent was [always] to have a pretty big audience.” If completed, the musical would have allowed Bowie to finally bridge his love of music and theatre in a way that had eluded him for decades.
The discovery of The Spectator adds a poignant new chapter to Bowie’s legacy. His archive, now held by the V&A, contains some 90,000 objects, from stage costumes and handwritten lyrics to the desk where he worked on his final projects. About 200 items will be on display at the new centre, but visitors can also book appointments to view any item in the collection—offering a treasure trove for those eager to understand the breadth of Bowie’s creative genius.
“I’m so excited to see the impact this will have [on] the next generation of musicians, artists, designers and creators of all kinds,” Haddon said. “If you think about how so many young people today don’t want to be defined by a singular genre, Bowie really was a pioneer for that. I hope people take away the breadth of impact he’s had on popular culture – but I also hope people will be prompted to think about the tools and processes Bowie used that they can apply to their own creativity.”
While we may never know exactly how The Spectator would have unfolded, its discovery underscores Bowie’s restless curiosity and his refusal to be pigeonholed. Even as he faced the end of his life, he was still looking forward, still experimenting, still driven by the urge to create something new and unexpected. For fans and scholars alike, the opening of the David Bowie Centre offers a unique opportunity to explore the mind of an artist who, even in his final act, was planning his next great leap.
