David Bowie-Inspired Emoji to Appear in New iPhone Update

"Singer" design among numerous professions, foods, gestures being added to keyboard

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David Bowie has inspired a new “singer” emoji set to appear on the next iPhone update. Photo: Jimmy King

A new emoji inspired by the cover of David Bowie‘s 1973 album Aladdin Sane will appear on Apple’s upcoming iOS 10.2 update, according to Emojipedia.

David Bowie has inspired a new emoji. Photo: Emojipedia

The “singer” emoji is among 16 new professions being added to the keyboard and will feature both a man and woman in front of a microphone with a lightning bolt painted across one eye.

Every new design in the iOS 10.2 emoji keyboard is available to peruse on Emojipedia. Along with numerous new animals and foods, the update will include new gestures including face palm, fingers crossed and selfie (which is an eerie disembodied arm holding a phone). The latest emoji update arrives not long after the Museum of Modern Art in New York announced that it had added the original set of 176 emoji to its permanent collection.

As for the Aladin Sane-inspired emoji, the design is among the more unique tributes to Bowie, who died in January after a long battle with cancer he largely kept secret. Just days before his death, Bowie released his final album, Blackstar, though three of his final recordings recently appeared on the cast album for his musical, Lazarus.

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