Kate Bush Talks ‘Extraordinary’ Comeback in Rare BBC Interview: ‘The World’s Gone Mad’
There are comebacks, and there is Kate Bush.
The 63-year-old English singer, songwriter, and national treasure is the hottest property in pop right now, with a little help from a hit sci-fi series.
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It’s a comeback you didn’t see coming, and couldn’t have made up.
Powered by its sync in season four of Netflix’ Stranger Things, Bush’s 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill” has sprinted to No. 1 in the U.K., Australia, and the Billboard Global 200 chart for the first time, and lifted to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, for her first career Top 10 appearance in the U.S.
With its U.K. chart supremacy, Bush busts three long-standing records. It’s a strange thing indeed. Make no mistake, Bush has been watching the action and feeling the love. “It’s just extraordinary,” she tells BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.
“I mean, it’s such a great series. I thought that the track would get some attention, but I never imagined that it would be anything like this. It’s so exciting. It’s quite shocking really, isn’t it? The whole world’s gone mad,” she says with a laugh.
Bush rarely appears in public, on TV or radio. Gardening is her “thing now,” she tells presenter Emma Barnett in a prerecorded interview that aired Wednesday morning (June 22).
Her residency at the London’s Hammersmith Apollo in 2014 was manna from heaven for her fans, some of whom traveled the world to catch the enigmatic artist. Bush’s rare BBC interview was a “thank you,” a shoutout to everyone who has tuned in, and to the Duffer brothers, the creators of Stranger Things, who made the magic happen.
“What’s really wonderful is that this is a whole new audience who in a lot of cases haven’t heard of me, and I love that,” Bush continues. “The thought of all these young people hearing this song for the first time and discovering it, well, I think it’s very special.”
During the chat, Bush admitted she knows the song by its original name, “A Deal With God”; she rarely listens to her old stuff; and she’s been a fan of Stranger Things since the beginning.
“I think they put it in a really special place,” she said of the Duffer brothers. “I thought, ‘What a lovely way for (‘Running Up That Hill’) to be used, in such a positive way. As a kind of talisman almost, for [Sadie Sink’s character] Max,” she explains. “I think it’s really touching, really.”
Bush, who was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year, is on track for a second week atop the Official U.K. Chart, the results of which will be presented late Friday.
Based on midweek data, her career retrospective The Whole Story could lift into the U.K. Top 20 for the first time this year.
So how does Bush’s son feel about having a famous mum, again. “I think he thinks it’s pretty cool,” she says.
Stream the interview here.
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