Kate Bush Gives First Interview About Stranger Things Resurgence: “The Whole World’s Gone Mad”
Last week, “Running Up That Hill” reached #1 on the UK charts. This was just the latest development in the song’s Stranger Things-fueled revival, and it led to Bush making history on a few counts — she’s now the oldest woman to have a #1 single in the UK, and she broke records for the longest stint between #1 singles as well a song’s longest journey from release to the top spot. We’ve already heard from Bush a few times during all the Stranger Things fervor, but now she’s given an official, very rare interview.
On today’s edition of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Emma Barnett interviewed Bush. A lot of the conversation revolves around what Bush has already been talking about, the surprise at how big a deal this whole thing has become. “Well it’s just extraordinary,” Bush told Barnett. “I mean, you know, it’s such a great series, I thought that the track would get some attention. But I just never imagined that it would be anything like this. It’s so exciting. But it’s quite shocking really, isn’t it? I mean, the whole world’s gone mad.”
They discuss the song some more (and the fact that it was originally just titled “A Deal With God”), and Barnett asks Bush about ’80s nostalgia. While acknowledging how much awful stuff is going on, Bush counters that we’re also living in an “incredibly exciting” time now, given the rapid advances in technology and medicine. This prompts Barnett to ask if Bush knows about the TikTok subset WitchTok, inspired by the “Babooshka” video. Bush laughs and says it sounds ridiculous, mentions her phone is ancient, and eventually concludes with saying she’s just really into gardening now. You can listen to the whole conversation here.