Kate Bush acknowledged the Stranger Things-fueled resurgence of her 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill” in a rare statement posted Sunday on the singer’s website.
Without spoiling the fourth season of the Netflix series, the first single from Bush’s Hounds of Love album plays a key role in a pivotal scene involving one of the characters in the series. As a result, the track has gone viral, with “Running Up That Hill” streams multiplied by thousands over the past week, and the nearly 40-year-old track suddenly returns to the charts.
“You may have heard that the first part of the fantastic and fascinating new series of Stranger Things has just been released on Netflix,” Bush wrote in a statement on his official website. “It includes the song ‘Running Up That Hill’ which the young fans who love the show are giving a whole new life to, I love it too!”
She continued: “That’s why Running Up That Hill is doing charts around the world and has entered the UK chart at number 8. It’s very exciting! Thank you so much to everyone who has supported the song.”
Prior to the fourth season of Stranger Things, Bush was already a fan of the series, according to Variety, who spoke with the show’s music supervisors and song editors about the “Running Up That Hill” landing for the sequence involving Max’s character.
“Kate Bush’s lyrics can mean very different things to different people,” music supervisor Nora Felder told Variety. “In the face of Max’s painful isolation and alienation from others, a ‘deal with God’ could be a heartbreaking reflection of Max’s implicit belief that only an unlikely miracle of understanding and show of support could help her climb the hills of life. before her “.
“Kate Bush is selective in licensing her music, so we made sure to get script pages and pictures for her to review so she could see exactly how the song would be used,” said Wende Crowley of Sony Music Publishing.
The first half of the fourth season of Stranger Things came on Memorial Day weekend. “I look forward to breathing the rest of the series in July,” Bush added.