FEATURE:
I Give Them What They Want to Hear
IMAGE CREDIT: Anthony Freeman/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Just How Far and Deep Does Kate Bush’s Influence Extend?
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I often write about…
IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé
Kate Bush’s influence and how she is so revered by artists new and established. Last year was one where so many incredible albums were released. I have said how so many of these albums were from artists who were influenced by Kate Bush or count her as a favourite. You can either hear it directly in their music or the artist in question is a fan. And not only artists who are inspired by one of her albums or this narrow time period. There are a lot of rising artists who are Kate Bush fans. There are a couple of huge artists who have not spoken about their love of Kate Bush or confirmed whether they are a fan. It always intrigues me, as I have this theory that Kate Bush has influenced and is admired by the majority of the very best artists. Some of the most impressive and acclaimed live tours too. Even if ROSALÍA’s LUX TOUR is very much bigger and perhaps more impactful than Kate Bush’s 2014 residency, Before the Dawn, ROSALÍA is a fan of Kate Bush, and I feel her pushing the boundaries and possibilities of what live music can be is, in part, because of Kate Bush. LUX, one of the best albums of this century, definitely has elements of Bush’s music in it. Beyoncé is one of those huge artists who I am not sure has spoken about Kate Bush, though you know, if asked, she would show love for her. These sort of gaps and blanks where you want to fill. Beyoncé has some big anniversaries this year. Lemonade turned ten on 23rd April. B’Day turns twenty on 1st September. Beyoncé turns forty-five three days later. At the time of writing this feature (9th May), there are rumours from the Beehive (the name for Beyoncé’s fans and their community) that a new album or material will drop. By the time you read this, I wonder whether something will be out. Looking at her evolution and sonic shifts, it does put me in mind of Kate Bush. Someone who I hope shouts out her music at some point.
IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish photographed for ELLE, April 2026/PHOTO CREDIT: Willy Vanderperre
Another reason for re-raising this topic is to take it wider. It is pleasing that, last month, Billie Eilish shouted out Kate Bush’s 1978 debut album, The Kick Inside. Among the albums she is vibing to at the moment, Eilish also said how she was listening to the weirder and odder Kate Bush music. In 2019, this article proclaimed how Billie Eilish is the Kate Bush we need right now. In fact, it was when Amy Poehler interviewed Eilish. The American artist talked about her love of Wuthering Heights and Army Dreamers (from 1980’s Never for Ever). An artist of such stature and brilliance this confirmed Kate Bush fan. Eilish also heard snippets of Don’t Give Up, her 1986 duet with Peter Gabriel, for the first time, and cheekily asked if she and Gabriel were ‘close’, let’s say, at the time! I know that there will be artists who are not Kate Bush fans. Though it is amazing that Bush’s influence is so wide and rich. And that artists like Billie Eiilsuh are digging the spookier or darker songs. There was a period when mostly Hounds and Love and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) were mentioned and heard. After that Stranger Things inclusion in 2022. Now, many artists are looking further. Not only Bush’s recorded material. Her interviews, causes she stands up for and her live work. Incorporation that and taking it in new and interesting personal directions. I published a feature recently where I tried to manifest a commission from The New Yorker, where I get to speak with a range of people who are fans of Kate Bush. Published in February 2028 to mark fifty years of her debut album, The Kick Inside, speaking with Billie Eilish would be incredible.
I am looking beyond music. As I am a music journalist, my main focus is artists and music. However, I have mentioned how director Greta Gerwig and actress Margot Robbie have love for Kate Bush. There is a whole book or series to be made where we think about all the people who have their own reasons for loving Kate Bush. In terms of great writers, directors, actors, comics, politicians and broadcasters, is it even possible to calculate and represent the scale and scope of her influence?! Maybe not. We know Guy Pearce (especially fervently) and Winona Ryder are Kate Bush devotees. I return to this subject again, because we talk about Kate Bush’s influence and impact mostly in music terms. How so much of the modern landscape and music from the past forty-or-so years has been affected by her. But consider wider culture. From films and productions through to works of literature. Broadcasters who are impacted by her and that feeds into their work in different ways. I suppose there will be think-pieces around this subject in 2028, as it is a big anniversary year and it would be a good time. I have not seen many (if any) articles the past few years that explore Bush’s cultural impact and how so much of the best music being made can be traced back to her. I have referenced a Brianna Holt feature from COMPLEX published in 2020 that has now been removed. It is sad that there is so little written and discussed when it comes to Bush’s importance. There is this 2018 feature that discusses Kate Bush’s ongoing incandescence and influence. This from 2021 about Hounds of Love (1985) and how it changed and transformed Electronic music. In 2022, the BBC discussed Kate Bush’s influence and why she is unique;
“Her influence, however, has been constant, with disciples including Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Lady Gaga, Bat for Lashes, Goldfrapp, Florence Welch, Joanna Newsom, Tricky and Outkast. Some artists open the door to a new room in the house of music; Bush is one of a handful whose imagination revealed the existence of a whole new wing. For her, anything can be the germ of a song (inspirations on Aerial include laundry, bird song and the number Pi) and any perspective is legitimate: a child, a foetus, a cockney bank robber, a Himalayan explorer, a man watching his wife give birth, a ghost. She is an adventurer and an alchemist; a perfectionist and a dreamer.
For a genius, Bush is unusually nice, with no reputation for tormented or difficult behaviour. The closest she has ever sailed to controversy is when she praised Theresa May, as a female prime minister, in 2016. From Joni and Aretha to Adele and Mary J Blige, great female artists are often associated with the expression of emotional pain – heartbreak is their engine – but Bush has a rare talent for joy, empathy and wonder.
In interviews she is lovely, if deftly evasive, unable or unwilling to put into words why and how she makes music of such magical intensity. The more that she denies that there is any mystery to unravel, the more fascinating she becomes. She told me that she loves it when listeners mishear or misread her songs as long as they take something positive from the experience: "Whether you've understood what the artist felt is basically irrelevant. It's how it makes you feel”.
I would say there needs to be more written about her in general. Something, ironically, I have written about a fair few times. Each time we get an artist mentioning Kate Bush or we feel her influence beyond music, it does make me wonder whether more can be done. Articles and entire books written about other artists and their legacy and how they have inspired countless people across culture and throughout the world. What started with acknowledging a Billie Eilish Kate Bush shout-out has made me examine Bush’s deeper influence. I am not sure if I have even gone as deep as I should. Without waiting for a new album or words from Kate Bush, where are the writers and podcasters who could be using the time to truly explore and dissect her brilliance and growing and widening influence. If there was to be this wave of new consideration and representation, it would be absolutely…
GREAT to see.