Kate Bush thanks her fans for this year—even the younger ones who thought she was a new artist

Angel on high Kate Bush continues her yearly tradition of sharing a Christmas message, in which she reflects on the passing year. This year, she touches on the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II (but don’t you dare call her a royalist!), the war in Ukraine, the ongoing nurses strike in the U.K., and the runaway success of her 1985 single, “Running Up That Hill.”

While she’s previously expressed her gratitude for the epic rise of “Running Up That Hill” on music charts around the world after its needledrop in Stranger Things, she took a special moment to thank the younger fans. “It was such a great feeling to see so many of the younger generation enjoying the song,” Bush writes. “It seems that quite a lot of them thought I was a new artist! I love that!

You can read her full letter below:

“Every year seems to fly by a little faster. They say this happens as you get older, but there’s no doubt that the speed of life is accelerating at a greater rate than ever.

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I don’t think any of us have ever known a year like this one. Life became incredibly frightening in the pandemic, but just as we think it might be over soon, it seems to keep going. It’s a bombardment—the horrific war in Ukraine, the famines, the droughts, the floods… and we lost our Queen. Many of my friends were surprised at how upset they were at her death especially as we aren’t royalists, but I think her passing became a focus for grief, for unexpressed loss that so many people had felt during the pandemic.

It’s been a crazy, roller coaster year for me. I still reel from the success of RUTH, being the No 1 track of this summer. What an honour! It was really exciting to see it doing so well globally, but especially here in the UK and Australia; and also to see it making it all the way to No 3 in the US. It was such a great feeling to see so many of the younger generation enjoying the song. It seems that quite a lot of them thought I was a new artist! I love that!

Again, thank you so much to everyone who supported the track and made it a hit.

I wonder where on earth we’ll all be at the end of next year? I hope the war will end. I hope that the nurses will be in a position where they are appreciated—they should be cherished. Let’s all hope that next year will be better than this one. I keep thinking about hope and how it was the last to fly out of Pandora’s box. Sometimes it’s all that seems to glow in the dark times we find ourselves in right now.

I used a little robin in some of my Christmas gifts to friends this year. I felt that this humble little bird, which symbolises Christmas could also symbolise hope in the context of Emily Dickinson’s beautiful words: Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

I‘d like to think that this Christmas when joy is so hard to find, hope will perch in all our souls. Merry Christmas!

All best wishes,

Kate”