FEATURE:
How to Be Visible
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton
The Discord Around Kate Bush Being Present
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ONE of the most interesting….
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
discussions around Kate Bush relates to promotion and visibility. The early part of her career was defined by endless promotion. Bush having to be seen and heard as far and wide as possible. Maybe it was just what was expected of artists of the time. From her debut in 1978 through to at least 1989, Bush was engaged in an endless cycle of interviews and appearances. There was a danger of her being overexposed. The music was simply brilliant and Bush was a distinct and original artist. I have covered this before. How promotion pushed Bush. That she was not given much time and space. Whether EMI felt that she needed to engage with the press so much to stay relevant or whether they threw everything against the wall, one could not escape Kate Bush in the 1970s and 1980s. It took a long time for Bush to become a serious artist in the eyes of many. Seen as a novelty and something to parody for so many years, the conversation did slowly start to turn. Even today, there are sections of the media who lazily define Bush or see her as a recluse, weird singer or someone who sung one or two good songs. One can forgive the change in her promotional duties after 1993. I have covered that topic so I will not tread on that ground again. What I did want to discuss is the way in which Bush promoted her albums from 2005. She was present but not. Think about the sound of an album like 50 Words for Snow. It is not what you would call ‘popular music’. It did not fit into the scene of 2011. Any disappointment around the sound and impact of the album was faintly felt or suggested rather than overt. Those who knew Kate Bush understood that she was not trying to fit in. However, for the casual listener, Kate Bush must have felt alien. Not only was she an artist making music that was very different from anything around. She was also promoting her albums but not in the same way as her contemporaries.
I still think that there was this discussion that Bush was not present and a traditional artist. If others were on T.V. and doing live radio, one of the legends of music was conducting a lot of interviews but her words were heard and read. Her face was not often seen. In fact, aside from a selection of promotional images, Bush was keeping private. This started in 2005. Aerial was a huge release. A new album after twelve years, it was difficult for Bush to step away but also be engaging. A modern music scene demanded a certain amount of exposure from an artist. However, what was clear is that Bush was not engaging with the music around her. Aerial is very much her own sound. If she was influencing artists such as Florence + The Machine and Bat for Lashes, there was not a reciprocity in terms of sound. Bush was not going to cite them or collaborate. I don’t think that will change. Bush’s collaborations through her last three albums have largely been with male artists. Artists who have been on the scene for a lot longer than women who highlight her as an inspiration. It is another topic that I might explore. Bush’s musical tastes and how she engaged with music when she is creating albums. One could say her influences are slow to progress. If Bush name-checked Gorillaz when promoting 50 Words for Snow, that does not mean she wanted to work with them. However, a recent report of her attending a London studio owned by Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn suggests that she may well feature on one of their future albums! I think that one of the most definitive and interesting changes from 1993 was the balance between working on the album sound and packaging versus promotion and singles.
If 1993’s The Red Shoes found singles released and Bush doing a lot of promotion – including her final T.V. interview -, Aerial beckoned in an artist who wanted to have her music heard rather than her face be seen. It was not her fault that promotion was so hectic and draining up until 1993. It was what the label and industry expected. That need for her to be relevant and discussed. By 2005, Bush was in a position where she could take more time and work in her own way. 1993 brought some negative reviews and feeling that her best work was behind her. As such, Bush calibrated her music so that it had real depth and endurance. Bigger projects that were less focused on singles and promotion that was done more on her terms. From 2005 onwards, the discussion around Kate Bush was much more respectful, healthier and music-focused. Bush would offer instructions and strict rules for journalists listening to her work before it was released to the public. It was almost a legal agreement. People swearing they would not breathe a word. That might sound like an artist who was strict and did not want to have her privacy invaded. Instead, this was someone who was placing much more importance in the music and how it was perceived. That is not to say Bush gave fewer interviews. She gave a lot of them. As the view and perception of her changed, Bush was not going to fall back into old practices. When 50 Words for Snow was released in 2011, there was far fewer of the nasty labels that were applied to Bush years previous. The feeling she was a strange recluse holed up somewhere. The eclectic and incredible promotional photos for that album were about setting a mood and tone. Beyond that, Bush very much kept things tight and controlled.
One can see that with Aerial. Some great promotional photos and some longer-form interviews. I think the music industry still expected artists to be doing the rounds in the twenty-first century. Pop shows and radio stations dragging in popular artists and drilling them with inane questions and making them engage with an audience like a celebrity. Bush, aged forty-seven when Aerial was released, was not going to lower herself to the often shallow promotional duties. By 2011, she was in her fifties and had a teenage son. She wanted to be heard and visible, though she very much wanted to achieve that in her control. Bush did put her full weight behind 50 Words for Snow and was as visible as ever. Though not in a way. Billboards were put up and her name was out there. There was a T.V. advert voiced by Stephen Fry (who collaborated with Bush on the title song). Bush still read reviews because she wanted to know what people think. However, she realised she had to be strong. She didn’t have worried. The reviews were hugely positive. That was the case in 2005. If she was nervous how she would be perceived after so long out of the spotlight, she was welcomed with open arms. After 2011, Bush was firmly back in business. Two albums that year – Director’s Cut was released that May -, the next phase of her career had begun. The impact of those albums lasted into 2012. Bush was nominated for a BRIT in 2012. In January 2012, her image adorned the front page of The Guardian. As Graeme Thomson writes in his biography, Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, Bush was not immune from the tabloids. In January 2012, it was reported a stalker broke into Bush property after Christmas. He had flown from the U.S. with an engagement ring. Not actually finding Kate Bush he apparently left the property. He was in her Devon home for about ten minutes and, after breaking a window to get in, was arrested and deported back to the U.S.
IN THIS PHOTO: Halsey/PHOTO CREDIT: About-Face
That would have provided enough of a shock for Kate Bush to realise that, even if she was not the same artist as she was before – in terms of promotion and being visible everywhere –, she could not avoid the downsides of exposure and fame. Bush sold a home in Theale and bought a nine-bedroom property in Oxfordshire. That shift happened after the completion of 50 Words for Snow. 2011 seemed to signal the progression of a new act of her career that began in 2005. She was more engaged and alive to the possibility of new work and possibilities. Bush, as always, said how she hoped to work quicker. We could put to bed any notion Bush was gone and invisible! That there was this silence. Since 2011, although there has not been another album, she has slowly built up new potential. Earlier this year, she spoke with Emma Barnett for Today and dropped the biggest hint yet that another album is coming. In 2011, Bush had cleared a path. She had many new ideas. They have not yet transpired. Maybe a second volume of 50 Words for Snow?! In some ways, Bush is as busy and engaging as she was at the peak of her career. Though her voice is heard and her face is not seen. The last public photo of her is a decade old. That does not matter. Kate Bush is perfectly comfortable engaging with the media and fans but at a distance. She is very much present. As we look towards a new year, there is no telling what will come from Kate Bush! Looking around the media, apart from a few idiot rags who label her as a ‘recluse’ and have not done her homework, there is this sense of respect and stability. A whole new generation of artists paying tribute to her (including Halsey). Her influence very much strong and widespread. Embracing technology as a way to communicate but also remaining private and putting the focus on music and away from her private life – and onto charity in many cases -, maybe this is a new chapter. The previous chapter ended with 50 Words for Snow. This new one (that started over a decade ago) has been fruitful and varied. If Kate Bush does release a new album in the future, there will be no radical promotional changes. What will happen is that the discourse around her image and need for privacy will change. The realisation that Bush should and will not do what is expected of a modern artist. Having being in the industry for decade, she has won the right to be visible…in her own way. Bush has comprehensively proven that she is…
NORMAL rather than an enigma.