FEATURE:
A Growing Army
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Kate Bush’s Ongoing Viral Success and Signs of What Comes Next
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THERE has been some great news…
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
recently regarding Kate Bush and her music. One of her lesser-known tracks, Army Dreamers, has found success through streaming services. In fact, it has experienced this explosion over the past few weeks. I know that a lot of Kate Bush fans already know the song, yet there is this new band of recruits who have discovered. Beginning its rise and visibility through TikTok, it is a bit of a mystery how it all started. I do think that there is a case of anime videos using the song and then people latching onto that. Normally, when there is this rise and new popularity for a Kate Bush tracks, it is because it appears in a film or T.V. show. I wanted to look more widely at Kate Bush and her viral success. Before getting to some more success and signs of future potential, it is worth looking at Army Dreamers and how it has made the news recently. Forbes report how Army Dreamers has enjoyed this surge and new lease of life:
“Kate Bush hasn’t released a completely new single in well over a decade at this point. The singer-songwriter seems to have largely retired, but the world isn’t done with her music. Years after one of her most recognizable smashes became a hit all over again, another one of her tunes is surging in popularity, and she may be looking at her next chart win.
The British singer-songwriter’s tune “Army Dreamers” has been going viral for some time now. Snippets of the song and the music video have been racking up plays for weeks, and those views have translated to people heading to platforms like Spotify and AppleApple 0.0% Music to hear the cut in full.
All that attention has led to a massive gain in terms of total streams for “Army Dreamers” in the U.S. Those plays could potentially lead to Bush collecting another hit in the United States, if the tune can keep up its exciting trajectory.
Billboard reports that in the last week, “Army Dreamers” earned 1.1 million plays on streaming sites. That’s up from just 80,000 about a month prior in the U.S.
For those who don’t want to do the math, that’s a growth of 1,291% in just one month, according to Billboard. 1,000-plus-% gains are unusual for any older track, and it takes something very special for any title to explode in popularity in that fashion…but this is an experience that Bush has enjoyed before.
In 2022, Bush’s single “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” went much more viral than “Army Dreamers”—at least so far. The tune was featured in Netflix’sNetflix 0.0% Stranger Things, and that placement helped millions of people hear the ‘80s classic for the first time, and they couldn’t get enough of the single.
“Running Up That Hill” rose into the top 10 on charts all around the world, becoming a late-in-life smash that nobody could have expected. It peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100, easily outpacing its original No. 30 high point, which had stood as her best placement until the track’s revival. The single also rose to No. 1 in her home country of the U.K. for the first time, doubling her total number of champions on that tally”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Keef (Keith MacMillan)/John Carder Bush via Dreams of Orgonon
Kate Bush News raised a few theories as to why Army Dreamers has got this new boom and surge on streaming. There is a mix of this protest and celebration. In 2016, Norwegian artist Moddi covered Army Dreamers. At a time when there is genocide in Palestine and an ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it is understandable that the song would strike a chord. We are in a time when there are countless people being displaced, killed and injured through conflict and genocide. Even though Kate Bush’s 1980 single – which was on the album, Never for Ever -, was a modest success when it was released (it got to number sixteen in the U.K.), it has now grown in stature. When Kate Bush wrote the original, she was maybe reacting to people who thought she was not serious enough. Not political or engaging with serious subject matter. Bush has always been invested in deeper issues, yet it was not perhaps the right time to put it onto her albums. Army Dreamers was a reaction to war in general, though there were conflicts around the time of the album’s release that could be seen as references – including The Sino-Vietnamese War and The Soviet-Afghan War. Bush was concerned about the wastefulness of war and how men so young were being conscripted and led to death. Now, although the dynamic and situations are different, we are seeing the devastation of violence. It seems bleak that Army Dreamers is successful and catching a new thread because of that. There is some of that. Also, I know there might be some scepticism around TikTok and its impact. The fact that a few videos featuring Army Dreamers then creates this wave.
At the time of writing this feature (27th April), Kate Bush’s Army Dreamers has 37,629,930 streams on Spotify. It has 8.5 million views on YouTube. Evren though Army Dreamers has got this new rise in streaming figures, it is still way behind a lot of other songs. I think it is the sixth most-streamed song at the moment. Think about Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and the way that it got this new life and lease after it was featured during Stranger Things. It got to number one in the U.K. in 2022. Not that the song was ever as ‘obscure’ as Army Dreamers, yet it was helped by this spotlight on a big U.S. show. It is always exciting seeing a Kate Bush viral moment! Regardless of where it came from, you get a new sense of people discovering her music. One hopes that the albums the songs are from gets focus. I would like to think that Never for Ever gets some boost and traction now that Army Dreamers is receiving such attention. Kate Bush has not spoken about the latest news about her 1980 track. It is one that she performed live on T.V., though it was not one that is often spoken about as highly as those who admire her biggest songs. The recent Record Store Day saw a 10” release of Bush’s song, Eat the Music, come out. That appeared on her 1993 album, The Red Shoes. It was originally a single in the U.S., though it did not really make much of an impression here. Since it was reissued for RSD, it has found new success in the U.K. Kate Bush News reveal the good news:
“Who needs streaming?! While it didn’t make it on to the main official UK chart (where streaming now dominates), Kate’s brisk sales all across the UK of her limited edition Record Store Day single Eat The Music, on 10″ pic disc vinyl has secured a brand new entry at the No.2 position of two of the other UK singles charts – the Official Singles Sales Chart AND the Official Physical Singles Chart (beating out new entries from Paul Weller, Daft Punk and Queen). Congratulations to Kate! We will be celebrating this weekend with a montage of photos of YOU with your Eat The Music discs – thank you for sending them in, we are sure Kate will love to see it!”.
Other Kate Bush songs have enjoyed success and popularity. Think about This Woman’s Work and how it has appeared in film and T.V. I know that there are many people who do not know about this track. It originally was written for the 1988 film, She’s Having a Baby, and then appeared on Kate Bush’s The Sensual World. It recently appeared in the 2023’s Jennifer Lopez film, The Mother. This is one of those tracks that is going to get used a lot more. Even if it moves away from the intention and meaning of the lyrics – the woman about to give birth but breaching so that the husband/father has to step in and take responsibility; many see it more as motherhood in general and its importance -, it is pleasing that the song is being exposed more widely. Despite the fact no song has enjoyed the same boom as Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and how that took over, we can see examples of where other tracks have got new success. All for different reasons. The lyrics and themes of the song resonating in the modern age. Army Dreamers’ renewed focus and this contemporary popularity could have happened for a number of reasons. The Last Dinner Party covered it recently. The track related to warfare and how we are wasting young lives for no reason.
I think, more than anything, there is a curiosity and adaptability regarding Kate Bush’s music. How it is finding an audience on platforms like TikTok. I guess, when one of her song becomes better-known, then people will dig a little deeper and that means other tracks get noticed. It makes me wonder what comes next. I would like to think too that people will dig deeper and there will be fonder regard of some hidden gems. I think that there are clear songs that will get new life very soon. Hounds of Love’s Cloudbusting and Hounds of Love are overdue being feature don our screens. I also think that singles such as Babooshka could get used and see the streaming numbers rise. In truth, Kate Bush’s music is connecting with people like never before. We have platforms that means a track can go from sort of unknown or overlooked to a big success. If some are cynical about the way her songs do get back into the charts, one cannot deny that it is a good thing. It really is. It is wonderful that Army Dreamers has found fresh airs. It is a new salute to…
MAMMY’S hero.