Kate Bush sent a "very unique" gift to the Duffer Brothers after Stranger Things led to her landing her first number one single in over 40 years.
The 67-year-old singer's 1985 single Running Up That Hill was introduced to a new audience when it soundtracked a pivotal scene in the fourth season of the Netflix drama in 2022 and she showed her gratitude by sending the showrunners a "cool" cage of robotic birds.
Ross Duffer told The Guardian newspaper: "We did get a gift from Kate Bush, but it was way cooler than flowers.
"It was this gilded bird cage with animatronic birds inside it, and you wind it up, and the birds chirp a little song. It’s very cool, very unique and very Kate Bush. Only Kate Bush would give this present.”
Following the release of the show, Running Up That Hill gave Kate her first chart-topping single since 1978, going to number one in eight countries including the UK, and in 2023, it hit a billion streams on Spotify.
But neither the Duffer Brothers nor Kate expected the track to "connect" with people in the way it did.
Ross said: “We had no idea it would go viral in the way that it did. We were surprised, and Kate was surprised, by how much it connected with younger people. Kate thought that was really cool."
Ross and his brother Matt Duffer revealed the song will feature again in the upcoming fifth and final season of Stranger Things.
Matt said: "Again, she's been so great about it."
Running Up That Hill featured in the show as a connection for Sadie Sink's Max Mayfield to escape villainous Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and the actress previously admitted she "needed" to get in touch with Kate because she felt she "owed" her "so much" as a result.
Sadie told Vulture: "The amount of times that I’ve listened to her music over the past two years is ridiculous. It’s gotten to the point where I feel like I’ve created her in my head. I need to reach out in some way. I would love to write her a letter or something, because she played such a big role in Max’s journey. I owe her so much."
Asked what the letter would say, she added: "A giant thank you. Not only from me, but from the character of Max and from Stranger Things in general, because she’s added so much heart to the show and her music has made such an impact on season four.
"It’s so wonderful knowing she thought my scene had so much heart, because I think she really played the biggest role in that."
The actress developed an "emotional and personal" connection to Running Up That Hill and it will always take her back to filming.
Asked if she got tired of listening to Kate, she said: "[I] really didn't.
"I have such an emotional and personal connection to 'Running Up That Hill' and it really lended itself to tapping into the character.
"Every time I listen to it, I’m transported back to set, being around my favourite people and making my favourite show. I see that song a lot on my TikTok feed.
"It’s probably gotten a little excessive with the amount of videos I find that use the song in the background. But it’s a really good thing, because it means that people are watching the show and now listening to Kate Bush. As they should."
