The elusive English singer – who has seen increased public focus since the use of her 1985 hit ‘Running Up That Hill’ from her album ‘Hounds of Love’ was used in season 4 of Stranger Things – doesn’t often make public appearances but instead choses to connect with her fans via the statements she makes on her newsletter. Each year she puts out a Christmas letter. In this year’s edition Bush meditated on topics that ranged from the war torn state of the world to the soft focus seasonality of impressionist painter Monet, dancing over to the future of the world shaped by AI in the process.

She opens on a bittersweet note: “It’s been really exciting to see the wonderfully positive feedback to the Little Shrew animation. Thank you so much to all of you who made a donation to War Child.”

She refers to the animated video she released earlier in the autumn tracing a shrew trying to get across a bombed out city. Planned in 2022 upon the break out of war in Ukraine, Bush was inspired to create an “anti-war animation.” It was finally released at the end of October. On Youtube it has since garnered over 300,000 views.

The caption urges viewers to donate to War Child: a charity that works to ensure a safe future for children in conflict zones. It’s clearly a matter close to her heart as she addresses in the Christmas Eve message: “The wars keep raging. We helplessly stand and watch as those poor people are caught up in the horrors of it all and of course there are the children…”

In a turn to the brighter things of the season, Bush conjures the warmth of childhood Christmas Eves, and draws inspiration from the atmospheric allure of a Monet exhibition in London. The exhibition - which showcases 21 paintings – focusses on Monet’s works of London in the smog.

Bush uses Monet’s blurred impressionist depictions as a metaphor for our current fascination with artificial intelligence. Just as Monet found magic in London’s industrial haze, she wonders if we, too, might be dazzled by the dawning light of AI, particularly as its deeper implications and true effects remain obscured.

As she ponders “Is that us? Standing in awe at the dawn of AI, the symbol of modernity, as smog was for Monet at that time in the newly industrial London?” she insinuates the same scepticism for AI that inspired her to sign a petition for the regulation of AI uses of creative’s works earlier this month.

As she eloquently phrases it: “Do we only see the twinkling light of the new invention, which so often catches the eye of our imagination… and what are those vague, dark sardonic shapes we can see in the background, behind the theatrical gauze?”

These vague questions belie an anxiety that hangs over artists such as Bush that does feel reminiscent of those of a painter caught in the age of industrial revolution. As Bush hints towards the possible release of new music in 2025, the revelation of the “sardonic shapes” as either “freshly painted bridges” leading to a bright new creatively thinking future or as digit coded “human pods, like those from the matrix” leaching off the human imagination, is essential for both her personally and the industry as whole.

Whatever lingers behind the mist of unknown potential it’s true that “All will be revealed when the smog begins to clear.”

She finishes with a simple and heartfelt message.

“Merry Christmas everyone. I hope it’s a really joyful one for you all.
Happy new year.
Kate”

Rooted in nostalgia for the past, compassion for the present, and a cautious curiosity about the future, Bush’s Christmas message feels like a poignant meditation on transition, as we step together from 2024 into an uncertain and hazy tomorrow.