KATE BUSH - RUBBERBAND GIRL

Released: September 6, 1993

Charts:  UK: #12  US: #88 

When Kate Bush returned in 1993 with “Rubberband Girl,” the lead single from “The Red Shoes”, she reintroduced herself with a burst of elasticity—literally and figuratively. The track, which reached No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart, was a lively departure from the brooding, highly layered production of “Hounds of Love” and “The Sensual World”. Instead, Bush embraced a looser, more groove-driven sound, framing resilience and emotional flexibility as something to be celebrated, even danced to.

At its core, “Rubberband Girl” is Bush encouraging herself—and the listener—to bend instead of break. With buoyant percussion, a bright pop sheen, and a hook built around the metaphor of elasticity, the song introduced “The Red Shoes” with a sense of playfulness rare in her catalogue. It also arrived during a particularly turbulent time in Bush’s personal life.

Though the single was only a moderate global hit, charting in the top 40 across several countries and reaching No. 88 on the Billboard Hot 100, it marked her final UK top-20 entry until “King of the Mountain” revived her chart presence more than a decade later.

Bush herself has expressed a complicated relationship with the song. Speaking to Mojo in 2011, she admitted “Rubberband Girl” was her least favorite track on “The Red Shoes”—a silly pop song, as she described it. When she revisited the track for “Director’s Cut”, she transformed it into something almost unrecognizable: slower, grittier, and stripped of its original elasticity. Still, the original single stands as a snapshot of Bush in a rare playful mode—light on its feet, rhythmically infectious, and carried by standout performances from bassist Danny Thompson and guitarist Danny McIntosh.