[This post contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4]
In Garden State, Natalie Portman tells Zach Braff that “New Slang” by the Shins will “change your life.” In season four of Stranger Things, that song is “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush, except instead of only changing your life, it will also save your life.
The most meme-d moment in the new season of Stranger Things occurs in episode four, “Dear Billy,” when Max (played by Sadie Sink) is rescued from Vecna’s clutches in the Upside Down by her friends. She’s saved because music has the power to reach parts of the brain that words can’t, we learn, so they play her favorite (and now everyone’s favorite) song, “Running Up That Hill,” to free her. But what song would it be for Sink
Unsurprisingly, it’s by Taylor Swift. Surprisingly, it’s not “All Too Well.”
While Kate Bush’s inspirational track will always anchor Max, Sink recently expanded her own musical horizons by appearing as a young Taylor Swift avatar (aka “Her”) in the pop star’s “All Too Well” short film. The music video collaboration is clearly a win for Sink, as she reveals Swift’s “august” is the song that would save her from Vecna’s thrall. “That song honestly can revive me from anything,” Sink admits (even though Swift’s “The 1” was actually at the top of her Spotify Wrapped last year).
Sink would have picked something from 1989, but Stranger Things is still three years away. But “Style” will change Max’s life, I swear.