Ever since Cliff Richard’s song “Devil Woman” appeared in a GTA 6 trailer, it has been streamed hundreds of thousands of times on Spotify. The British singer himself, however, apparently doesn’t even know what GTA actually is.
The GTA series sticks in many players’ minds not only because of its gameplay, but also because of its many pop culture references and the games’ incredibly cohesive and extensive soundtracks. To this day, for example, I can still sing along by heart to almost all the songs from the K-DST radio station in GTA: San Andreas.
For many artists, a feature on the soundtrack of a new GTA game brings a massive boost in popularity. Over the past few months, many fans have been eagerly awaiting to see which musicians made it onto the official GTA 6 album.
One person who can already celebrate his newfound GTA fame is British singer Cliff Richard. His song “Devil Woman”
appeared in the extended gameplay trailer for GTA 6 (embedded below) at the end of August and has since been streamed hundreds of thousands of times.
So Richard actually has every reason to take a closer look at where all these new listeners are coming from. However, the 86-year-old apparently doesn’t even know exactly what GTA is.
A game show, right?
In an interview with The Times (via IGN), the British singer admitted that he didn’t know exactly what the GTA series was—even though Rockstar pays him for the use of his music in the sixth installment:
I was told that it happened. My nephew, who has two sons, told me that the boys came running to him screaming when they found out: “Dad, that’s Uncle Cliff!” Apparently, they didn’t know I could sing like that. [GTA] is a game show, right? One of the biggest on TV?
At least Richard is right about the game part; not so much about TV. But at 86, he probably doesn’t care much about video games anyway. The surge in popularity thanks to GTA 6 is, however, clearly measurable. Since the release of the Extended Look video, “Devil Woman” has seen a 325 percent increase in streams. That’s likely to put a few nice extra pennies in Cliff Richard’s pocket. You can listen to the whole song here:
The British rock legend appreciates the opportunity to inspire a new generation of fans. In an interview, Richard says: “People won’t just say anymore, ‘Oh, Cliff Richard is just a thing from the past.’ That may be true. But that past is what has made the present what it is.”
If you’re not exactly sure who Cliff Richard is: Born in 1940 in what is now India, the singer is an influential figure from the early days of British rock ’n’ roll. Richard reached the peak of his popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. However, he remained active as an artist throughout his life and also appeared on television as an actor. Outside of Great Britain, however, Richard never became quite as well-known as he was at home.
