In the last month, Hozier’s voice has been the soundtrack I’ve been falling asleep to. I’ve been playing his most recent unreleased song on TikTok, called ‘Unknown (Angel To Me)’ on a loop every night before bed. While the four minutes and eight seconds of pure yearning play on repeat, I can’t help but wonder, what is it about Hozier’s music that makes people feel so connected? Do they long for some emotion they might not have even stumbled upon yet?
Listening to Hozier sing feels reminiscent of listening to a poet paint a picture of the purest love you could hope to find. One that seems like it is untouched by anything as silly and mortal as society. A love that seems otherworldly. But it’s not as if Hozier’s music is void of any of the sexual innuendos that run rampant on the radio. In fact, one of my favorite tweets says “Hozier is so […] funny. Who let this man run wild? Just a horny little Irish bastard with the voice and writing skills of an old Celtic god.” There’s no pretending that Hozier’s music has hints of PG-13 activity, however, his music gets away with it by lyrics deeply full of metaphors and imagery.
Hozier’s lyricism feels like an art form in its own category. He turns a thought that could be described so easily into the most soul-crushing lyric you’ve ever heard. Instead of saying something as pedestrian as, “I ignored the red flags” he instead sings, “if there were scarlet flags they washed out in the mind of me.” Feral.
In another vein, his music is not immediately recognized as crude because he shifts the power dynamics to the women he sings about. While many songs written by men talk about possession and how good it is to call a woman ‘theirs’, Hozier on the other hand, is just happy enough to worship at her feet. Hozier’s music constantly echoes this feeling of pure adoration and worship for the woman he loves. Listening to Hozier’s music feels like an art of worshiping feminine divinity.
Another enticing aspect of his music, is the fact that when he admires his muse, he always comments on the way her presence makes him feel rather than commenting on any physical aspect. One of my favorite lines is in his song ‘Shrike’, from his critically-acclaimed 2019 album, ‘Wasteland, Baby’, “I was housed by your warmth, thus transformed/By your grounded and giving and darkening scorn/Remember me, love, when I’m reborn/As a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn.” Although on further introspection, this isn’t the most romantic line. (A shrike is a carnivorous bird that kills its prey by impaling it on a spike or thorn. Weird metaphor, Hozier.) But it still is a perfect example of the way Hozier talks about love. He asks his lover to remember him as someone who needed her, he is thankful for her shelter and the way she loved him. I think only Hozier could make scary and carnivorous birds into something so romantic.
Hozier’s music feels like one of the closest things we’ll get to Sappho’s poems’ level of devotion. I have high hopes that he will continue to blow us away with his soft but strong voice and lyrics that make you pine like never before. I hope that everyone gets to experience the love that Hozier sings about, and until then, I’ll be in a corner listening to ‘From Eden’ on repeat.