It’s been three years since Irish musician and songwriter, Hozier, has released an album, and fans are eagerly waiting for the next one. So far, all Hozier has released is a vague Twitter announcement from the end of 2021, saying, “’Unreal Unearth’ will start to find its way to your ears next year, come hell or high water.”
Since then, he’s been posting snippets of song lyrics from the new album, a few singles here and there, and even a Tiktok where he performs an untitled song. If this untitled song is anything like his new album, it looks like fans will certainly be experiencing many emotional rollercoasters while listening to “Unreal Unearth”.
Titled by the internet as “Unknown (Angel to Me)”, this song fully captures the experience of falling blindly in love, only for the other person to leave without a single care. Hozier begins with quite the opening lyric, “You know the distance never made a difference to me.” Put simply, his love was unwavering. Right away, listeners know they’re in for an emotional ride, one filled with even more heart-wrenching lyrics.
First, leave it up to the one and only Hozier to completely obliterize all other songwriters with the verse, “If there were scarlet flags, they washed out in the mind of me.” What a beautiful way to say, “I did not see the red flags.” To love someone so deeply and so blindly, as to leave behind all rationale and fair judgement, is a trope most people are familiar with. We see it at all ages, across all genders and races—anything to love and be loved by someone.
Next, let’s talk about: “You called me angel for the first time, my heart leapt from me / You smile now, I can see its pieces still stuck in your teeth / And what’s left of it, I listen to it tick / Every tedious beat”
Now, I know we all read that second line and were immediately transported to our first bad heartbreak. Whether they cheated on you, ghosted you, dumped you out of the blue, or simply just treated you poorly, we’ve all felt the empty feeling where our heart once was. To trust someone with your heart is a terrifying thing. It takes guts and strength, especially if you’ve been hurt before. So, when we finally trust that person and see them dangle our hearts in between their teeth, we don’t question it. Instead of thinking, “Hm, their teeth are pretty sharp, maybe we should be careful” or “Oh, the heart’s tissue is pretty sensitive”, we let them play with our hearts until there’s only “pieces still stuck in their teeth.”
At which point, we understand the assumed title of the song and ultimately find ourselves “unknown” to the person we vowed to cross oceans for.
Yeah, this next album is going to be a DOOZY.