Hetero.Hozier Preaching Gay Rights and Sensuality is Hit a Nerve
Hozier, aka Andrew Hozier-Byrne, plays Irving Plaza on Nov. 5 and 6 and the Beacon Theater in March.
Hozier has struck a nerve.
His song “Take Me to Church” has sold more than 500,000 copies and is streaming 1.3 million times per week, while its video has racked up more than 11.5 million views on YouTube. All this before the Irish singer has released a full album in the U.S.
The 23-year-old’s self-titled debut comes out Tuesday, followed by an Oct. 11 appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”
Based on just the “Church” song, Hozier has also sold out two dates at Irving Plaza, Nov. 5 and 6, fueling so much demand that promoters have already bumped him up to a larger show at the Beacon Theater for March 6.
The subject matter of “Church” seemed guaranteed to snag maximum attention. It’s a lightning rod of a song, critiquing the Catholic Church for what Hozier sees as judgmental views of mankind that start at birth.
“Every Sunday’s getting bleak/a fresh poison each week,” he sings. “We were born sick/you heard them say.”
The video goes further. It depicts a gay male couple intimately kissing before a group of bashers attacks them.
The debut album, "Hozier"
The song’s lyrics don’t refer specifically to gay rights, but the words present sensuality as the path to righteousness. “The only heaven I’ll be sent to/is when I’m alone with you,” Hozier sings with bluesy engagement. “I’m the pagan of the good times/My lover’s the sunlight.”
“The song is about replacing theoretical things with things that are tangible.” says the budding star, who was born Catholic. “The church undermines a very natural part of being a human. It teaches shame about sexuality, regardless of orientation.”
Hozier says his message about the church hasn’t drawn “any death threats or major criticism. The only place you see any controversy is in the YouTube comments section, which is like a public toilet wall. Some people are more upset at seeing men kissing than anything else in the song, which is a shame.”
Hozier, who isn’t gay, decided to address the cause in the video after witnessing what was going on with LGBT people in Russia as well as places like Uganda, where homosexuality can draw a life sentence. As a straight man talking about gay issues, Hozier echoes Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, who had one of last year’s biggest hits with the Grammy-nominated marriage-equality ode “Same Love.”
Hozier says his attention to the power of sensuality rises not only from his philosophy but from his rural-blues musical style.
“I first learned how to play music through the blues,” says Hozier, born Andrew Hozier-Byrne in County Wicklow.
'The song is about replacing theoretical things with things are tangible.' says the budding star, who was born Catholic.
His first exposure came through his father, who played in bands and “had an extensive collection of vintage blues. I was familiar with it before I even knew I was familiar with it.
“It’s very physical music, very sexual music that draws you to the core of things — things that can be touched and smelled,” he adds.
Hozier’s career got off to a fast start. The guitar player went to Dublin’s Trinity College to study music but dropped out in his first year after getting a break to record demos with Universal Records. He performed with the Celtic choral group Anuna from 2009 to 2012, but the following year he released his own EP in Ireland, featuring the “Take Me to Church” single. It shot to No. 2 in that country, leading to another EP last year, “From Eden.”
Hozier’s debut culls the best of the EPs, adding new songs as well. In the chorus of the single, he has a nasality that sounds like Elton John. Elsewhere he sings in a more fluid blues voice. Hozier’s lyrics can be purple, straining to express the thrill of tactile love. Many lyrics express sexual longing, inspired by the end of his first romantic relationship.
Despite his heterosexual orientation — the album runs rife with odes to “she” — Hozier says he doesn’t feel presumptuous speaking for gay people. “It’s a civil-rights issue,” he says. “People all too often won’t comment unless it affects them. But a violation of human rights affects us all.”
Hozier appears as musical guest on Saturday Night Live Oct. 11
BY JIM FARBER
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