10 Times Hozier Songs Hid Deeper Meanings Than It Seemed

With his latest album Unreal Unearthed: Unending finally out in full after a year of piecemeal releases, it's clear that singer-songwriter Hozier has once again composed some of the sexiest, bluesiest rock and roll out there. Yet there is so much more to this 6'6" Irishman and his music than there appears to be on the surface.

Behind the disarming smile and charming demeanor, Hozier is a genuinely brilliant songwriter with a deep understanding of history; that's unsurprising, given his being the son of an artist and a musician who studied music education at an institution as august as Trinity College Dublin. His nearly twenty years of songwriting experience are laid bare on Unreal Unearthed, as the album delves into depths of emotion just as easily as it does into pointed statements about historical trends in geopolitics.

Yet for all Hozier's artistry and eloquence, many listeners remain unaware of the intricate stories and context behind his songs. Earlier this year, his single "Too Sweet" from the Unheard EP went viral on TikTok as part of a trend involving users drinking whiskey neat, as is referenced in the song's chorus, with seemingly no thought given to the song's deeper meaning. This mirrors what happened a decade ago, when his single "Take Me to Church" took the world by storm with little discussion around its accompanying music video, which depicted the horrors of homophobic violence.

Sometimes, music is just so infectious we can't help but dance and not worry about exactly what the lyrics are saying, and Hozier's tracks do tend to be that kind of earworm. Yet to not pick apart the layers of these nuanced compositions would be to do their composer — and his audience — a disservice, because as Hozier himself so clearly understands, music is one of the most powerful forces around when it comes to affecting the human heart. Here, then, are ten (technically eleven) of the most musically complex and lyrically powerful pieces he’s released so far:

10 "Empire Now"

Unheard EP (2024)

While "Empire Now" didn't make the cut for 2023's Unreal Unearth, it was released on this year's Unheard EP with three other tracks from those recording sessions, and was also included on the album's new expanded version, Unreal Unearth: Unending. Like all the songs from the Unreal project, "Empire Now" is both deeply interpersonal and broadly poetic, drawing inspiration from medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy which described, among other things, the layers of Hell in Christian theology; "Empire Now" is specifically about Hell's seventh circle, which houses the most violent sinners.

"Empire Now"'s optimistic lyrics and ponderous beat are at odds, but that's no surprise; while the chorus may talk about how bright the future is, the sunrise bringing that brightness also brings with it memories of how long it took that sun to set the first time around. It's now been just over a century since the majority of Ireland's counties won away from the British Empire in the Irish War of Independence, and that freedom was followed by the Irish Civil War, a conflict so bitter that the modern Irish political climate still reflects the lines along which that war was fought.

Irish music has a deep history of being innately political, and "Empire Now," despite its seemingly simple lyrics, is as fitting an entry into that canon as any of Hozier's other politically-oriented songs. The plodding percussion and interwoven electric and acoustic guitars evoke a funerary march, even as Hozier sings of the sunrise; the future that's so bright it's burning may yet become a wildfire that can't be controlled.

9 "Butchered Tongue"

Unreal Unearth (2023)

It's a sad matter of historical record that imperial powers have a vested interest in the eradication of native languages; of all the languages spoken in 1950, over 75% of them across the United States, Canada, and Australia are dead or dying, including at least 52 Native American languages and the mother tongues of at least 20% of Latin Americas 500+ indigenous groups. For Hozier, this is more than just an artifact of statistics, but a reality; the number of fluent Irish Gaelic speakers has been decreasing, slowly but steadily, in favor of English.

"Butchered Tongue" is Hozier's reflection on seeing languages die, both in his own home, and as he's traveled the world with his music. One of the first times he played it live, at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall, he prefaced the song with his own explanation of it. Check it out in the video below.

8 "Eat Your Young"

Eat Your Young EP (2023)

Another song that was popular on TikTok for its incredibly catchy hook and opening verse that drips with seductive energy, "Eat Your Young" is neither about seduction nor literal cannibalism, although like another song with roots in Dante's Inferno, it was written to represent Hell's third circle, where the gluttonous sinners are left face down-in the mud to rot. The Eat Your Young EP, released on Hozier's birthday of March 17, failed to chart, but the song itself did hit a respectable 67 on the Billboard Hot 100.

When breaking the song down in an interview with Genius, Hozier admitted that the dissonance of the first verse was intentional; that carnal opening was a "fun sort of mislead" that is "so grotesque, in a way, that there's a dark humor to them as well." As the song continues, that darkness only deepens as the parallels are drawn between seductive hunger and the eternal consumption that capitalism requires. After all, war profiteering is such a complicated way to make enough money for food — it really is quicker and easier to eat your young.

May 5 saw the release of a second version of "Eat Your Young," called "Bekon's Choral Version." Bekon is a West Coast producer and musician who in the past has worked with hip-hop legends like Eminem and Kendrick Lamar; he also played keyboards on much of Unreal Unearth, credited as his full name, Daniel Tannenbaum. His rearrangement of "Eat Your Young" is unsettling and macabre, with all instrumentation stripped away until only a choir of distorted voices supports Hozier's singing, which itself has been transposed down, giving it a depth that almost treads into the uncanny valley.

While the original cut of the song is a snappy, sexy satire — a supposedly unintentional successor to 18th-century writer Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," which mocked English attitudes towards the poor by suggesting the Irish sell their children to the bourgeoisie as food — "Bekon's Choral Version" is the darker side of that coin, a reminder that endless consumption can never fill the gaping void at the heart of the capitalist machine. So maybe it's not a hot take to suggest people should stop using it as the audio for their thirst traps.

7 "Jackboot Jump"

Jackboot Jump (2019)

The non-album single "Jackboot Jump" is a glimpse at Hozier at his most frenzied. With only drummer Rory Doyle providing a relentless, stomping beat, the rest of the song is Hozier channeling a world's worth of frustration and rage through his guitar, which squeals and growls in his hands like a barely-domesticated animal. The song was recorded live, and the video highlights his signature fingerpicking style — an adaptation of the country-western Travis style — which sends his hands flying up and down the neck of his guitar like giant musical spiders.

"Jackboot Jump" was written in mid-2019, as a number of major moments of social unrest coincided globally, several of which are called out by name in the song. The parallels between that year's protests in Hong Kong, the mass arrests in Moscow, and the oppressive travesty that was the American government's response to the outcry around the Dakota Access Pipeline are all too clear. As Hozier himself said before performing the song at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California on October 25 of that year:

“I do have some reservations about the words ‘protest song’ and ‘protest music’. But if you’re familiar with an artist called Woody Guthrie, he wrote the evergreen anthem ‘Tear the Fascists Down‘. I was kind of looking into songs in that sort of tradition, that singing out, and I was worried that this is 2019; it’s a very unsubtle way to approach songwriting. [But] it was a funny few weeks, with 70 people shot in Hong Kong and arrests obviously in Moscow; Chile now at the moment also. And I was thinking, forget about subtle art — what is not subtle is this murder of protesters, and what is not subtle is the jack boot coming down in Orwell’s picture of the future: ‘If you want to imagine the future, imagine a jack boot stomping on a human face forever,’ that chilling quote from ‘1984.’ Anyway, I was just thinking, yeah, fuck it, it’s not subtle, but let’s do it.” (via Variety)

Guthrie, who among many other things was famous for having the motto "this machine kills fascists" written on his guitar, would have been proud of "Jackboot Jump" for its unsubtle calling of the powers that be to task.

6 "Dinner & Diatribes"

Wasteland, Baby (2019)

The final single off the apocalyptic Wasteland, Baby, Hozier described "Dinner & Diatribes" as being about "the crushing tedium of social obligations" and "that feeling of relief when leaving any tedious social engagement," and that energy is clearly on display in the song. The narrator wants nothing to do with the club they are at with their partner and craves a chance to get away and indulge in much more intimate and decadent choices.

"Dinner & Diatribes" is very much the kind of song that has earned Hozier his reputation for slick, sexy rock and roll; it's undeniably carnal. But even carnal music has a political side when looked at from the right angle; "stuck up" social obligations immediately call to mind the alienating attitudes of the upper socioeconomic classes, which Hozier rails against in most of the other songs listed here and plenty of others. While this particular song doesn't necessarily have a specific hidden message, it is an important example of how in the modern world, even sex is inherently political.

5 "To Noise Making (Sing)"

Wasteland, Baby (2019)

Inspired in part by Irish poet Seamus Haney's sonnet "At The Wellhead," "To Noise Making (Sing)" is political much in the same way as "Dinner & Diatribes" — it's about reclaiming something intimate and joyful in the face of a world that seems determined to stamp out such a powerful source of connection. "At best you'll find a little remedy, at worst, the world will sing along," Hozier croons at the end of the pre-chorus, and that's a powerful reminder that there really is nothing to be lost by putting emptiness to melody: the outcomes are catharsis or community, and both are necessary.

The opening line of "To Noise Making (Sing)" asks the listener if they remember singing "just for the fuck of it" — a powerful sentiment when taken in conjunction with the cacophonously modulated gospel choir on the song's bridge. Pop music is always obsessed with cleanliness, with production quality and radio replayability, and our cultural perspective on music has been increasingly limited by that. Singing is no longer considered in terms of being a hobby, or a source of joy; it's just another marketable skill, an identifying aspect of a person that says whether they're worthy of praise or capital.

Even just a century ago, singing collectively was a common activity for people, regardless of their perceived talent, and that's a joy we have been taught to lose sight of. Instead, we're convinced we always have to sing it right, because we really are worried who will call us wrong.

4 "Nina Cried Power"

Nina Cried Power EP (2018)

With a title referencing Nina Simone's 1965 recording of "Sinnerman," where she sang the lyric "I cried power," "Nina Cried Power" is a genuine, heartfelt ode to the soul anthems, folk singers, and protest songs that have come and gone from the public eye. Every beat of the track shimmers as it builds from Hozier's gentle first verse, sung over a rapid but bluesy drumbeat and simple piano chords, to the genuine powerhouse entrance of guest vocalist, gospel musician and civil rights legend Mavis Staples.

Fusing Chicago-style blues, traditional gospel and R&B styles, and an almost aggressive sense of optimism, the song invokes the names of music and civil rights heroes of the past. The titular Nina Simone, generally considered to be one of the greatest singers of all time, passed away in 2003 and left behind an incredible legacy of music and contributions to America's civil rights movement. Other such legends the song references include Woody Guthrie, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, B.B. King, Marvin Gaye, Pete Seeger, Patti LaBelle, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Joni Mitchell.

Yet for all that "Nina Cried Power" serves to venerate the contributions of those who came before, it's also an invocation of will for those who have yet to find their power. The bridge, "Power has been cried by those stronger than me, straight into the face that tells you to rattle your chains if you love being free," echoes a sentiment from Polish Marxist scholar and anti-war activist Rosa Luxemburg, who famously said, "Those who do not move, do not notice their chains."

If enough of us rattle those chains together we can make enough noise to change the world

That power is in all of us, if we choose to stand up and claim it regardless of perceived risk, and if enough of us rattle those chains together we can make enough noise to change the world. As Hozier himself said on "Jackboot Jump":

All around the world You'd think that things were looking rough But the jackboot only jumps down on people standing up So you know good things are happening When the jackboot has to jump

3 "Moment’s Silence (Common Tongue)"

Nina Cried Power EP (2018)

On "Moment's Silence (Common Tongue)," Hozier once again draws attention to the oppression of physical intimacy by agents of the state. In an interview with NPR about the Nina Cried Power EP, he described the song thusly:

It is about physical pleasure. Moreover, the kind of relationship between people within institutionalized power and particularly oral sex, I’m sorry to say. The kind of tropes and scandals that keep showing up around that. I wanted to write a song that was hopeful and grounded in solidarity, grounded in love, in what can be achieved though organization, through the common respect of the dignity of people. It was the decision to write something that was not cynical, when it was so easy to write something that kind of rolled its eyes at global politics.

The intense swinging drums of "Moment's Silence (Common Tongue)" and echoing, wordless ululations in the bridge are an entrancing expression of this juxtaposition, combining cries of pleasure with a beat that almost feels like a jackbooted shuffle-step. Hozier decries "those who lead us oh-so morally," the ones "who view the deed as power's creed, as pure authority," because such a conservative and controlling perspective on physical intimacy only serves to oppress all involved.

2 "To Be Alone"

Hozier (2014)

First released as a solo live cut closing out his From Eden EP, "To Be Alone" appeared on Hozier's self-titled first album completely transformed by the presence of a full band behind it. The rapport between his frenzied fingerpicking and Rory Doyle's thumping drums is here, almost as a prelude to the sound the two would go on to create on "Jackboot Jump," but with the additional depth of fuzzed-out bass and subtle layers of strings. And yet ironically, with all that extra instrumentation, Hozier sounds all the lonelier for it.

​​​​​In his YouTube breakdown of the album, Hozier describes "To Be Alone" as a song "about trying to love a damaged person in modern society," and looking deeper begs the question of who in modern society is undamaged. In a world where social gatherings all too often focus around the idea of consumption and status — parties, bars, clubs, and so on — it’s as if intimacy and connection are disincentivized. Add in "anthems of rape culture loud, crude and proud creatures baying" and it's no wonder that it takes killing the lights to feel like a person for even a moment.

Again, Hozier's key message comes down to the apparently radical notion that personhood and connection are things that shouldn't be beholden to social pressures. Yet the collective normalization of rape culture and sexual harassment are still ongoing problems, and again and again, the idea of bodily autonomy being a basic human right falls by the wayside in favor of policies that only benefit those steeped in privilege and power. Compared to that, then, a moment of ecstasy in a lover's arms really must feel like the God that heroin prays to.

1 "Foreigner’s God"

Hozier (2014)

"Foreigner's God" is Hozier's examination of alienation, both within and without one's own culture. Raised a Quaker and attending Catholic school in his youth meant that he was immersed in two very polarizing forms of Christianity from his early days; now identifying as an agnostic, he still uses Christian imagery in his music just as much as he does classical mythology. Yet "Foreigner's God" focuses on the concept of an unfamiliar deity, and how that exaltation of the foreign is "the purest expression of grief."

In a 2022 Irish census, 69% of the population identified as Catholic; while this number has declined significantly since the turn of the millennium, it's still a clear majority, and Catholicism has been synonymous with Ireland for centuries (even more so once the 20th century brought about the Catholic/Protestant divide between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). To be openly unsure about the nature of divinity in such a culture is to be separated from one's own home; to be like Hozier, an open critic of the Catholic Church, is an even greater divide.

When the object of love "feels no control of her body" and "no safety," then grief may tragically be all that is left.

"Foreigner's God" repeatedly draws attention to the difficulty of loving someone in the face of such divides, whether within the relationship or on a cultural level. A heart, "heavy with the hate of some other man's beliefs," struggles to find a connection that can overcome the biases that come with that societally-imposed hate; when the object of love "feels no control of her body" and "no safety," then grief may tragically be all that is left.

(Sources: Genius Verified, Variety, Poetry Ireland, NPR)