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Hozier: Religious influences for

Sacrilegious results
Andrew Hozier-Byrne (stage name Hozier) is an Irish singer-songwriter who rose to fame in
2013. The music that he performs has influences from many styles, including gospel music
alongside blues, indie-pop and folk. This use of gospel influences creates significant
associations with religion within his music. His lyrics often also have significant influences
from religion, using lots of Christian metaphors throughout his discography. I believe that
the way he uses these religious ideas help to make his music more accessible to people who
have been shunned by religion for many different reasons. In this essay I will be looking at
Hozier’s religious background and how this may have influenced him, some of his songs that
tackle the ideas of religion (especially focusing on the 2013 song Take Me To Church 1), and
his use of gospel influences in his songs.

Hozier’s religious background

Hozier was brought up within the Quaker religion, and although he no longer
practices this faith he has a great respect for religion and the way that Quakers practice it.
He shows a certain level of disdain towards religious institutions, especially the Catholic
Church. When talking to Vanity Fair 2 in 2015 he said ‘I'm not religious myself, but my issue is
with the organization. It's an organization of men — it's not about faith’ 3. It’s clear from this
that Hozier is not against religion itself, but against the institution that religion is governed
by. Instead of seeing the idea of offending those of religion through his music, he seems to
view it as a challenge to make an impact on the forementioned institution. In the same
1
Hozier, ‘Take Me To Church.’ Hozier., Rubyworks Limited, 2014, track 1. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/3dYD57lRAUcMHufyqn9GcI?si=74125c1957f740c1

2
Nast, Condé. ‘Entertainment, Politics, and Fashion News.’ Vanity Fair. Accessed January 27, 2023,
https://www.vanityfair.com/.

3
Funaro, Vincent. ‘Singer Hozier on Catholic Church: It's an Organization of Men, It's Not about Faith.’
The Christian Post, Feb 10, 2015, accessed Jan 27, 2023, https://www.christianpost.com/news/singer-
hozier-on-catholic-church-its-an-organization-of-men-its-not-about-faith.html.  

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interview he said ‘I would love to get in trouble with the Catholic Church’ 4 as if seeking this
daring consequence as a form of backlash from his song Take Me To Church 5. Although
some people would view that his aggressive attitude towards the institution insinuates that
there is also an attack on the religion itself taking place, the article from The Christian Post
written about his Vanity Fair interview says that ‘He claims his statements are not an attack
on faith, but just the institutions that house it’, 6 showing that he separates the ideas of faith
and religion, and so is not attacking a person’s own belief but instead the system that
attempts to govern the said beliefs.

Take me to Church
Hozier’s most famous song is ‘Take Me To Church’. The song, released in September
20137, today has almost 2 billion streams on Spotify 8. The name itself indicates that this
song contains a lot of religious imagery. According to Clifford Stumme, the song’s meaning
comes in two parts: ‘an adoration of Hozier's female lover and an indictment of the church.’ 9
The song isn’t glorifying religion, instead it is doing the exact opposite and pointing out
significant flaws in it.
Looking at this song's lyrics, we see many moments where it feels as though Hozier is
mocking religion as he is comparing his devotion to making love with his (presumed)
girlfriend to worshipping Jesus in a church. He refers to their bed as a ‘Church’, the only
Heaven he would reach is ‘with you’ rather than in the religious sense of an afterlife and
refers to his girlfriend as a ‘goddess’ who ‘demands a sacrifice’. 10 This obviously carries a
very ‘anti-Christian’ message, almost mocking the religion, taking elements of the faith and
claiming ownership of them in a very different way. To me, this song is taking something
4
Ibid.
5
Hozier, ‘Take Me To Church.’
6
Funaro, ‘Singer Hozier on Catholic Church: It’s an Organization of Men, It’s Not About Faith.’
7
‘Hozier – Take Me to Church.’ Genius. Accessed Jan 25, 2023, https://genius.com/Hozier-take-me-to-
church-lyrics.  
8
Hozier, ‘Take Me To Church.’
9
Stumme, Clifford. ‘What Does ‘Take Me to Church’ by Hozier Mean?’, The Pop Song Professor, Jun 25,
2019, accessed Jan 25, 2023. https://www.popsongprofessor.com/blog/2015/04/15/what-does-take-
me-to-church-by-hozier-mean.  
10
‘Hozier – Take Me to Church.’ Genius. 

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that is seen as very serious in a religious way and making it seem almost trivial in a
sacrilegious way. Although this sentiment is carried into many other songs, this is by far the
most obvious use of this technique in any of his songs.
Although the song itself is Hozier (a man) singing about a woman that he worships,
the music video11 for the song is about a gay couple, and the neo-Nazi attacks against the
LGBTQ+ community, specifically in Russia. The church is seen to be a particularly anti
LGBTQ+ institution and many people within it have particularly homophobic views, even if
most are not as extreme as shown in the video. This song became an unofficial ‘Gay
Anthem’ in the 2010s and was a song that lots of LGBTQ+ people identified with. This was a
sort of take-back from the church, as it is an institution that has a history of discrimination
against said community.
The song itself received a significant amount of backlash from the religious
community, for many reasons; its criticism of (specifically) the Catholic Church, the
associations of this song with the LGBTQ+ community, and its ‘blatant sexual blasphemy due
to the fact that it used a “church metaphor for sex”’ 12 to name a few. However, it is for the
same reasons that this song rose to such popularity: many members of the LGBTQ+
community applauded its attitude towards the Catholic Church, a group that had put so
much effort into making their community feel unwanted and unnatural, and so using the
Church’s image in a way that reflects their own community seems like retribution for so
many things in a very small way.
Take Me To Church is Hozier’s most popular and most streamed song that he has
published, and as of the 23 rd of March 2023 the song has surpassed 2 billion streams on
Spotify13 and in 2014 was a nominee for song of the year at the 57 th Grammy awards14.

11
Hozier, ‘Hozier- Take Me to Church,’ YouTube video, 4.16, posted by ‘Hozier,’ Mar 25, 2014., accessed
Jan 25, 2023, https://youtu.be/PVjiKRfKpPI.
12
Kaydenvanantwerp. ‘Crucifying a Corrupted Church: Blasphemy as a Religion in Hozier's ‘Take Me to
Church’’. Religion in Popular Culture Lab (blog), Apr 21, 2019, accessed Jan 25, 2023,
https://religionpopculture.home.blog/2019/04/21/crucifying-a-corrupted-church-blasphemy-as-a-
religion-in-hoziers-take-me-to-church/.  
13
Hozier-Byrne, Andrew (@hozier). 2023. ‘I’ve just been told #TakeMeToChurch passed 2 billion
streams on @spotify.’ Instagram, Mar 22, 2023. https://www.instagram.com/p/CqGi4JoMq0q/.
14
Recording Academy. Accessed Apr 1, 2023. https://www.grammy.com/awards/57th-annual-
grammy-awards. 

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Other songs
Although ‘Take me to Church’ does have the most obvious religious influences
throughout it, there are many other songs of his that have a lot of very clear religious
imagery in them. I think the song with the second most obvious use of religious imagery is
From Eden15. This song, from the title, is also making clear that there will be Christian
connotations throughout, as Eden is the place where Adam and Eve were said to have
experienced the fall. In this song Hozier makes out that he is the snake from Eden, and
throughout the song he uses words such as ‘wretched’, ‘broken’ and ‘sin’ 16. In being the
snake, he is seemingly saying that he is the devil and trying to bring down the person he
loves to his level through whatever means he feels he needs, he is so desperate that he
would lower himself to that level just to bring them to him. The words ‘wretched’, ‘broken’
and ‘sin’17 are just emphasising how this love could be seen as a bad, almost demonic, thing
as they are so wrong in the eyes of God, but he wants them so badly.
Many other songs of his look at religion and religious imagery in more of a passing
way. One song that does this is the song ‘No Plan’. This song contains lyrics like ‘there’s no
kingdom to come’ and ‘there will be darkness again’ 18 which are saying that there is no God,
nothing to save us as a reward, and we will just return to dust and ashes, which is, in a way,
a more eloquent way of openly saying that he believes that there is no credit to the
Religious idea of an afterlife. Despite what its name might suggest, the song ‘Foreigner’s
God’ contains a relatively limited amount of religious imagery. The only line that has any
reference to religion is the line ‘Screaming the name of a Foreigner’s God’ 19 which is said 3
times in a row in each chorus of the song. This seems to be mocking religion in a couple of
ways to me, firstly because he is making it seem that you can switch which God you worship
and it doesn’t matter, being very dismissive at the idea of devotion to only one God/religion.
15
Hozier, ‘From Eden.’ Hozier., Rubyworks Limited, 2014, track 6. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/0bkW98npv8EsWQ2fXFzK56?si=2d30e925f3b04ad1.
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Hozier, ‘No Plan.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 4. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/2ApgD2AGOa4XxzWDdqHM65?si=751e82a1a8934c91.
19
Hozier, ‘Foreigner’s God.’ Hozier., Rubyworks Limited, 2014, track 12. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/0yJi7eb2SosK5CsSnnqc5o?si=856812e329c44105.

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Secondly, he is using the idea of screaming the name of a God when talking about his
attraction to a woman, comparing her to a deity and making it seem as if she is on the same
level as any God and worthy of his worship, due to lust.
The song ‘Nobody’20 is not talking about God in a way that is dismissive of religion,
but instead talking of saints in this way. The song contains the lines in the chorus: ‘I’d be
appalled if I saw you ever try to be a saint/I wouldn’t fall for someone I thought couldn’t
misbehave’21. I would interpret this as meaning that he thinks that people who try to be
good, specifically in a way that aligns with religion and wanting to please a higher power,
are not as good as those who do not stick so rigidly to that sort of moral code, and instead
we should try and do bad things as well, this not being an opinion shared by religious
people.

Gospel influences
When attempting to categorise Hozier’s style of music there are many different
genres that we need to look at, including Gospel, a style with religious origins. In his songs
he often uses backing singers in a Gospel style, for example in the song ‘All things end’ 22
released in March 2023, he uses a full gospel choir in the final chorus of the song. This, to
me, is a very ironic move, as the song is based around the 6 th ring of Hell from Dante’s
Inferno23, and so using a style of music which has its origins so firmly rooted in religion to
portray the idea of beliefs and opinions opposing the principles of a particular religion (in
this case, Christianity).24

20
Hozier, ‘Nobody.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 5 Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/track/2BnhDoRRohPQhs7zrqVq2L?si=f2a717e2b3c44e35.
21
Hozier – Nobody.’ Genius. Accessed Apr 8, 2023, Hozier – Take Me to Church.’ Genius. Accessed Jan
25, 2023, https://genius.com/Hozier-take-me-to-church-lyrics.  
22
Hozier, ‘All Things End.’ Eat Your Young., Rubyworks Limited, 2023, track 2. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/6cW7LTnoClGRpp8hD51bIC?si=b3661dc0ec6848c5.
23
Hozier-Byrne, Andrew (@hozier). 2023. ‘One week until #EatYourYoung 🖤.’ Instagram, Mar 10, 2023.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpno29Qt844/.
24
‘Heresy.’ Cambridge Dictionary accessed Mar 27, 2023.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/heresy. 

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There are other songs that have Gospel ideas in them, for example Nina Cried
Power25, a song about Nina Simone and other artists of colour and their role in being
activists in the Civil Rights movement 26. The chorus of this song also uses a gospel choir, like
in All things End. This style of Gospel singing is a style that, according to the Library of
Congress, is ‘A form of euphoric, rhythmic, spiritual music rooted in the solo and responsive
church singing of the African American South’ 27. One of the main features of the style is call
and response, and this is very noticeable in ‘Nina Cried Power’, especially in the chorus
when Hozier sings the word ‘Power’ followed by the choir replying with the word ‘Power’
again.
This use of the Gospel style of music is interesting here, for as I have already
discussed, Hozier’s music has a lot of very anti-religious sentiments to it, and so we logically
end up at the question ‘why would Hozier use a religious style of music in songs that contain
such anti-religious sentiments?’. I believe that Hozier has done for one of two, similar,
reasons. One is in order to, in a way, claim this style of music for a different purpose, so that
it is not one with the religious ideas in it, but instead made it a style for the opposite
purpose, either for totally secular music (like Nina Cried Power) 28, or for underlying
antireligious sentiment (like All Things End) 29. The other idea is that he isn’t trying to reclaim
it, only show that the uses of this style do not need to be limited, and they can be brought
into music with themes beyond Christianity. Whatever Hozier’s reasoning is for this use, he
creates a conversation with his use of the style, which is of great importance to most
musicians: that their music gets people talking and questioning things, especially when their
music has as many ‘controversial’ topics as Hozier’s does.

25
Hozier, ‘Nina Cried Power.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 1 Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/track/2QsquiKBcjvDUlO6QyvMEs?si=40d54f6fa3d1453f.
26
Bonfiglio, Briana. ‘Why Hozier’s Protest Song ‘Nina Cried Power’ Matters.’ Medium, Apr 25, 2019,
accessed Apr 3, 2023, https://medium.com/@brianabonfiglio13/why-hoziers-protest-song-nina-cried-
power-matters-6cfa450abd22
27
‘African American Gospel: Ritual and Worship: Musical Styles: Articles and Essays: the Library of
Congress Celebrates the Songs of America: Digital Collections: Library of Congress.’ The Library of
Congress, accessed Apr 3, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-
essays/musical-styles/ritual-and-worship/african-american-gospel/
28
Hozier, ‘Nina Cried Power’
29
Hozier, ‘All Things End’

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Performances
There are many broadcasts available of Hozier performing his most famous songs
online, for example songs like ‘Take Me To Church’, ‘Nina Cried Power’ and ‘From Eden’.
‘Take me to Church’ has had many different public performances, from being sung in one of
NPR’s tiny desk concerts30 to being performed in 2014 on the ‘BBC Introducing stage’ at
Glastonbury31. The Tiny Desk Concert32 is a much more stripped back version of the song,
which to me seems more attuned to the meaning of the song, as it is singing about a very
intimate thing, no matter the ways it is being described, the subject matter in multiple
respects is a very personal thing. Looking at the metaphor of the Church, someone’s
religious beliefs and relationship with a higher power are very personal, and the metaphors
meaning in the relationship with a partner, the relationship itself is very intimate and private
in many ways, and so I think that this recording of the song has more of a relation to the
subject matter of the song. However, even when being performed at Glastonbury 33, his 2014
performance of this song still maintains this intimate feel despite being performed at one of
the country’s biggest music festivals. These performances, whether intentional or not,
reflect the intimacy of both sides of the metaphor this song creates.
He came back to Glastonbury in 2019, this time also performing his song ‘Nina Cried
Power’34 on the Pyramid Stage35, this song having also previously played in places like The
Current36 and The Ellen Show37. In these performances there couldn’t be a full gospel choir,
and so in each case the style of the song was adapted slightly to make it suitable for the
30
Hozier, ‘Hozier: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert,’ YouTube video, 15.10, posted by ‘NPR Music,’ May 28,
2014., accessed Apr 12, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLgZo6Qi3Uo.
31
Hozier, ‘Hozier perform on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury Festival 2014’ YouTube video,
18.39, posted by ‘BBC Music,’ Jul 3, 2014., accessed Apr 12, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=px_9KS8kViY.
32
Hozier, ‘Hozier: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert,’
33
Hozier, ‘Hozier perform on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury Festival 2014’
34
Hozier, ‘Hozier – Nina Cried Power (Glastonbury 2019)’ YouTube video, 5.03, posted by ‘BBC Music,’
Jun 29, 2019., accessed Apr 12, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MF0aA1-33g.
35
‘Glastonbury, 2019, Hozier.’ BBC Music, BBC, Accessed Apr 12, 2023,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07df11p.
36
Hozier, ‘Hozier – four songs at The Current (2019)’ YouTube video, 12.48, posted by ‘The Current,’
Mar 2, 2021., accessed Apr 12, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeH9ecLFtDU.

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performance, yet still maintaining its Gospel stylings. In the performance at Glastonbury 38
the audience was joining in at moments when the choir would have joined in, encouraged
by the backing singers. In this performance, the use of the Electric Organ was very
prominent. Organs are typically seen as a Church instrument, and so the use of the Electric
Organ was very fitting for the style of the song, religious stylings but secular subject matter.
When performing on The Ellen Show 39 they used a backing track with more people singing
as well as the live backing singers, maintaining the effect from the album recording of the
song. The most drastically different performance of the song was at The Current 40, where
there were 7 backing singers and a very stripped back instrumental backing, with no electric
organ. In this more acoustic scenario, the song seems to take on a different meaning, more
melancholic and less about claiming ownership of anything.

Conclusion
Religious idioms are often used in different songs by different artists, but I would
argue that Hozier has a particular dedication to using sacrilegious aspects in his music. A
substantial amount of his discography either has words/phrases that have direct religious
connotations; words like ‘saint’, ‘sinner’, ‘prayer’, and phrases like ‘Like Jonah on the
Ocean41’, ‘to Bethlehem42’ and ‘Be that hopeful feeling when Eden was lost 43’. These
sentiments are scattered through Hozier’s 2 full album releases and other EPs that have
been released around it, and is a theme found in some of his oldest music (Specifically
thinking of Take Me To Church) to music he has released within the last month (like All
Things End). This very deliberate use of both religious wording, imagery and stylings lead me
37
Hozier, ‘Hozier & Mavis Staples Perform ‘Nina Cried Power’’ YouTube video, 3.53, posted by
‘TheEllenShow,’ Oct 9, 2018., accessed Apr 12, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=hb0rAIiozRE.
38
‘Glastonbury, 2019, Hozier.’
39
Hozier, ‘Hozier & Mavis Staples Perform ‘Nina Cried Power’’
40
Hozier, ‘Hozier – four songs at The Current (2019)’
41
Hozier, ‘Movement.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 3 Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/track/0SFq19lgG4qbQAZaNZ3xhO?si=84a7ff79163f4ed0.
42
Hozier, ‘NFWMB.’ Nina Cried Power- EP., Rubyworks Limited, 2018, track 2, Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/track/30SxaBvjxjuIzl6nnDJObx?si=8791a0e31651441f.
43
Hozier, ‘Be.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 10 Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/track/2SopPHDZ2cKMbFumNtFQL9?si=3dfcf9e20e4048e6.

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to the conclusion that Hozier chooses to use religious ideas in his music as a way of being
openly sacrilegious in his songs and performances. This doesn’t mean that he is using it to
discredit religion, but instead I believe he is doing it to make his music openly accessible to
people with similar views to him, that often religion (especially Christianity) is openly
discriminatory in a way that harms people. Hozier’s use of religious influences for
sacrilegious results ultimately makes his music more accessible to a wider audience, hence
his global success, especially for a song that in every respect is mocking the Church.

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Reference List:
African American Gospel: Ritual and Worship: Musical Styles: Articles and Essays: the Library of
Congress Celebrates the Songs of America: Digital Collections: Library of Congress.’ The Library of
Congress, accessed Apr 3, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-
essays/musical-styles/ritual-and-worship/african-american-gospel/
Bonfiglio, Briana. ‘Why Hozier’s Protest Song ‘Nina Cried Power’ Matters.’ Medium, Apr 25, 2019,
accessed Apr 3, 2023, https://medium.com/@brianabonfiglio13/why-hoziers-protest-song-nina-
cried-power-matters-6cfa450abd22
Funaro, Vincent. ‘Singer Hozier on Catholic Church: It's an Organization of Men, It's Not about Faith.’
The Christian Post, Feb 10, 2015, accessed Jan 27, 2023,
https://www.christianpost.com/news/singer-hozier-on-catholic-church-its-an-organization-of-men-
its-not-about-faith.html.  
‘Heresy.’ Cambridge Dictionary accessed Mar 27, 2023.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/heresy. 
Hozier, ‘All Things End.’ Eat Your Young., Rubyworks Limited, 2023, track 2. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/6cW7LTnoClGRpp8hD51bIC?si=b3661dc0ec6848c5.
Hozier, ‘Be.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 10 Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/track/2SopPHDZ2cKMbFumNtFQL9?si=3dfcf9e20e4048e6.
Hozier-Byrne, Andrew (@hozier). 2023. ‘I’ve just been told #TakeMeToChurch passed 2 billion
streams on @spotify.’ Instagram, Mar 22, 2023. https://www.instagram.com/p/CqGi4JoMq0q/ .
Hozier-Byrne, Andrew (@hozier). 2023. ‘One week until #EatYourYoung 12.’ Instagram, Mar 10,
2023. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpno29Qt844/ .
Hozier, ‘Foreigner’s God.’ Hozier., Rubyworks Limited, 2014, track 12. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/0yJi7eb2SosK5CsSnnqc5o?si=856812e329c44105.
Hozier, ‘From Eden.’ Hozier., Rubyworks Limited, 2014, track 6. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/0bkW98npv8EsWQ2fXFzK56?si=2d30e925f3b04ad1.
Hozier, ‘Hozier – four songs at The Current (2019)’ YouTube video, 12.48, posted by ‘The Current,’
Mar 2, 2021., accessed Apr 12, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeH9ecLFtDU.
Hozier, ‘Hozier & Mavis Staples Perform ‘Nina Cried Power’’ YouTube video, 3.53, posted by
‘TheEllenShow,’ Oct 9, 2018., accessed Apr 12, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=hb0rAIiozRE.
Hozier, ‘Hozier – Nina Cried Power (Glastonbury 2019)’ YouTube video, 5.03, posted by ‘BBC Music,’
Jun 29, 2019., accessed Apr 12, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MF0aA1-33g.

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‘Glastonbury, 2019, Hozier.’ BBC Music, BBC, Accessed Apr 12, 2023,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07df11p.
Hozier, ‘Hozier: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert,’ YouTube video, 15.10, posted by ‘NPR Music,’ May
28, 2014., accessed Apr 12, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLgZo6Qi3Uo.
Hozier, ‘Hozier perform on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury Festival 2014’ YouTube video,
18.39, posted by ‘BBC Music,’ Jul 3, 2014., accessed Apr 12, 2023,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_9KS8kViY
Hozier, ‘Hozier- Take Me to Church,’ YouTube video, 4.16, posted by ‘Hozier,’ Mar 25, 2014.,
accessed Jan 25, 2023, https://youtu.be/PVjiKRfKpPI.
Hozier, ‘Movement.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 3 Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/track/0SFq19lgG4qbQAZaNZ3xhO?si=84a7ff79163f4ed0.
Hozier, ‘NFWMB.’ Nina Cried Power- EP., Rubyworks Limited, 2018, track 2, Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/track/30SxaBvjxjuIzl6nnDJObx?si=8791a0e31651441f.
Hozier, ‘Nina Cried Power.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 1 Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/track/2QsquiKBcjvDUlO6QyvMEs?si=40d54f6fa3d1453f.
Hozier, ‘Nobody.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 5 Spotify,.
https://open.spotify.com/ track/2BnhDoRRohPQhs7zrqVq2L?si=f2a717e2b3c44e35 .
Hozier, ‘No Plan.’ Wasteland, Baby!., Rubyworks Limited, 2019, track 4. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/2ApgD2AGOa4XxzWDdqHM65?si=751e82a1a8934c91.
‘Hozier Setlist at Austin City Limits 2018.’ Setlist.fm. Accessed Apr 3, 2023.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/hozier/2018/zilker-park-austin-tx-4be97bfa.html
‘Hozier – Take Me to Church.’ Genius. Accessed Jan 25, 2023, https://genius.com/Hozier-take-me-to-
church-lyrics.  
Hozier, ‘Take Me To Church.’ Hozier., Rubyworks Limited, 2014, track 1. Spotify,
https://open.spotify.com/track/3dYD57lRAUcMHufyqn9GcI?si=74125c1957f740c1
Kaydenvanantwerp. ‘Crucifying a Corrupted Church: Blasphemy as a Religion in Hozier's ‘Take Me to
Church’’. Religion in Popular Culture Lab (blog), Apr 21, 2019, accessed Jan 25, 2023,
https://religionpopculture.home.blog/2019/04/21/crucifying-a-corrupted-church-blasphemy-as-a-
religion-in-hoziers-take-me-to-church/.  
Nast, Condé. ‘Entertainment, Politics, and Fashion News.’ Vanity Fair. Accessed January 27, 2023,
https://www.vanityfair.com/.
Recording Academy. Accessed Apr 1, 2023. https://www.grammy.com/awards/57th-annual-
grammy-awards. 

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Word Count: 3195
Stumme, Clifford. ‘What Does ‘Take Me to Church’ by Hozier Mean?’, The Pop Song Professor, Jun
25, 2019, accessed Jan 25, 2023. https://www.popsongprofessor.com/blog/2015/04/15/what-does-
take-me-to-church-by-hozier-mean.  

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