Can anybody explain what’s the deal with Hozier to me?
Like, why does everybody like him? What’s so special about him? What did he do to be so beloved?
1. His music is varied enough in its influences of rock, folk, blues, gospel, soul, r&b, etc. that everyone can find something in the discography that they like, so people appreciate that it’s different from the norm but still accessible. He also tends to favor elaborate metaphors about love and storytelling over straightforward “ooh girl I love your body” types of songs.
2. He is a very outspoken social activist who integrates lessons about prejudice, domestic violence, and political change into his music and is often on the frontlines at fundraisers and rallies. This includes speaking out publicly about homophobia, racism, and sexism despite ostensibly being a straight white dude. As mentioned above, his female fans appreciate a general lack of objectification in his music, and he is also known for acknowledging that his success is due to the influence of women of color.
3. As much as one can say this of a celebrity that one does not know, he comes across as kind and conscientious person. Part of the LGBTQ+ following comes from a recognition of their appreciation (people throw various pride flags at him to hold up during concerts as a kind of tradition at this point) and subsequent removal of pronouns from much of his music over the years (whether this was purposeful or not is unclear but still often noted). He has also consistently eschewed expensive VIP packages in favor of free meet-and-greets after shows.
4. His debut album was heavy on the morbidity and influenced by his obsession with Seamus Heaney poetry about bog bodies, so a sort of internet cult of personality sprang up referring to him as the “Bog Man” who may actually be several thousand years old. This is contrasted with his actual personality as a Certified Millennial who used a flip phone until a couple of years ago and makes frequent quality shitposts on Twitter. The juxtaposition of this makes the Interwebz go bananas.
5. His hair is long and fluffy and more or less has its own fandom at this point.
Just updating to say he has confirmed the removal of pronouns is deliberate.
He’s also made some attempts at including nonbinary/gender-neutral pronouns in his songs and activism! You can tell he’s not totally comfortable with it in the “please send help I do not think I’m doing this correctly” sense, but he’s committed himself to the learning process.
Also, this wasn’t noted above: this man has ZERO media filter. What you see is what you get. I took him some Irish sweets at a stagedoor meeting since he’d talked about the difficulty in finding them in the US, and his handler literally had to take the package away from him and go “not now, Andrew” because I distracted him and he started dismantling it right then and there to get to the cookies. You’re not gonna see Lady Gaga do that because she’s got a work persona. He doesn’t.
Also the #1 charity type he supports is anti-domestic violence and women’s support. He doesn’t just say “I’m a feminist,” he puts his money where his mouth is. (Literally.)
And to elaborate on his meet and greets: he always tries to spend as much time as possible with his fans. There have been instances where he met fans after a show even though there wasn’t supposed to be a m&g because the fans had been waiting for 2h in the cold. It’s not just a „here‘s your signature bye“ m&g. He genuinely enjoys whatever you give him and says thank you about 7 times per person. (I‘m not exaggerating)
Also he’s a bloody GOOD musician. He tends to downplay his own guitar skills, but he has vocal training from a world-famous choir and has a gorgeous voice, along with the wonderful melodies, complex lyrics, and incredible stage charisma. And I second what everyone else has said above ^
All of this is true but I think Point #4 is the best explanation I’ve ever seen of his widespread memetic popularity on Tumblr.
