#1 wasteland babie

hozier, early 2020: had a great time chatting with the CEO of a massive corporation!

and i want to make clear - there’s definitely a certain amount of… professional politeness i guess? that i’m not bothered by, like if he meets some famous person at an event and then says something nice on twitter afterwards. being polite to someone isn’t an endorsement of everything they stand for.

Hozier songs interpreted as vintage post cards

Though we live in a world that dreams of ending

that always seems about to give in

something that will not acknowledge conclusion

insists that we forever begin

Berlin Listening Experience, 2019

Interview conducted Oct 2019; Published Dec 17, 2019

Baltin: Did you find your audience was hungering for more of a social consciousness in the music they listen to?

Hozier: Possibly, I’m always a little bit reluctant to stand on a show where people have paid for tickets to see me sing songs to start speaking or to offer speeches. I worry that’s thin ice, but people sometimes do want to hear that.

Baltin: I think it just depends on the relationship the artist builds with their audience. If you go see Bruce Springsteen and he didn’t talk you’d be totally surprised. So do you feel like you have built that relationship with your audience?

Hozier: Yeah, it’s a funny one. I’m pretty sure the audience knows where my heart is on a lot of issues. When we get into conversations of left and right that is conversation that can be used, and more so is used, to divide citizens and workers let’s say. It’s something that you have to be careful of. But I would agree with the sentiment that artists are saying, “Yeah, it does change things.” And you don’t feel like you can ignore it. It’s such the steaming s**t elephant in the room you can’t ignore it. It has to come into your work. I think it’s healthy and restorative for people to stand in a communal space like a show and you’re connected with a love of music, but then also to have your values resonate with one another that’s a restorative thing and that’s an encouraging thing.

Baltin: For you, growing up, what were those shows for you?

Interview Conducted Oct 2019; Published Dec. 17, 2019

Baltin: Are there lyrics and moments that surprise you in your writing?

Hozier: Yeah, I’m sure there are examples like that. Let’s take, from the first album, “From Eden,” I think it’s just a general filtering of how you feel the world is going. So “Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on his sword/Innocence died screaming.” It’s just that feeling of things are going south, they’re going the wrong way. And part of it is too I try to make subtle references to other artists who have pointed in the same direction. So I think on the EP before, there’s a song called “Nothing F**ks With My Baby,” which is pretty heavy handed (laughs). It references this old W.B. Yeats poem, “The Second Coming.” Sometimes you channel it in different ways and usually it is the best way because it feels natural and it feels right.

Baltin: Are there other poets that have crept into your work or you would love to pay homage to?