Hozier Take Me To Church: The Meaning And Story Behind The Viral Video

Take Me to Church: quick facts

Who: Hozier (Andrew Hozier-Byrne), born on St Patrick’s Day 1990 and raised in Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Written: in the attic of his parents’ house in Wicklow, while he was a struggling musician.
The video: released in September 2013, directed by Brendan Canty and Conal Thomson of the Dublin collective Feel Good Lost.
What it’s about: the video shows a gay couple in rural Ireland and a violent homophobic attack, inspired by the persecution of LGBT people in Russia.
Records: in 2021 it became the first Irish song to pass one billion streams on Spotify, and the video has hundreds of millions of views.

In 2013, an unknown singer from Wicklow uploaded a black-and-white music video, shot on a shoestring budget in the Irish countryside. Within weeks it had spread across the world, and the song would go on to be nominated for a Grammy, reach number two in America and become the first Irish song ever to pass a billion streams on Spotify.

This is the video that made Hozier.

Who is Hozier?

Andrew Hozier-Byrne was born on 17 March 1990, St Patrick’s Day, and grew up in Bray, Co. Wicklow, in a musical family: his father was a blues drummer. He studied music at Trinity College Dublin but left early to chase a music career, singing with the choral group Anúna along the way.

By his early twenties he was writing songs in the attic of his parents’ house, and that’s where “Take Me to Church” was born.

The song and the video

On the surface, “Take Me to Church” is a love song that uses the language of religion: the person you love becomes the thing you worship. But it’s also an angry song about the way organised religion has made people ashamed of love and sexuality. Hozier has said that it’s about being human, and about the right to love freely.

The video took that further. Directed by Brendan Canty and Conal Thomson of the Dublin creative collective Feel Good Lost, and shot in black and white, it follows two young men falling in love in the Irish countryside, and the brutal attack that follows when they’re discovered. It was made in response to the wave of violence against gay people in Russia at the time, and it was impossible to watch without feeling something.

How it went viral

The video was uploaded to YouTube in September 2013 and spread through Reddit, Twitter and music blogs. People shared it for the song, for the haunting voice, and for the message. Within months, Hozier went from playing small venues in Dublin to performing on American TV.

The song went on to reach number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, become a hit across Europe, and earn a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. In June 2021, it became the first song by an Irish artist to pass one billion streams on Spotify.

Hozier since then

Hozier has become one of Ireland’s biggest musical exports. His later albums, including Wasteland, Baby! and Unreal Unearth, were huge successes, and in 2024 “Too Sweet” gave him his first number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He has also been a regular at Dublin’s Christmas Eve busk on Grafton Street, which raises money for the homeless.

Not bad for a song written in an attic in Wicklow.

Take Me to Church FAQ

Where is Hozier from?

Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.

What is Take Me to Church about?

It’s a love song that uses religious imagery, and a protest against the way organised religion shames people for who they love. The video is about violence against gay people, inspired by events in Russia in 2013.