It’s not every pop star who writes a song about eating children, basing that song on a literary work that’s nearly 300 years old. But that’s what makes the Irish-American singer Hozier the pop icon he is, with his dark humor reminding us not to look away from, but rather to examine unsettling political decision-making.
If “Too Sweet” is your recent favorite of his, you shouldn’t miss his 2023 preamble that explains how he got there. Hozier poses as the haughty political oppressor in the single “Eat Your Young” off of his three-track EP to discuss the lives of the young people affected by corporate greed. Known as a birthday gift for fans, the single “Eat Your Young” that teased his forthcoming third studio album strays from his usual moody mystique in exchange for a satirical, high-pitched tone, effectively delivering a message through repulsive comedy.
The hopeful bridge of the song combines its uplifting sounds with the darker theme of ignored global starvation, referring to the people who lack power and access to a proper meal. This creates a possibly misunderstood meaning with the juxtaposition of sound and theme if not for the evident title “Eat Your Young.” This song, coupled with subsequent “Francesca”—which follows a woman whose love for her brother-in-law is plagued by her infidelity, leading to her banishment to Canto Five of the Inferno, a reference to Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy.” Francesca’s tale has been overlooked, which does not dissuade Hozier from expanding on the poem’s nine circles of Hell. The songs embody hunger, overindulgence, and the consequences of desire drowning love.
With the line, “pull up the ladder when the flood comes,” Hozier invokes Dante’s Canto Six, which houses gluttony in the Inferno. He describes the narrator fleeing at the first sign of danger while others are left in the aftermath. This is the chorus, the repeated melody that sounds the alarm about those with power and influence fleeing their responsibilities in moments of chaos. Hozier makes his critique clear through this repetition, and fans, in turn, are elated by his tenacity, seen by his status as a Billboard No. 1 artist yet again.
It’s the mix of instruments and his mocking, squawky falsetto in the chorus that drive his message home. Many fans of the shrewd artist differ on this, but I’d argue this single is Hozier’s magnum opus since it takes multiple listens to fully grasp its multi-layered message. In the music video, Hozier and his partner painlessly abandon their child to try to piece together their life during the onslaught of war. The couple instills fear in a group of kids who watch their life like a play. The kids, who embody innocent viewers of Hozier’s commentary, perceive some supernatural force in control of their grievances. Through the draw of the curtains in a tongue-in-cheek performance, Hozier grapples with the weight of world hunger in an approachable, theatrical satire.
Hozier’s 2023 album “Unreal Unearth” fashions a well-rounded fusion of allegories, but “Eat Your Young” shines as a standalone for its rhythmic triumph as the narrator from the get-go establishes a lustful need for food on the table, without any regard to those in need. Hozier has pulled from Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift’s “Modest Proposal” in which he suggests people in Ireland during a famine sell their children for consumption to get rid of their financial troubles. The fact that Hozier is able to pick up this 1729 morbid thesis reflects his astute eye for classic literature, which can also help us make sense of the human tendency of greed.
Hozier’s defiant messages and willingness to go the extra mile are what make him a standout artist today. He showed this through his Hong Kong protest song, “Jackboot Jump,” a tune about stomping on government forces, which he sang at an L.A. concert in 2019 and asked audience members not to record.
“What’s nice to remind people it’s just that power has never conceded anything without demand,” Hozier told Forbes in a 2018 interview on protest music.
It’s hard to turn away from his powerful lines of protest: “Skinnin’ the children for a war drum,” referencing children who are enlisted in the military for war.
On a similar note, Hozier spelled out his intentions to defy politically powerful organizations with his Global Top-10 2013 single “Take Me to Church.” Curious listeners were introduced to his dry humor when he started poking fun at the taboo of worshipping a romantic interest over God. The song’s leading lady is famously “the giggle at a funeral” to add to his sweeping jab at the Irish Catholic Church’s hypocrisy, especially with their history of ostracizing both the LGBTQ+ community and victims of sexual abuse. Fans around the world have claimed this song for uprisings against abusive forces, including 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, who could be heard singing the song before being killed at the hands of Iranian security forces in September 2022.
Hozier has spoken about not wanting to overly embellish Dante’s Inferno to avoid any close links with musical theater, keeping references sparse within the album—but its themes are still present throughout. Although he disavows theatrical flair, the dramatic quality of his music is what drew me in from the beginning. Hozier’s exploration of the circles of Hell—which he said was written during the dull moments of the pandemic—frames the song as a protest anthem that has resonated with revolutionists across the world. As a listener, his jam-packed motifs play with the nuances of where greed stems from in many battles for children’s rights. And through this honest approach, he ties his song to the point-blank cruelty toward children who are at the brunt end of oppressive forces. You don’t want to like how he sings about tragedy in an upbeat way, until you realize he’s inspiring you to speak out, too.
I can’t think of a better example of Hozier’s groundbreaking work than the line“it’s quicker and easier to eat your young,” which describes the sacrificial decisions society will make to tear down future generations for their own personal gain.
Hozier’s iconic use of dark humor is exemplified in “Eat Your Young,” a dramatic and pointed critique wrapped in a literary metaphor. Hozier has achieved his highest successes when leaning into these timely themes and theatrical scorers, highlighting a hunger for the nourishing richness of protest music.
