Unreal Unearth: Hozier's Magnum Opus
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- Опубликовано: 17 июн 2024
- Let's be real, this is probably MY magnum opus too!
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De Selby Part 2: • Hozier does it again 🥵
Francesca: • The historical tale be...
Eat Your Young: • Once again, I have fal...
All Things End: • Once again, I have fal...
Unknown/Nth: • Hozier's 'Unknown / Nt...
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Been waitin' on this, saved a special bottle of wine just for this upload. Let's go Hell🍷
This is my favourite comment. Hands down.
His albums need to be printed like a novel with illustrations and studied in schools everywhere.
AMEN TO THAT!
OMG YES
I would buy the crap outta that book!
Ok, let's tone it back a bit
I, a native Hawaiian, had legit tears running down my face the first time I heard Butchered Tongue… but the whiplash of it being followed up by Anything But was so wild
Yeah he was so wrong for that one!
As an irish person whos struggled her entire life too learn irish, butchered tongue broke me.
Oh I can imagine!
AT LAST!! I've been waiting for this ever since the album came out!! Thank you so much, you are a gem
What you said about Son of Nyx is just so spot on. When I first heard it I said to myself, “this needs to be in a movie”.
What you said also reminds me of Hozier’s interview with Zane Lowe. He said something that held him back in the past was having to come to terms with the fact that a song couldn’t be all things. He felt like he had to translate these complex feelings into language, and sometimes it just didn’t work. I thought that was such a world shattering insight. Especially coming from a lyrical genius like himself. Good god what does that say about the rest of us. If Hozier thinks that words are limiting, we’re all doomed to fall short of meaning. Anyway I could go on, but I think this song beautifully shows that idea. So much can be felt from the music all on its own, it doesn’t need language to make it whole.
Oh my gosh this comment blew my mind!
He talks about this in the last part of the interview, around 51minutes in, if anyone wants to give it a listen!
All of life cannot be captured in a series of grunts and squeaks.
This entire album has overtaken my life. I love it so much. I work in a veterinary hospital as an urgent care/emergency RVT and Abstract (Psychopomp) has affected me viscerally. I’ve never had someone speak to my soul in a song like that before. Last week was one of the worst of my career, and being able to have a song to go to for catharsis at the end of every day was very healing. I am absolutely buying the print❤
Also, I thought you might like to know that your channel is the reason I became a Hozier fan. I knew TMTC of course, but your video about the Eat Your Young EP introduced me to his entire discography and changed my life for the better. Congrats on 10k subscribers!
I've already worn down everyone in my life with random Hozier exaltations and you've just given me even more.
Love that! Haha
Also, referencing around 45:00 when you talk about humans being evil and the pitch capping, when I was 19 (I’m 41 now) I went to a museum exhibit called Instruments of Torture and my god, it’s sat with me ever since. It’s something I wish I could “unsee”. It was all so evil and inhumane and it is so incredibly hard to fathom people willingly using these things on other people and feeling like it’s the right thing to do.
It’s so terrifying how as humans we’re capable of so much love and kindness while at the same time being able to commit such horrors
I just want to acknowledge the candles in the background. Slowly melting away as this lovely video progressed. I felt like I was reliving the album again, having a real-time sit down and discussing Hozier's poetic art. Lovely
I enjoyed watching the candles too- feels like a fitting setting for the death and endings 😊
I’ve put off watching this video because I felt like I needed to mentally prepare to have my heart ripped out all over again 😂😭
I loved your take on first time, specially on the section where it talks about his mother bringing flowers. I never thought of it as placing flowers on his grave, and I found that both incredibly beautiful and devastating. But also in an interview hozier did (I can’t remember which one unfortunately), he talked about his mother dropping off flowers at his house during the pandemic, and that those flowers were the only living thing in his home besides himself. His mother was again gifting him life, and the flowers made him feel less alone, as there was another living presence in his home. Either way, I absolutely adore that song and as always, your breakdown videos are incredible. I can’t wait to see what comes next ❤
Oh I didn’t even think about it like that but that makes so much sense!! And thank you thank you! ❤️
this album still has me in a chokehold, i swear Andrew wrote "Butchered Tounge" to hurt me specifically 😅 i'm ready to tear into this video!
edited to add, there's another layer of beauty to the first few lines of "Butchered Tounge" in the use of Native American (specifically Chocktaw) words - during the Great Hunger, in 1847, people of the Chocktaw Nation pooled together around $170 to donate to the Irish. It's a gesture that the Irish have not forgotten to this day, if my research is accurate, especially because the Trail of Tears was not that far behind (1831-1833) and the Chocktaw were one of the groups forced to walk it. they themselves were struggling, yet they heard about the hardships that the Irish were facing and they still decided to help.
knowing this, "Butchered Tounge" holds a special place in my heart, like i absolutely cannot listen to this song without at least tearing up. i downright *sobbed* the first time it played.
there are other reasons why this song means so much to me, like i can rant forever about it, but i just wanted to add this bit of trivia that i had.
butchered tongue hits hard especially since the war its speaking about took place in my town
When the album first came out I did a whole song by song analysis where I was translating the lyrics to my mom (she speaks Spanish) and telling her how it relates to inferno and the Greek references throughout the album (honestly your other hozier videos inspired me to do that). I love just seeing what people can interpret from hozier’s lyrics so thank you for this amazing video
I tried to do this with my mom and after the album she just went, “huh. I guess I just don’t listen to music the same way you do”
14:50 I interpret this line a bit differently than you. I hear it as
...drying out, then drowning,
blindly blooming forth...
So the flower was plucked, started to dry, then was watered by someone and continued living for a bit longer. Instead of drowning blindly (which sounds hopeless and bleak IMO), it sensed itself drying and drowning and responded by blindly (recklessly, maybe) living to its fullest and blooming colours that the people around it could appreciate, but the flower itself was not able to see.
I took that part of the song as the narrator not having died, but that his mother left the flowers while he was alive and he took simple pleasure in them, "owes his life" in the sense that they brought him joy/companionship/reflection in a hard time.
That whole section is my favourite bit of poetry at the moment, no matter what way it's interpreted. So beautiful ❤
I feel like everyone can attribute a song on this album that basically sums up their life in its present moment. This video is just brilliant. It takes you through the ups and downs of the human experience, expressed in beautiful lyrics and melodies that you fabulously explained.
The song Who We Are truly resonates with me, as my greatest struggle in life recently is finding direction/purpose. Today I cried for the first time in ages, it was the build-up of a lot of wasted efforts and failings that all culminated into a complete breakdown. I felt exactly like one of those souls trapped hopelessly beneath the River Styx lol.
I'm resitting and reapplying to uni all over again, and it has really made me question myself. It's a repetitive cycle of work that now feels meaningless. It's so hard to maintain motivation, and I feel myself crumbling.
I feel lost. The feeling is like somebody has sucked all ambition, determination and aspiration from me. I can't believe I'm venting in the RUclips comments lol.
I have always been an extremely happy person. Yet only recently in my darkest times have I realised, the hardest part in my life has been me. Who I am. There's no escaping, and it is this realisation that really does cut "like a knife".
I don't quite know how to put my appreciation for this album into words. The openness and the raw emotions that it displays: all the pain, love, fear, joy, yearning, loss... Hozier in this album lays bare his soul and cracks open the ribs of human experience as he traces the soul's journey through the darkness, into its depths, and back into the light again. The genius of Hozier's poetry and his poesy itself deserves the kind of close attention that you bring to it. Thank you for your thoughtful and eloquent exploration of this album. I always love your analyses and the details that you draw out of the songs that you engage with. Much love and thanks 💜
I could not agree more!!! And thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️
I don’t know if it is a callback, but I like to think the animal he sings about in Psychopomp is the same animal he sings about instinctually fighting to survive in First Time. Hozier describes its loss of instinct, identity, innocence and then life, staring at the lights that took it from it at the end.
Oh my god I love this 😭❤️
I had to delay watching this video because this album destroyed me, and I had to rebuild myself before I could handle delving into any analysis.
Butchered Tongue really got to me. I'm American, but my grandfather was born in Germany. Despite this, he did not actually learn to speak German until he took language classes in his mid-50s. He was only 2 when his family came to the US, but even his older siblings forgot most, if not all, of their native tongue by the time they reached adulthood.
Listening to Butchered Tongue gave me the same feeling I got learning about my grandfather and his family, the feeling I get thinking about how neither of my Irish grandmothers, nor my Irish great grandparents, knew a word of the Irish language: this grief over the loss of things that were never mine but could have been.
It was like hearing that line from Foreigner's God for the first time all over again- "All that I've been taught- and every word I've got- is foreign to me."
Oh my gosh that link to Foreigner's God is genius! And thank you so much for sharing such a heartfelt comment ❤️
This was brilliant and your research is incredible. I hope Andrew does see this someday. If he wasn’t on tour right now I’d comment on his instagram every day to tell him to come watch this. Lol
Oh thank you so much! Hopefully one day if he does a meet and greet in my city I could slip him a note 😂
I absolutely adored this album and Butchered Tongue was the one that hit me the hardest. I'm Irish and went to an Irish-speaking primary school. When I went to an English-speaking secondary school, Irish was taught very differently and poorly. Many people didn't see the point in learning the language because "no one speaks it", and I started to lose the language I loved and was intelligent in.
Now, Irish (Gaeilge) is becoming popular (young people repopularising it, 'An Cailín Ciúin'/'The Quiet Girl', and now Unreal Unearth) which I am so grateful for, but I always think of what life would have been like if we were not colonised. Some days I genuinely grieve for the loss of what the Irish language could have been, but I am so overwhelmed with joy when I see our language becoming a topic of conversation around the world!
Thank you so much for this fantastic video and well done on those gorgeous prints!
These are my feelings on our language exactly.
It's such a beautiful language and I'm so glad more and more people are becoming passionate about preserving it ❤️
I understand this is not the same. But I wanted to share this experience nonetheless. I’m a substitute teacher at a high school in the most souther province of the Netherlands. We have a dialect that is specific to the region, since we were occupied by both Germany and France, multiple times throughout our history. This has affected our dialect a lot. I often hear my grandparents talk about what a loss it would be if people stopped speaking the dialect, since it doesn’t get any formal attention at schools anymore. And still. The whole day when I’m at that school, the students prefer to speak in dialect 🥹. Wee 14 year olds keeping this method of communicating alive. Very few people my age and younger still know how to write in it unfortunately, but it fills me with so much warmth to hear them still speak it. The day we lose this is the day a part of me dies.
I was lucky enough to be at a popup show in May (Toronto) where we booed Queen Victoria being the namesake of our holiday weekend and in return got to hear Butchered Tongue. Nothing prepared me for that, months before the album released. It has imprinted on me in ways few songs ever have. Love your thoughts and truly hope you get a show in Australia to see it all come together.
Oh my goodness, that would have been an UNREAL experience! Crossing my fingers too that he comes down under 🤞
@@honorlucaI've been checking every day for an Aussie announcement.
This album broke my brain in a myriad of different ways. And that's without considering the fact that in our DnD campaign I'm playing a fallen deity of souls (The Crow) who was the pantheon's psychopomp, married to the god of death (the Wolf) who lost all the memories he had of her, and almost every song in Unreal Unearth reminds me of them and I die inside a little everytime
15:04
To add on to your train of thought, I get a feeling from the line"What keeps you around, it keeps you around" of it having the meaning of "whatever helps you fight off the absence of your existence, helps" at the same time also "whatever keeps you in the relationship, it is the thing that keeps you in the relationship " so, almost like admitting that it's not always the perfect things that keep us around? A little beat defeatist, and a little bit reassuring at the same time. They come in many different forms. I hear it in two ways simultaneously "you cope the way you can cope with life" and "you love who you love"
13:38 Hozier also said in an interview that this is his favorite line in the album. When he was living alone and in the woods during Covid, he was feeling very bleak, and one day, after a hike, he came back to his house and found a vase of flowers. These flowers were brought to him by his mother, and he felt like these flowers just not only gave him life but had brought his house, filled with cobwebs and was a little dusty, to life as well.
Oh my god! I think I just fell in love with that line all over again!
@@honorluca hahaha you’re too nice, I just saw that another commenter had said exactly the same thing I did. Sorry. But yeah, his explanation made my heart melt.
I was looking for a Hozier deep dive/ video essay just because like many others I’m sure- I’m having a bit of a hard time processing this album in full and needed to hear someone talk me through it so thank you for being that!
You're very welcome!! ❤️
Hozier definitely needs to put more Gaelic in his songs, just how beautiful this sounds is just madness, even though the lyrics was THE thing that made me fall in love with his music, Son Of Nix is my absolute favorite from this album is closer to what I listen in my dreams in places that I've never been; Abstract (Psychopomp) broke me as well, my last pet, my dog was gone while I held her, so that hits really close to home, this entire album is a religious experience
ITS HERE!!! THE OUTFIT WAS ON THEME, THE MUSIC AND VIBES WERE PERFECT, AND AS ALWAYS THE ANALYSIS WAS SOUL-SOOTHING. Hozier's music has always meant a massive deal to me because of his ability to articulate emotions and circumstances, that I always find myself lost for words starting to describe. I always cycle through specific songs to obsess over, and I lost someone close to me recently so Through Me (The Flood) was the one I'd been obsessing over, because of just how brilliantly he manages to word the harsh reality of grief in such a beautiful and honest way. However, recently the one that takes the cake has been abstract psychopomp, just the depth of it and the sheer amount of themes within it. Who else would witness a car crashing into a deer, and then years later be like hmmm yes this perfectly represents the complexity of appreciating the world around you despite its imperfections and pain, and so much more than that. All in all, I've wasted hours combing through the meanings of his lyrics myself, but honestly, I have never been able to do it justice. Your videos are always delightful and intriguing, so thank you so much for posting them. I wish you all the best with your literature and music escapades!
Always so lovely to see you Remooshie!!!!
His music is the sound equivalent of someone covering you with a blanket and placing a pillow under you when you've fallen asleep on the sofa. If I could marry an album it would be this one.
THIS!
god I love this album!!!! the one I have the most to say about is "I, Carrion (Icarion)" which (as I've wrote of before) does a really cool thing with its melody to get that floaty feeling that mirrors the lyrics so well.
In summary, it pretty much exclusively uses the do-sol range of one octave for its tune. that's only five notes, which especially compared to Hozier's other songs is *very* constrained - you can sing "mary had a little lamb" on the same range. the melody's "ground" is the base of the octave, do, (the "me" in "find its brutal way to me"), and especially the way the tune is constructed theres not a whole lot of leaps from one note to the other, which combined with the restrained range gives a sort of drifting, floating feeling to the tune. also, a lot of time is spent in the mi-fa-sol range, and a lot of lines also end in the mi-fa-sol range, which means that, like Icarus, the melody also spends a lot of time floating above the "ground."
some notable lines that break this are ones referencing falling - "allow the ground to find its brutal way to me" and "falls away from me"/"don't fall away from me" all end with the mi-re-do descending and hitting the melodic "ground."
also, the only line to break below do is the last syllable in "I've crossed the border line of wieghtless," which falls down to the sol below do, contradicting the lyric even as it's sung and reminding us that he is still falling, even as what he experiences is transcendent bliss. but. But! that's still only the one moment, when the rest of the song is peacefully drifting over the world. yes, Icarus fell, but do not forget that he also flew.
This was so insightful! Thank you so much!
oh my god as a music student this just destroyed me. hozier is a genius.
Sitting here in tears in my work office hoping no one walks by, broken by the words of "Abstract".
I was so excited for this video. I absolutely love this album, i love all the songs on it for different reasons. I think butchered tongues is a song a lot of people will connect to because there is so many countries out there that have been through similar things, I’m welsh or Cymraeg in welsh and being able to speak welsh when the majority of people can’t is a sad thought, that a language so beautiful still isn’t spoken as much as it should. A bit of good news though, there are more welsh speakers now than there was, as of 2023 there’s apparently 906,800 welsh speakers so much more than there was, theres still a long way to go, only in 1993 was it made equal to English and in 2011 it was made the official language of our country. I hope the world will become a better place for everyone. And I absolutely loved this video as always ❤❤❤
Su’mae!! I absolutely love the welsh language, I think it’s so so beautiful! I went through a phase in high school of teaching myself some and I’ve been planning to get back into it. So lovely to know that the language is actually on the incline ☺️
46:17 this may be a reach but this reminds me of the few and small parts of Ireland that still speaks Gaelige. Secondary school students are able to live there for a few weeks during the summer and attend Irish lessonzls. I haven't been yet, but even driving through them, you get a bittersweet sense of nostalgia for something you've never experienced, and mourning because you never truly will.
The way I screeched when this came up in my feed. *goes to get snacks*
Just as I finished another (unrelated) video essay, your video I have been waiting for comes out like it must be my birthday!!
I am so glad to see this video. I've been listening to the album ever since it came out, but since I found your channel, I feel like your interpretations of his songs bring so much more meaning and beauty to them! It's a rediscovering in a way... thank you so much for it!
This was everything I’ve hoped for and more. Just everything is perfect and you -somehow- make me love this album even more❤
So so excited to get stuck into this! Thank you for all your efforts! I cannot wait to hear your thoughts and analysis! ❤️
YES IT’S HERE I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE
finally! i was waiting for you to post this! ❤
Yes I’ve been waiting for this! Thank you queen!
You’re very welcome, my dear x
You have absolutely no idea how much your videos actually mean to me. You plan them out so well, you’re so well spoken and you do your research.
I’ve been watching your channel ever since you had 300 subscribers and it’s been a joy watching your content grow 🫶 I look forward to every video you post (especially the Hozier ones🤭)
Anyways I usually never comment on yt videos but you are without a doubt my favourite channel on here💕
That honestly just means so so much to me. Thank you 💖 xxx
I was so excited to see that you finally uploaded this, I have been watching all your Unreal Unearth videos and they really made me come to a deeper understanding of an album I already loved so much to begin with. The amount of attention to detail and all the intertextualities you managed to discover is simply mindblowing. I especially thank you for your sensible remarks before Butchered Tongue, as someone who also lives in colonized land. Overall thank you so much for your videos and for sharing a piece of your beautiful mind and its thoughts.
ahh! literally watching this an hour before I see him live in Boston! so excited
love love LOVE this album and your breakdown!! thank you so much for taking the time to create this video 💖💖
Thank you, lovely! xx
I've been waiting for this!!!! Aaaaahhhh excited
This album has absolutely changed my life and hearing your perspective and analysis just adds another layer of emotion to it all. The way hozier captures the human experience is unlike anything I’ve seen (or perhaps heard) before and this album is no exception. I wish I had something cool and intelligent to say but I’m feeling too many things to think straight lol
I greatly appreciate the effort you put into all of your videos and this one is utterly amazing! (Those prints that you made are also so gorgeous!!!)
Thank you for this video!! I appreciate all the work you put into it :D
Unreal Unearth is so special to me. It's the soundtrack for my daily drive to and from work, and I often lie down with my best headphones to just immerse myself fully in the songs. I took my mum to see Hozier and the whole 2-hour drive was spent with her reading his lyrics and asking for my thoughts on them 🥹 There were so many moments where she outright gasped, teared up, and had to stop to let something sink in. Sharing music and poetry is such a joy ❤
I've developed my own readings of the lyrics, but it's so cool to hear what other people get from them! The literary references you pointed out explain some lyric choices I'd wondered about and they really tie the themes of the album together.
I'll definitely check out your etsy shop, those prints look lovely :)
I hope you and your pets are well 😌
i've been WAITING for you to post this and, as always, you didn't disappoint. thank you so much for this!!!
Thank you thank you!!
I don't think I've commented here yet despite watching this video like 4 times? I've stopped it a million times and just gone to write in my journal because this gives me so many Existential Philosophical Thoughts. I am looking at this album now with fresh appreciation since I just went trough a massive heartbreak and now I _GET_ this album. It's amazing. It's a heartbreak album. You need your heart broken to really hear it.
Oh my god you're so right! There are things you just won't be able to see with an intact heart.
(PS, so sorry about the heartbreak Elina! Sending all my love ❤️)
A beautiful video for a beautiful album. Thank you so much for every video you make. Your emotional responses and lyrical interpretations are so appreciated.
Abstract (and the whole album) makes me think of the Tom Waits lyric "And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget that history puts a saint in every dream." Those things we can't let go of...So much of this album is about circling towards that place of acceptance. It's just an incredible work of art and has helped me accept some things.
Thank you! I love your art prints as well. - Shannon :)
IM SO EXCITED TO WATCH THIS!! your videos are truly art,, this album has me in such a chokehold
Ahhh thank you so much!! X
the video we have all been waiting for and it didn't disappoint. Great work as always. This albums is so stunning ill be listening to it till the day i die. My wife got me tickets to see him in December in Liverpool and im just counting down the days now. Can not wait. Thanks for bringing more understanding to his music so i can appreciate it even more. Love the prints btw. will have to get one for sure.
Thank you for this!! Such a good album and you're research is so well done! Makes it all the more enjoyable :))
Aw I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🥰
this album has made me feel so many emotions, and i just dont have the ability to put it all into words. i love finding out about the inspirations behind it all (from literary references in the lyrics to the gospel choir sounds), it always so beautiful
adding onto *i, carrion*: icarus is often depicted to be having laughed as he fell, which i've definitely taken into my interpretation of the song. he's so overcome by his love and freedom that he hasn't noticed that he's falling
IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE 🗣️🗣️
How I hav been waiting for this! Made my day literally😩
Aw yay!!
Thank you for all your time! This was so well researched and I loved your interpretations. I'd had such a hard time understanding To Someone From A Warmer Climate but you're breakdown actually cleared up the major questions I had. Again, thanks!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i love this. your interpretation of the songs is amazing
Thank you thank you 🥰
OMG, How come I've just seen this video? I was checking from time to time if you had posted it and now I see that it was posted 2 days ago 😭
I can't wait to finish work to watch this 😍😍😍
You're the best!!!
honor, i've been checking your channel weekly for this video! I'm so happy it's here!!!
Hope you enjoy!!!
this is INSANE! i love your content; thank you so much for your effort.
Thank you so much 🥰
Thank you for this exquisite video essay. I’ve been binging your Hozier videos and was excited to see this one. I’ve been a Hozier fan for a very long time and to finally see someone putting into words exactly how I feel about his music is such a gift. I also commend you for your careful research and spot-on insight. I went to see his show last Wednesday and I’m still floating. Sometimes I can’t comprehend how an actual human could come up with such brilliance in both lyrics and sounds. And to hear his voice singing all this beauty was absolutely surreal. Just when you though he couldn’t top Wasteland, Baby he comes up with this masterpiece. Oh, and I appreciate your set up behind you with the vinyl and the candles, nice touch!
Thank you so much for such kind words! ❤️
It's such a pleasure to hear your interpretation of the lyrics. I love how meticulous you are to every detail. I thought this album was an absolute masterpiece!! I honestly thought the animal was a metaphor for the death of the relationship. I've heard him say some of the songs dealt with the betrayal that led to his breakup. I thought you looked beautiful in the video and rocked that lipstick. Thanks you for this it was worth the wait!!! Ordering the All Things End print now. I get to see him on Friday and can't wait!!🌼💄💋💖
incredible video!! i've been waiting for this one ever since unreal unearth came out, i just love to hear the passion in your voice when you're talking about these songs that you love (especially when you were talking about abstract, which is my absolute favorite on the record, i felt SEEN). this was the best hour of my thursday night, for sure.
Thank you so much! That is so kind xx
I was waiting for thisss, IDK why I wasn't informed this came out
I was waiting for this video! I have been talkin about this album non stop since it came out and I'm FAR away from been done with it. "Icarian, I carrion " has officially become one of my favourite songs of all time, it just feels like a summer breeze sweeping you off your feet and I am ecstatic about it. Also thank you so much for the effort you put in this videos, they are interesting and accurate and really appreciated :)
I cannot put into words how much I love your videos! You just make me and my emotions feel so seen, thank you for the vulnerability and sensitivity you show in an age that seems so void of compassion sometimes. This album is just insane and I love your prints! :)
Thank you so much, that is so so kind! I'm glad we can have this corner of the internet to be fully-feeling beings ❤️
Thank you so so much for all the work and research you put into these videos. Your enthusiasm and love for Hozier's music is contagious. Unreal Unearth broke me and built me up at the same time if that makes sense! Your interpretations always add an extra layer of meaning to the songs, making it easier to understand and love more than I already do. Thank you so much again.
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
This was wonderful! I completely understand the intrusive thoughts about your pet's safety and loving animals more than humans. I grew up with two dogs that I loved very much and were for the most part, my only friends as a child. Taking care of them was and will always be one of the greatest joys of my life. I constantly was worrying over every little thing, even possibly things they would never have managed to get into lol. We, unfortunately, had to lose them both in one day due to old age and health issues and I held one in my arms as he passed and it's something I will remember forever. I have two paw prints tattooed on my arm with little details about them as a memorial. So, needless to say, Abstract (Psychopomp) made me bawl lol.
Your art prints are so lovely and I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished with this video and this community. You're doing great, Honor! ✨
SO EXCITED
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE! Holy shit fucking FINALLY, I can finally mark an end to my unreal unearth experience
This was absolutely worth the wait! This album was just what I needed to hear this year. I agree it’s rekindled a creative spark inside me and I can’t wait to keep listening and dissecting new pieces from this work. Great job, Honor. ❤️
Thank you so so much! 🥰 it’s definitely one of those albums you can just keep falling deeper and deeper into. Might be interesting to do a video a year’s time to see how it’s meaning has evolved for me 🤔
while listening to the album again for the umpteenth time, i realised there's a parallel between francesca and first light. in francesca, very early on in the album, hozier says "i would do it again," and then later in the closing song, he says "i am never going back again." the first time i made the connection between those two lyrics i was floored. what a beautiful way to express the journey of the album and the growth hozier has experienced within himself because of it.
omg excellent
I WAS WAITING FOR THIS
I adore your connection to the literature, as well as how it connects to Hozier’s works. Your prints are wonderful tributes, I’ll try to get my hands on one.
Favorite lyric: if the wind turns, if I hit a squall, allow the ground to find its brutal way to me.
Well as I imagined, you didn't disappoint with your analisys. I really needed someone who really appreciate the art behind this album and doesn't make a video about it for the attention it can get the day after the release.
I can't really explain why this album in particular affected me this much, I followed in the past Hozier work, not as throughly as other artist I like, but this album will for sure remain one of the few how speaks to my soul.
The main reason I can think about the effect it has on me is because I went through a breakup myself last year, a relathionship of 8 years where we wanted to build a future toghether. Obviously it didn't go that way, for many reason and it was the right decision in the end, but I never experienced an heartbreake this hard, the first few weeks I don't even know how I managed to go through with life. Fortunately I saw the first light myself after a few months.
One of the thing I struggled the most was that no one of my friends/family had a similar experience. They gave me they absolute support, for which I'll be forever grateful, but sometimes I felt that no one knew what I was talking about, and then Mr. Hozier realised the first singles and I felt an immediate connection, I felt seen in a sense. The album release only fortified my impression, personally I relate to Unknown and Who we are the most for my experience. But I also love De Selby pt1/2, Anything but etc... musically speaking. I can find a positive thing to say about all the songs, just the fact that it has many references to Dante's Inferno and Greek Mythology fed my inner nerd.
It's really a masterful work and I will always have a special connection with it.
Your video and the previous one are masterful too, I'm really happy that a fateful youtube raccomandation lead me to your channel, can't wait for other insightful video about other artists/albums/books
Honor, are you a teacher by profession? If not, you have a GIFT, I learn so much from you and how you present material. You are a brilliant and engrossing teacher.
Thank you so much! That made my day! And I'm not hahaha. I work in fashion retail but perhaps I should consider changing my profession...
ever since this album came out, i've been waiting for someone to post a video with this exact title, and it seems the length will do it justice too. so excited to get into this because i know it'll be a blast!!!
I hope it’s everything you want!!
okay i rarely comment on videos but i really needed to say how great your analysis was, at some point i just started cryng and i couldnt stop, i discovered hoziers music like 3 months ago but i really think something changed within after this album, and i loved how you talked about it
Oh my goodness thank you so much! That really means a lot xx
it's an absolute joy to hear you talk about hozier's music. thank you for sharing your thoughts!
My pleasure! 😊❤️
This video was incredible. Thank you.
Thank you so much! x
This album is honestly such a masterpiece. It truly feels like being taken on a journey by Andrew and him telling us these different stories. One of my favourites is definitely To Someone From A Warm Climate, but I can't even describe why. Just that the first time I heard it, I full on sobbed. It's so beautiful.
Also, I've been waiting for this video ever since he dropped the album haha, love the way you analyse the songs. And your prints are so gorgeous! Well done!
Ah thank you so much! ❤️ and couldn't agree with you more about the album xx
OH MY GOD IT'S OUT! This will be all I think about for a week. Month. Year. Rest of my life.
This album is such a beautiful evolution of Hozier's music and your commentary helps me appreciate it that much more! We went to Chicago to see him and it was LIFE CHANGING. It made me think of how some would feel in church.
Hozier talked about being raised Montessori which also connected some dots 😅
Your abstract (psychopump) explanation was so relatable and expertly done. Wonderful video, thank you for the time you took in making this!
Thank YOU for taking the time to watch it!!
Honor, thank you so very very very much for sharing your insight into this masterpiece. Like you, I do feel changed by this album. I can not stop listening to it in perfect order from beginning to end each time.
I so appreciate your deep dive into the lyrics and the strong literary references that bring so much more light to the songs.
I feel like I have just finished a wonderful sit down with you over tea and a wonderful dessert for more than an hour of such intense discussion and soul searching over this truly exquisite piece of modern art.
Each time I listen to it I marvel how an artist like Andrew can cobble together a saintly voice, intelligent and thoughtful and emotional lyric with top flight music/rhythm and use it to literally slice my soul like a knife.
This album is such a tribute/inspection of the human soul that I really don't think I have experienced anywhere else. It just feels like when you peel away one layer of understanding about it ......another appears around the corner.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! ;)
Oh thank you so so much Adam! A sit-down over tea is the EXACT feeling I wanted to create so I'm overjoyed that this is how you feel ❤️ So lovely to know there are people who feel the same things as me out there x
Hi Honor, I'm a new follower from Argentina. Thank you so much for your videos, they are beautiful and your voice is so relaxing (I'm not an English native as you can read). Well, I went to Hozier first gig in Argentina and it was absolutely amazing. This album is a piece of art and the fun thing is that recently I join a reading group and we started to analize The divine comedy so I recommend to listen this album while we read. Sometimes things are more connected that we realise... Again thanks and I will be watching all your videos hahah
Oh thank you so much! Lots of love to Argentina!
Listened to your video while I tried to sort out all the thoughts in my head and fix my life at least a little. Now its time for another listen of Unreal Unearthed.
Honoured I could be a part of the process ❤️
aaaaa it's here!!! i was eagerly looking forward to your breakdown of Unreal Unearth literally since that album has been released! this was so wonderfully made and super engaging to watch, as always!! i think we had pretty similar thoughts on most things, yours were just much more eloquent :D i completely understand your intense feelings about Abstract (Psychopomp), that song along with Who We Are and Butchered Tongue were the songs that really made me cry a couple of times while listening to the album. i saw a comment about Abstract on tiktok where one person said the repeated "see how it shines" line reminded them of someone trying to distract a dying person by showing them the beauty of the nature around them or the stars in the sky, so that they would feel more calm in their moment of passing, and i just haven't been the same since. like that song and all its implications and interpretations and every word of it just straightup wrecked me. also, the thing you said in the context of Who We Are about how big of a feat it must be to release an album full of such personal and vulnerable songs and how brave Andrew is for doing it really struck a chord with me. i actually never looked at it from that perspective but you're totally right. i remember one interview where he talked about liking to keep private and he literally said "i am a private person but i do reveal a huge amount of myself in the songs" and he REALLY did that in this album especially, and i am just now realising how grateful i am for that because it really means a lot. and i'm sure that if he does ever come across your channel and this video, it would mean a lot to him as well that there are amazing people like you out there that really sit down and share their love for his work in such a meaningful and deep way.
there is another interview where Andrew talked about the fact that he recorded like 26 songs in total for this album but ultimately cut it down to 16 because, in his words, people rarely have time to sit down for 62 minutes to listen to an album. and i remember protesting vehemently upon hearing that because hello??? the album is a literal masterpiece and i'm not sure that Andrew is fully aware of the fact that we are all literally begging at his feet for even another second of Unreal Unriver (lol) content. i mean, i certainly am. but i just wanted to bring that up because i think this video had quite the same effect on me. like, you just have such a pleasant way with words and such a calming presence that i seriously didn't even realise that i just sat down for an hour and watched an entire album analysis in one go, which isn't an everyday occurrence with my ADHD brain but i'm really not surprised because it's _your_ video :) also, on a wholly different note, those prints are all so gorgeous?!?!?! honestly, i've been meaning to get some decorations for my apartment, what better decorations to use than some beautiful art from a really awesome person about my current favourite songs? brb buying the entire set lol
Oh my goodness I don't even have words for how much this comment means to me. It has got to be the nicest I have ever read. Thank you SO MUCH for such kindness 🥰❤️ and oh my god that perspective of telling the dying being to notice how it shines? Consider me destroyed! My heart has been softened to just a puddle of blood and tissue haha. So much love ❤️xx
hi!!!! just wanted to drop by and tell you thank you for your amazing videos, i feel like they saved me in a way (in a very lighthearted, drama queen sense) so here's a bit of oversharing lmao.
i found them in july when i was doing my homework prior to attending hozier's live show in my city (in july of this year). i'd always liked his music but i never listened to more than a few songs. then the eat your young snippet came out and i got obsessed with it, so my friend and i booked our tickets for the concert. musically, i'd say that a lot of his songs don't instantly appeal to me, but every time that i stopped to look up the lyrics i was floored at the beauty of his poetry. so i thought i would try to use that in to connect more with his songs and be really prepared for the live. that's how i found your channel!! and it was exactly what i needed, your analysis really resonated with me and made me nostalgic of my literature major era :') you craft them in such an accessible, engaging way!
i religiously listened to and tried to memorize your interpretations of the singles out at the time + the earlier albums and found his lyrics really spoke me. a lot of the songs of the concert setlist are now on my on repeat playlist and feel very important to me. my nerdy side was very pleased with the treasure hunt for the dante references and i loved the way you explained and put in light the images he used. honestly had a lot of fun trying to decipher his vision with your help!
in the end, the concert was one of the best i ever attended to, i rarely felt so connected to the artist, to the audience, and so emotionally vulnerable (but weirdly at peace at the same time), while in the pit at a concert. i have to credit you for that, so thank you so much. also i got to show off because i explained francesca to my friends during the intermission and they were very impressed, and then! mr andrew himself quickly explained the song to us before performing it so i was like see!!!! i was right!!!!! and it felt very satisfying.
turns out hozier's coming again in a couple of weeks, and we couldn't get tickets first but we finally snatched them yesterday, i'm over the moon! unreal unearth really is such a masterpiece. i already knew the singles well thanks to you, but i'm back to prepare for the next show. thank you so so much for your incredible dedication and your pedagogy!
anyway sorry for the gigantic block of text, i wanted to communicate my appreciation :) this video made me tear up a bit when i understood and connected to some songs. your work is such a gift for us, interpreting the bard and making sure he touches us like he touched you! thank you from the heart
Oh my goodness. Emma, I truly can't tell you how much your words mean to me. I never thought my work would have an impact like that. Thank you so so much! This comment is definitely getting printed and put on my wall as a reminder of why I do what I do. Sending you so much love 💖
16:52 i loved your interpretation of I, carrion because its one of the most beautiful songs ive heard and it made me weep and think of having an elder sibling in a way? Like the lifting of burdens by the elder sibling in order the sheild the younger one who is too small to fully comprehend what is going on around them. As i grew older i realised the burden my brother carried and what he endured to make sure i was happy as a child and i often find myself heartbroken thinking about how he had it so much worse than me. Also the line ‘i only pray, dont fall away from me’ makes me think about how close we are to our siblings when were young but when we look to our parents and their relationship with their siblings they seem so distant and so estranged and its so heartbreaking that it happens. Anyway maybe im reading too much into it but thank you so much for your analysis and your videos watching them makes me feel so much smarter i love your work and hope you never stop making more❤❤
Wow that is truly such a beautiful interpretation. Thank you so much for sharing ❤️
Thank you again for publishing all your insightful and compelling interpretations of this and other art.
Pretty certain we will see some dialogue exchange between you and Hozier in the future!
Not sure I’ve ever listened to a more beautiful song than Abstract…
In Son of Nyx there is a subtle utterance of “see how it shines” around the 2:20 mark.
Oh gosh I'm hoping with every part of my being that I'll be allowed just 5 minutes to talk with him one day!
I love what you do ! A channel that analyzes song lyrics and allows us to all geek about how much we love certain musicians is all I've ever wanted from RUclips. Kudos for being so soothing and aesthetically pleasing as well
If you ever want to talk about the album Submarine by Alex Turner it would mean the world to me 💙
OMG Submarine is one of my favourite movies of all time so I will absolutely add the album to my list of things to cover!!!
Sobbing listening to you break down Abstract. It’s devastating but I agree it being a song about hope. The world can be such a dark place, however there is goodness in humanity. It’s the hope I hold onto for our future.
I got a tribute tattoo to this song a few weeks ago.
I just have to say how much I appreciate this video, the time you put into it. It really opened and reopened my eyes to the meanings of so many songs I've been pondering over the last month or so.
And now my personal little blurb, I was so, so happy to see Abstract (Psychopomp) get the love I felt for it.
The moment that song started playing I had such a visceral reaction. I was taken back to a moment in my life not very long ago when my world hung in balance. I had lived until that point always checking behind me. But in that particular moment I was with someone I realized was the greatest love of my lifetime, and that my hand had been forced all my life by people and circumstance and fear. Only until the point I realized that this was the time I had to decide did I realize that I *could*. I had every freedom at that moment, and so much fear about the future- and finally I saw that I could have walked away to find out what lay beyond, but then.... I "had no choice but to love you".
That song encapsulates so deeply that feeling of promising silently to myself then that I would live the rest of my life with this person because that was true freedom to me. It's coming up on two years since then, and I married him just under a year ago. The risk of loving tore me open but it also mended me back together, and I can see in myself what the change has brought me and how far I've come from that moment of decision, when I was so confused up until that point. I can't help but feel the chorus of this song physically in my heart when I hear it, a reaction so strong I'm brought back to that autumn day, the first time I realized I was in love, and the day I decided to stop looking over my shoulder. That was the day I started living.
If you can't tell, I am definitely getting the print for Abstract :') I wish I could afford all of them, they're absolutely gorgeous! I am blown away by this album, just speechless.
Oh my gosh thank you for sharing such a beautiful story ❤️ That truly filled me with warmth xx
Me: ow it's a hozier interview ?
Honor : it's not a Hozier interview
I wish 😭
Girl you know more than all these people who interview him. you deserve to interview him tbh @@honorluca
Jeez I wasn't expecting a Paul Is Dead reference in this video but it SENT me thank you for that levity lmfao
Hahaha you're so welcome!
Fantastically done interpretation! It's always so nice to hear you breaking these down, I always feel like I'm learning something new or changing my own worldview somehow :)
Here's a few interpretations I had of the songs myself, in order (obviously many of them could be a reach as well, but) (I already apologize for the length)
De Selby Part 1 - One way I also saw it is that since the song is about this metamorphosis, which possibly happens in his mind, his reflection does not truly show him what he thinks of like himself in that moment either. I think something similar could be added to the pandemic scenario you mentioned as well!
First Time: There's this idea of people dying two deaths - one when they physically die, and another when they are forgotten, or your name last spoken. Playing off of something similar to this is what you said, that what if the way others would call out his name would never truly catch the essence of himself he wants highlighted, but the way his lover calls him does, like they truly perceive him the way he wants to be perceived. Also, "_as it was_ and ever shall _be_"
I, Carrion: In general, Hozier's beautiful takes on death really seem to get to me, especially in the romantic contexts. In A Week, Wasteland, Baby, Though Me(The Flood) and NFWMB are some of my favourite songs, especially because of this wonderful way he puts it, almost as if it is a gift after a long battle, like the sun setting after a long day. When he talks about the one thing we will all inevitably go through, and the pain and loss we go through because of it, it always brings me to tears. You can see it so clearly in I, Carrion as well, and it's so beautifully done.
Damage Gets Done: I feel like this song is the opposite to what Eat Your Young is, the unreliable narrator who hoards and barely leaves crumbs for everyone else, versus someone introspecting genuinely on their past life, when they were happy surviving on just those crumbs without feeling like wanting more.
Who We Are: The one line I think we all fixated on "...to hold me like water, or Christ, hold me like a knife" where, I think he's also talking about the idea of being precious to someone or just being this sort of tool, like in NFWMB or in Shrike - where at this point he is just looking for some sort of comfort, regardless of the other person's intentions. Also just wanted to point out the pain and kindness emanating from the line "Getting through still has a cost"
To Someone From A Warm Climate (Uiscefhuarithe): This one's most definitely ya reach, but the idea of pressing yourself up against the concrete and "doing awful things to make the head go quiet" could be interconnected somehow, with how we do things that may feel awkward or uncomfortable just to find some relief or comfort.
The shift from Butchered Tongue to Nothing But I think broke something in me, because I was sitting there listening to the album for the first time with my friend in the dark, and I was on the verge of tears when that comes up. I fully know he did this on purpose, and I did curse him out for the next few days for it.
Abstract/Psychopomp: "The memory hurts, but does mean no harm". That's all.
I truly have no words for most of this album. The journey he himself goes from to being maddeningly in love, then to almost resigning to trying to get whatever comfort he can to then finally accepting that it doesn't matter in the end and that All Things End, then finally reminiscing about those memories in a positive but detached light with Uiscefhuarithe, where he wants them and acknowledges the pains they put themselves through (like maybe hurting each other in this relationship) in order to feel easy.He then says that he wouldn't want do anything with this person again, then he finally accepts this new love in abstract/psychopomp, and finallly talks about the nature of being loved and how he falls in love with a person, ignoring all the hurt it might cause, restarting the cycle almost. Mayhaps undergoing a metamorphosis after he has already been through one with his previous love, finally stepping out into the first light. I think we can also sort of see the stages of grief here.
the ideas of going through the same life again and again is present in the album a bunch (if we squint) and the idea of having to go through the pains and losses of life again and again, trying to struggle with that reality and what's happening to us, how we may resist and that may hurt us but in the end, we can all take something out of it, see that instinctual need to survive and start anew to see something worth living and loving for, even in the worst situations.
I'm not sure if I'm right here, but De Selby Part 2 and All Things End to me feel intricately connected. In the music video for De Selby Part 2, the man is unable to embrace himself and his "reality", and keeps dying over and over again, keeps "drowning" over and over again as well (I think the ideas from Through Me (The Flood) also come in here - how we have to embrace what life throws at us and let it flow through us, lest we might get carried away). Since there are these ideas of "running away from the world that's turning" (to the point where he lands back up where he started - ending up seeing himself, killing, and starting all over again) and how he wants to be lost and he wants to fade away, we can see this sort of theme of wanting to hide. That idea of embracing the "darkness" like you have mentioned multiple times across your videos, and hence, finally accepting the light as well, means he hides in this comfortable darkness, without ever really embracing it, and running away from the light, until he finally has to embrace the fact that it has all come to an end - where he finally might reach the "First Light".
I think we can easily extend this to the rest of the album, especially given the romantic aspect and the more existential aspects mentioned above.
Again, wonderful, wonderful video, and sorry about the length :)
Wow! Thank you for sharing so much of your thoughts and your Feelings in Such beautiful words! I relate to you because I deeply know the urge to say sorry for talking too much but in this case you really don't have to! Thank you again and i wish you an amazing day!
We have been truly blessed
This video is a masterpiece of aesthetics and literature and analysis. You've created a sublime piece of art! If you went back and gave Hozier's previous records the same treatment, I would simply pass away
Thank you so much! And don't worry, they're in the works ;)