Hozier’s only been around — at least in the public consciousness — for a little over 10 years. But he’s already made some history. The singer-songwriter born Andrew John Hozier-Byrne enjoyed his first No.
1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in April with “Too Sweet,” from his latest EP “Unheard.” That made him the first Irish act to top the chart since the late Sinead O’Connor’s version of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U” during the same week in 1990 (when Hozier was just one month old, by the way). It’s also the first No.
1 hit by an Irish male performer since Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” in 1974. Hozier’s no stranger to the charts — his first single, 2013’s “Take Me to Church,” hit No. 2 in the U.
K., Ireland and the U.S.
, where it was certified 13-times platinum. “Too Sweet” is his first return to the Billboard upper echelons since, but Hozier, 34, says via Zoom that kind of success is welcome but not intentional. “I’ve tried very hard to separate myself from or free myself from exceptions of how other people hear the music or will receive the music or come to the music,” he explains.
“I just trust that I’ve tried to write music, especially for this album but all the time, that resonates with me, that feels honest to me, that feels worthwhile in the moment of its making. “I hope that people feel the same. That would be wonderful.
But I try to free myself from thinking too hard or having too many expectat.
