Andrew Hozier-Byrne, better known as Hozier, captured the attention of all music lovers with his single Take Me To Church. His music is known for its perfect and unique balance of country, rock, and gospel. The recently released self-titled album, Hozier, is full of more of his lively music that perfectly captures the essence of love and life.

Despite his American-sounding voice, Hozier is actually from Ireland. He grew up in a county called Wicklow, which is just north of Dublin. He was even born on Saint Patrick’s Day! At a very young age, he developed an appreciation for traditional Irish music and the blues.

As a kid, his dad would play the blues in Dublin, and he followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a music student at Trinity College. Hozier eventually dropped out in order to record some of his music and pursue fame.

This past October, he was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live along with Bill Hader. He performed two songs from his newly released album and blew the crowd away with not only his voice, but the accompaniment as well.

Hozier’s first single Take Me To Church tells a tale of lasting love using religious imagery. However, it’s the music video that really caught people’s attention.

In it, two men are seen kissing and end up being followed and beaten. The video was created with the intention to support and raise awareness for gay marriage as well as the discrimination of gays in Russia.

While being interviewed at Lollapalooza, he said, “The song, to me, is about what it is to be a human, what it is to love someone as a human being, and organizations that would undermine that, and undermine the more natural parts of being a person. If you feel offended or disgusted by the image of two people kissing, if that’s what it is, but you’re more disgusted by that than the actual violence…I think you should take a look at your values, maybe. I don’t think that there really should be a controversy when we’re talking about a basic human right and the equal treatment of people. Electing a person in the place of an organization, like the church, as something that is worth worshipping and something that is worth living, something tangible and real… There’s a lot to the song, but if I need to stand up and swing from the corner, I’m happy to do that.”

As you can tell, his music is more than meets the ear.

The video itself has more than 41 million views on YouTube and is currently number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it has remained for the past sixteen weeks. Not only this, but four of his other songs have been on that chart as well. So far, his album has been ranked No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and 58,000 copies have been sold (88% from digital sales).

Since it’s almost impossible to avoid hearing his music, sit back, relax, and take in the soulful melodies of Hozier.