Earlier this week, Andrew Hozier-Byrne gave an interview to Rolling Stone where he talked extensively about his LGBTQ+ fanbase and his views regarding the rise of the anti-trans movement in the US.
The Irish singer is not very active on social media, and he stated that “oftentimes it does run off a currency of reaction, and that’s something that reactionary forces are very aware of also and operate in bad faith on.
“It doesn’t bring me to a happy place, and I try to foster and cultivate a community that’s among people that I can see and speak to. A bit of a grassroots. It’s a challenge, though, it is a challenge,” he said.
Then, Hozier added to his answer by saying how social media, especially Twitter, has been a hostile platform against the trans community: “It’s as if trans people popped out of the ground in the last five years. There are these existential conversations going on, like truly existential. You know what I mean? It’s horrifying.”
Due to his absence from social media, Hozier confesses that sometimes he is unaware of the impact he and his lyrics have on his fans, particularly on those in the LGBTQ+ community.
“I hope the music has space there and people find their home in it and it brings some joy. That’s all music has ever done for me. I’ve found myself in it. And I have found my warrant within it and a warrant for myself.
“In music, I have found… what’s the word? I’ve really found permission for myself to be myself, you know what I mean? That’s where my internal emotional world really is offered any space whatsoever,” he told Rolling Stone.
The interviewer also recalled a recent concert that Hozier headlined, which served to protest against anti-drag laws in Tennessee.
In reference to these laws, Hozier stated: “It is alarming how much it’s changed in the last 10 years. It is truly alarming.”
He continued: “There’s armed militias outside drag shows, in certain parts of the country. It’s terrifying. This is not just an American phenomenon. What’s hanging over that threat is a threat of an impending pogrom. It’s very, very serious. It is alarming.”
The ‘Take Me To Church’ singer, who currently resides in the US, could lose his visa due to his participation in the aforementioned Love Rising concert. But when called an activist, he hesitates.
“I know a lot of activists, so I’m reluctant to embrace the term ‘activism’ in what I do, because I know people who have lost a lot as a result of their activism, and it costs them a great deal, and people whose activism is their life, and it’s something they do to the detriment of their well-being and their health, etc.
“So, for me, if the music is a space that can offer a moment of reflection on something, I think that’s great. And that’s something that I hope we can do. With activism… I am reluctant to embrace and say I absolutely am. Because there’s people out there really in the trenches,” he explained.
This interview’s release comes shortly after the Irish singer recently came back home to perform in Dublin. The concerts were part of his rehearsal for the tour of his newest album, with dates yet to be revealed.
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