Take Me to Church: Hozier’s Hymn Against Shame

By Dan Cohen · Published 2026-06-27

Take Me to Church, the 2013 breakout by Irish songwriter Hozier, is a song that borrows the entire vocabulary of religion — worship, sin, devotion, the church itself — and turns it into a critique of how institutions can shame love and sexuality. It casts a human relationship as the true site of the sacred, and sets that against the judgment and control it sees in organized religion.

The video that made the message unmissable

If the lyric left any ambiguity, the video removed it. It depicted homophobic persecution and violence, drawing on real-world oppression of LGBTQ people, and made explicit that the song’s anger is aimed at the dehumanizing of love between people who are told it’s wrong. That pairing turned a brooding debut single into a pointed piece of protest that traveled far beyond Ireland.

An unlikely anthem

It had no business being a global smash — a dark, slow-burning song by an unknown artist about shame and institutional cruelty — and yet it became exactly that, earning major award nominations and a permanent place in the culture. Sometimes the songs that connect most widely are the ones that refuse to soften their convictions.

What it measures like

On our scale it’s a smoldering build — restrained and bluesy in the verses, rising to an intense, full-voiced chorus, the dynamics carrying the conviction. Full profile on its song page.

Take Me to Church was released by Hozier in 2013. The reading of it as a critique of institutional shaming of love and sexuality, reinforced by its video depicting persecution, reflects the artist’s widely reported intent. No lyrics are reproduced.