Ratty Reacts to Hozier - Self Titled | Full Album Reaction and Review 

• So happy to finally have this up. It got blocked once, so hopefully this time around it stays. I recommend having the album up since I had to cut out most of the music to keep it unblocked. • Check out my other Hozier reactions and reviews: ru-vid.com/group/PLDYJIGSuxqEntjnZN2JEqb7QCLLpNDfPg • ⬇Want to support me for future content?⬇ • New merch! : streamlabs.com/rattyreacts/merch • Leave a tip here :) : streamlabs.com/rattyreacts/tip • Join the Discord server here: discord.gg/FxwYpK26Rg • New Variety Channel: www.youtube.com/@TheStratRat • Check the community tab on my channel to see any updates for videos, livestreams, etc. :) • As always, thank you for watching!

Cherry Wine is about domestic violence and how anyone can be the victim of it. Open hand or Closed fist is alluding to being struck by her. And if you watch the music video, it's the woman that's being abused but in the lyrics it's the man, again showing that it can happen to anyone. It's a very deep and sad song but Hozier donated the proceeds from the single download of Cherry Wine to benefit a series of domestic abuse charities worldwide.

He's usually the backing vocals as well, Andrew Schepps the producer of Movement released the raw vocals & layers for a fee & it's heavenly.

Cherry Wine was one of the first songs I ever heard from him, and it was a life changing event. I had just begun playing guitar less than a year before hearing it, but I knew that I had to learn it. A few months later, I played it for the first time at a coffee shop - it was the first time I had ever played and sang in front of people before. A few months after that, I saw hozier live. To hear a frankly life changing song in person was an experience I wouldn't sell for the world. Now im a guitarist and vocalist in a band and my highchools jazz guitarist, all because of one 4 minute song

You can tell it's his debut Album based on the production quality overall. I would also say that this is mostly a straight up folk-rock album with the least amount of variety. Nonetheless, it is still very very enjoyable^^ Listening to this on a campfire-site on some logs would go hard haha 41:37 i think i once read that this Song was about the colonist arriving in the New World and what consequences his had for the native americans. So "screaming in the Name of a foreigner's god" would refer to for example a Sioux suffering from so much pain cost by the colonists that they would scream the foreign name of Jehowa to ask why He would allow his believers to be so evil I think Cherry wine is additionally about abusive relationships. "Open Hand or closed fist" means either getting slapped or punched and he is so used to it, that he is broken and stopped resisting Now you only miss the EPs of him^^ the one for Wasfeland, Baby has one (could be Common Tongue) und the most recent Two Sweet EP And plz get the vinyl, just to Support Hozier :)

Fun little easter egg to check out is the line in Sedated about casting shadows on the walls of the cave. Its a reference to Plato's work called Allegory of the Cave. It describes prisoners who have always lived in front of a blank cave wall and all they ever see of their captors is their shadows, so the only reality the prisoners know is the shadows they see, not what anything actually looks like. Bonus easter egg for the title of Angel Of Small Death and the Codeine Scene. Angel of Small Death refers to the term, "la petit morte," or the little death.....which is an orgasm. Hozier is literally singing about orgasms and drugs lol.

Re: Someone New, Aretha is Aretha Franklin who sang "I say a little prayer for you" abt thinking about her man & wishing him well from the moment she wakes up, & throughout her day. As contrast to him that think of another woman at the first cringe of morning. Someone New is simply literally falling in love with other people everyday while in a committed relationship, his partner is addressed in the 1st verse, he reminds her that she knew what he was before she chose to be with him so she can't really complain.

I found your channel through Hozier, and you're awesome! Thank you for the joy and passion you put into your videos :)

Run is one of my favorite Hozier songs. Here is an interpretation I read once that's interesting.: What I see here is a meditation on change, and particularly the changes experienced in love. There's a parallel structure to these lyrics. The first set of verses personifies earth, and the second set personifies water. The images described are meant to illustrate the interactions and changes experienced between and within individuals as they proceed through life, interacting with the world and other humans. It starts with images of fertility and growth, quickly followed by an acknowledgement of the inevitability of death (winter's punishing cold). The last four lines within the first set of verses talks about twisting a bog man after marrying him. This is the pain and change of unity. A bog is a melding, a marriage of water and earth, to such a degree that it would be hard to characterize it as either state. The passion we will later see described in water is particularly hampered, as bogs are necessarily stagnant. Water itself is twisted, stopped from acting like itself in any way, because of the love and embrace of the land. It's natural, not sinful, but it is a shame to be so shackled. Particularly as the earth has no difficulty maintaining her function and character in a bog. It is immutable and fertile as any other earth. Now the second set of verses, the ones about water. Things are born, grow, and die in water as well, which is why water is a worthy lover for earth. They're both necessary for life, even as they're opposites in how they function. Land has weather and stability, water lacks both, for one example. Shattering on her earth and the tears she'd weep are evoking rainfall for me. Rain being, of course, necessary for growth just as it's capable of flooding and destroying crops. It's lovely to describe it as shattering, it emphasizes the destruction of water on such an immutable surface as the earth. Again, it's the pain of unity. Rushing to shore is obviously beach imagery, which is fascinating because it's one of the few aspects of the land that no longer supports life in a meaningful sense. The life you find there is washed up by the sea. It's one of the few places she gives up her purpose and bows to the water. It's also constantly being reformed, losing its physical structure. And why does she bow down, why is there no life on a beach, why does it lose its shape? Because of white hands that fondle and beat her, the incessant foaming and crashing of the waves on her shores. She bows because she is both loved and hated with intensity and passion, acquiesces the tiniest bit of her shores as a concession to the passion and intensity of water. The earth, too, is changed like the water in a bog when faced with union. Love changes people, consumes and twists them as they seek to please and control the other party in a relationship, as they both seek to form a unity rather than remain isolated individuals. There must be conflict, because perfect unity is impossible. If a unity is accomplished, as is the case with the bog man and the beach, neither party can remain entirely himself -- compromises and sublimation of self, concessions must happen.

Hey! Idk if someone already told you this, but the Aretha he mentions in Someone New is Aretha Franklin and her song "I say a little prayer". The lyrics talk about how she prays for the person she loves since the moment she wakes up. "How sweet, how pure, a love, Aretha, that you would pray for him"

there are a lot of references to his influences in his early songs both by man and stylistically eg jackie wilson is a famous rhythm and blues player, in almost sweet music there are a lot of song names there are also a few riffs close similar to older blues songs from some of the names mentioned in other songs like theres a very similar riff in to be alone to one in catfish blues which there are a few videos of him playing so i feel pretty confident to say its an influence also i've always read it will come back as being like parting on mutual terms but both of them kinda regretting it whilst knowing it was for the best cuz initially he's referring to the "it" as you would a wild animal so just like your not meant to feed wild animals they shouldn't encourage him cuz he might become dependent/ it will negatively affect them both

Fun watching your reactions! Hozier is so good and I had the privilege to go to one of his concerts this autumn. Everything was great but everyone singing Cherry Wine was something special for sure For a future rec it would be fun to see you listen to Noah Kahan’s Stick Season. A bit different vibe but I feel like the fanbases overlap a bit :D (and he also made a version of one of the songs with Hozier!)

Don't know if anyone already mentioned but Karen Cowley was part of the Irish trio Wyvern Lingo and now also performs solo as Krea. She and Hozier go way back to their uni days and the Trinity Orchestra (Trinity College Dublin). He dropped out but kept performing vocals with the orchestra, she I think finished a music degree.

Love your videos!!

You should do the Unheard EP too 🥳

Take me to Church vocals were recorded in his parents attic.

“In Your Own Sweet Time” is another song with Hozier and Karen Cowley

Cherry Wine is about domestic abuse. The video makes it very clear. The video ending makes me cry every time. Happy that you're reviewing this album. Might have made more sense in the regular order but these songs, while rougher production, still hold up beautifully.

Not even a huge Hozier fan. Just here for the Rat man himself! Edit: Also some of the editing in this vid had me dead!