Andrew Hozier-Byrne grew up with music as the son of a blues musician and joined his first band at the age of 15. In 2012, Hozier began a solo career and released his debut single Take Me to Church a year later. The song reached number 2 in the Irish singles charts; it also attracted a lot of attention on the internet, partly because of the video for the song, which puts homophobia on film. While he released two more singles in Ireland, From Eden and Sedated, in spring and summer 2014 respectively, both of which reached the top 3 in the charts, the international release of Take Me to Church was being prepared. In the USA, first the EP and later the song were placed in the respective charts and it also reached the top 5 in Germany and many other European countries, reaching number one in Austria, Switzerland, Flanders and Sweden.

With over 22 billion streams worldwide, numerous platinum album certifications, multiple award nominations and wins, Hozier is considered one of the most important singer-songwriters of our generation.