Hozier on “trying to play it cool” meeting Cillian Murphy with a “rough” hangover

Hozier has opened up about the time he tried to “play it cool” when he met actor Cillian Murphy – despite him nursing what he described as a “rough” hangover.

The musician revealed the story during a show at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota earlier this month (as per Music News), pausing his set to recount the anecdote to fans.

Hozier, real name Andrew Hozier-Byrne, recalled meeting up with a “best old mate”, saying he and his friend ended up “drinking very heavily all night, as you do”.

Despite the heavy night, Hozier had to catch a flight the next morning – and once at the airport, it was here where he bumped into Murphy.

Remembering the morning after the drinking session, he explained: “I stand up quickly, and I am quite tall. It’s been said to me, ‘If I fall down, I would be halfway home’… I was walking at full pace and I just went, ‘Boom!’ My head hit the window at such force.”

Hozier walked “straight into a wall”, saying he was in “rough shape” but managed to make it to the airport.

“I’m like rattled. You know, that type of hangover where you’re shaking,” he continued.

“And then I look over to the left of me on this plane and I see a famous Irish actor. I’m also subject to celebrity shock where you see somebody you’ve seen on screen a thousand times and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, that’s a famous person’. And when I see Cillian Murphy is to my left…”

@lizpung

Replying to @me.asiyaahere you go. The story behind the “I aim low…” lyrics in Too Sweet 😂 #hozier #toosweet #saintpaul

♬ original sound – Elizabeth

Just as Murphy was approaching Hozier to introduce himself, the musician removed his hat and felt his head, realising the bump earlier on had injured him more than he first thought.

“I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that’s wet’. So I’m on the plane looking at my fingers, like I’m bleeding a little bit. And I turn to my left and Cillian Murphy’s hunkered by my seat and is like, ‘How’s it going?’ I’m trying to play it cool. He was so sweet and so kind.”

He went on to reveal that the experience had inspired some of the lyrics in his song ‘Too Sweet’.

“It’s the line, ‘I aim low, I aim true and the ground’s where I go‘. I’ve never told Cillian Murphy that, I’ve never met him since,” he told the audience, “I didn’t have the guts to tell him at the time the shape that I was in.”

In other news, Hozier released a powerful new political single called ‘Nobody’s Soldier’ earlier this month.

The song is taken from his new EP, ‘Unaired’. ‘Nobody’s Soldier’ was initially debuted by Hozier during his headline set at Lollapalooza 2024 and followed on from another new song, ‘July’, which he shared on social media last month.

A statement about ‘Nobody’s Soldier’ says it “highlights the hugely problematic issues of global arms dealing”.

The emotive new song hears Hozier sing: “I don’t wanna choose between being a salesman or a soldier/ Just let me look a little older/ Let me step a little bolder/ Choose between being a butcher or a pauper/ Honey, I’m taking no orders/ Gonna be Nobody’s Soldier.”

His Lollapalooza 2024 show also saw him call for a ceasefire in Gaza ahead of playing ‘Nobody’s Soldier’.