Hozier‘s second Saturday Night Live musical guest appearance saw performances of “Too Sweet,” his 2024 standout, and of the Pogues‘ 1987 song “Fairytale of New York.”
The Irish singer, who debuted on SNL in 2014 by playing his award-winning debut single “Take Me to Church,” began with “Too Sweet,” a “tough, catchy retro-R&B groove,” as Rolling Stone wrote when putting it in the 17th spot on our list of the top songs of the first half of the year.
Hozier’s latest EP, Unheard, which he released in March, features four songs originally intended for Unreal Unearth, his 2023 studio album. One of them was “Too Sweet,” the creation of which he described to Rolling Stone in a recent interview, as well as his decision to leave it off the album.
“Maybe it’s the pessimist in me,” he said. “I was like, ‘People don’t want to hear this stuff, we’ll just put it away.’”
Turns out, the song was his highest-charting single since “Take Me to Church.”
Hozier returned to the stage later with a cover of the Irish folk ballad that appeared on the Pogues’ 1988 album If I Should Fall from Grace of God. The Christmas-themed track, which has been reissued three times over the years, has performed particularly well around the holidays in the UK and Ireland since around the turn of the century.
Hozier wrapped up his Unreal Unearth tour in New Zealand last month, and his most recent gig in the U.S. was in September at Maryland’s All Things Go Music Festival. Currently, his next scheduled date in the states is in Milwaukee in June.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Sniper BruceDog