Hozier - Eat Your Young (Official Video)

I love how they depicted that the war 'ate' his hand and how his anger at her 'ate' her emotions and how they 'ate' the child by forcing him to be something else. Hozier has such a nuanced way of depicting a vicious cycle that society forces us into.

It always amazes me how Hozier's songs become even more alive and real through their music videos. When I think a song can't get any better, a music video comes out for it and proves me wrong. Truly powerful. I love it.

Love it when Hozier is Mad and Political, gotta be one of my favourite Hozier's

wow. the husband leaving for war, the mother turning to stone, the anger that grew in the child from being guided away from true interests and towards traditional masculinity. showing him in a worker uniform before he was gone. the tantalizing glimpse of something red in that little fridge which sent the children scattering away from the puppet show. nice job, everyone involved!

lesbians gather, the father is feeding us

Quick analysis because I love Hozier's art and this vidoe is just great. About the performance, it starts from the guy and the girl meeting and falling in love. they then proceed to unveil each other's wardrobe. or 'costumes.' focus on how they themselves don't choose the costumes, its the other, this can refer to the expectations we put on the other person regarding their mesculinity/femininity. the way this is choreographed and runs smooth can show that we most often let others, even if it may be our partner define or limit our masculinity/femininity, like it is expected of them. Hozier's costumes get him into the role of the someone who is more hands-on with their work. like a typical male they are also only work attires (enforcing man as main breadwinner of the family) while for the lady she's wearing what may be a nurse uniform or a chef or just in a dress (role of a housewife) which shows her role as the nurturing female. Hozier, dressed as a solider goes off to war, again something which may be expected of him. The couple part and the woman is starts to beautify herself by painting herself as aphrodite. (the statue in front of her). this is enforcing traditional masculine/feminine roles on them again and again. Hozier comes back with an arm missing and when his lover greets him his reaction is not the most welcoming. This could be the aftermath of the war. this could be just his envy that while she was at home he had to go out and he gave a part of himself too. (point is, he's not happy) Venus de Milo (the statue on the table) doesn't have arms, the woman looks at her and then she's seen removing her arms too (not sure how THIS worked. did she cut them?) it could metaphorically show her attempts and efforts to become a 'perfect' female. or just one who was the most beautiful. This could also show (and this is only my interpretation) her response to her husband losing his arm. to maybe sympathise with him. to swooping down to meet him (can this reflect on her trying not to hurt the male ego? i dont know.) But she does meet him, it's shown in the performance that the kids are watching when her arms goes to touch his. hozier then, will embrace his lover and show affection (interesting tangent on how he won't show affection when she was in a better 'place' than him and now that she isn't and now that she has embodied aphrodite fully (i.e. reached peaks of femininity idk?) he's then comfortable to show love. cue: child, who is revealed by the woman. and when hozier the father) goes to meet him the exchange is not the most warm. The father only shakes the little boy's hand and almost is looking down at him. this is not the interaction between a boy and his father. the father is wholly treating it as meeting another man. an adult. and when toys are revealed to the boy and he goes for the doll before anything else the father gets mad. he snatches it and throw it away. he's teaching his son how to be a 'man' (cue: toxic masculinity) the boy grows violent and starts smashing all the toys (because he wasn't allowed to express himself fully) while the mother does nothing until grabbing the boy's arm and putting the cloth over it. same arm his father also lost. this could show how both the parents are enforcing these roles and expectations on the boy while he's really too young to understand or retaliate. (the lyrics, seven new ways that you can eat your young, fits so well because this sis showing how youth gets destroyed. how trampling on their individual egos and personas while trying to make this cliche traditional story for yourself and imposing it on other only will eat away at your young.) the father unveils the costumes of the young boy then. which are all similar to the ones hozier was wearing at the start. the boy has been molded into this shape created by his parents and the society. thank you for coming to my tedtalk.

I love that even when the curtain falls, the child is not included in the final bows, as if his destruction, or consumption as the title/fridge/hook suggests, is a real-life consequence of the play. Incredible work as always 🤍 I can’t wait to see what else Hozier has in store for us.

I... words escape me. He has raised the bar so high for himself after this. I feel I'll need to watch this about 8 more times to peel all the layers. It's so beautiful. It's so good. I'm so happy he wasn't afraid of doing something different. This is why he keeps me hooked (no pun intended).

I feel like I haven't even begun to understand it, but I love the way the kids and adults have such different reactions when they're pretty much watching different versions of the same show. I think I'll just keep watching it. Edit: Monsieur Dorgat has a great analysis in the replies

As a songwriter and poet myself, I find it hard to express my emotions as clearly and creatively as this beautiful man. His work really highlights parts of the human experience I think we all at some point or another experience and it not only exceeds my expectations, but raises them to a level I feel no other artist has ever reached. Bravo.

I often find myself wondering how this man could ever come close to the bar that he’s set for himself and yet he somehow continues to raise it every single time he releases Absolute work of art

The fact that he chose Ivanna as a co-star for this M/V makes it so much more meaningful and important to me as a ukrainian fan. Hozier is just so considerate and always pays attention to the details. True artist 👏

The message behind it, I’m amazed. This is absolutely Hozier-like, just wow.

Gorgeous on every level. It might be a weird compliment but a) I really appreciate how Hozier chooses such interesting video concepts AND appears in them himself, and b) he’s clearly gotten more comfortable with filmed appearances and choreography! What do I call that, parasocial pride?

now this is a PRODUCTION 🎥

I'm so grateful to be living at a time where I can see and listen to masterpieces such as this

wow... a cinematic masterpiece which needs multiple watches to unpack all the levels of meanings. the woman turning herself into sculpture to resemble an injured husband is such an accurate depiction of what survival syndrome feels like. love from Ukraine ❤ (and Ivanna Sakhno, a Ukrainian actress, is incredible here) UPD: love how at the beginning when the couple picks their costumes they start with the wardrobe of the opposite gender, and later their son goes for a doll first when he gets to pick up toys... as if deep down the parents would like to break the traditional roles imposed by society, but it's so deep already that they subconsciously accommodate to them, and then force the boy to accommodate

Hozier isn't a musician he is a artist It not just a show it's a experience 😌

I love the fishhook at the end of the video. It shows that when the children finally get up to go watch the play on the other side of the room, they are not being tricked into it, but rather, they voluntarily are seeing the play that displays bloodshed and suffering, just like how if a fish were to bite onto a fishhook without a worm, the fish wouldn't be being tricked into latching onto a hook where it will inevitably die, it chose to go that path. I feel like this is all a symbol for the fact that war is so glorified throughout childhood, that the cycle is going to happen and happen. We are shown pieces of war and pain in ways that seem appealing to us as children, just so we see war in a good light and further continue the cycle.

The song and video both are so perfect with their story telling. This is truly what arts ought to be