Hozier didn’t think Take Me To Church would be a hit

Hozier never expected ‘Take Me To Church’ to be a hit.
The 28-year-old Irish musician – who will release his second album ‘Wasteland, Baby!’ on March 1 – wasn’t prepared for being catapulted to fame after the song topped the charts around the world in 2013, as he didn’t pen the track with the intention of it being a "mainstream pop record".
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, he said: "It was amazing.
"I didn’t think it would be a mainstream pop record.
"I don’t make music for the sake of it being a chart success."
Hozier – whose real name is Andrew Hozier-Byrne – said it was important to make sure his new record contained songs that he wants to hear being made rather than writing music for commercial gain.
He added: "For this album, I made sure I was writing music that moved and gelled with me."
The ‘Movement’ singer managed to work with two of his idols, Mavis Staples and Booker T Jones, on tracks on his new record.
Speaking about how the track ‘Nina Cried Power’ came to feature the 79-year-old soul legend – who performed as part of the legendary Staple Singers – he said: "There had been talk of us ­getting together on something previously and then her people reached out.
"We sent her the song and she liked it, so myself and (album producer) Markus Dravs flew out to Chicago and had an amazing day with her.
"She is a total hero in my eyes, an absolute legend who was ­central to the civil-rights era in America.
"The Staple Singers used to sing after Martin Luther King’s speeches."
As a kid, Hozier went to see Booker T of the blues band Booker T. & the M.G.’s and he couldn’t believe it when he got in touch asking to work with him
He said: "I don’t know how I ever ended up on his radar but he got in touch and said it would be great to get together and work on a song.
"It’s incredible. When I was a teenager, one of the gigs I saw when I was with my dad was Booker T. His legacy is insane.
"Those Stax records were the songs I was covering in my first band.
"Getting him to play ­Hammond organ for me was really special.
"We had him for a week in London. It was amazing."