Today, Hozier returned with his latest single, “Swan Upon Leda,” the first taste of his forthcoming LP Unreal Unearth. The album will be the Irish singer-songwriter’s first full-length release since 2019’s Wasteland, Baby! and is set to arrive sometime before the end of 2022. Fans of the “Take Me To Church” singer were so excited about getting new music that “Swan Upon Leda” soared straight into the Top 5 on the Genius Top Songs chart.
Hozier wrote “Swan Upon Leda” a year ago in his native Ireland after hearing Egyptian journalist and author Mona Eltahawy speak in Dublin. “Eltahawy once referred to the global systems that control and endanger women as the world’s ‘oldest form of occupation,’” he explained in a Twitter post. “Ever since hearing her speak in Dublin, I wanted to explore that thought in a piece.”
A year later, when Hozier linked with producer Jenn Decilvio to record the track, a harrowing news event gave the lyrics new meaning. “We were tracking it in studio when the news came through of Roe V. Wade being overturned,” Hozier said. “I felt there was an opportunity to offer some show of solidarity.”
“Swan Upon Leda” uses a Greek myth about the god Zeus and the Queen of Sparta, Leda, to illustrate the oppression of women in modern society. In the myth, the god Zeus turns into a swan and rapes Leda on the same night she sleeps with her husband King Tyndareus. Leda’s nonconsensual intercourse with the swan and her husband yields two eggs. The first hatches her daughter Helen, aka Helen of Troy, while the other brings to life her twins, Castor and Pollux. On the first verse, Hozier recounts the myth in his own words, showing how such acts of control and oppression have consequences for everyone involved.
A husband waits outside
A crying child pushes a child into the night
She was told he would come this time
Without leaving so much as a feather behind
To enact at last the perfect plan
One more sweet boy to be butchered by man
On the chorus, Hozier reminds us that “the gateway to the world,” or the act of childbirth, is outside man’s control—or at least it should be. That doesn’t stop them from trying.
But the gateway to the world
Was still outside the reach of him
What never belonged to angels
Had never belonged to man
The second verse seems to address the bleak history of abortion rights in Hozier’s native Ireland, where abortion was illegal until 2018. As a result, between 1980 and 2018, it is estimated that around 170,000 people traveled along the “abortion trail” to have the procedure legally in other countries. Here, Hozier paints the picture of one grandmother smuggling medication across the Irish border to prevent an unwanted pregnancy—perhaps for a daughter in need.
A graceful turner of heads
Weaves through the checkpoints like a needle and thread
Someone’s frightened boy waves her on
She offers a mother’s smile and soon she’s gone
On the second chorus, Hozier laments that nature did not intend for men to have this power over women, yet somehow the myth of their control—much like the myth of the swan and Leda—lives on.
Where nature unmakes the boundary
The pillar of myth still stands
The swan upon Leda
You can read all the lyrics to “Swan Upon Leda” on Genius now.
