It's a catchy song. You’ve probably hummed it while doing the dishes or stuck in traffic, lured in by that bouncy, soulful rhythm that feels way more upbeat than most of Andrew Hozier-Byrne’s discography. But if you actually sit down and look at the lyrics to Someone New, you realize it’s not exactly the romantic anthem people play at weddings. It’s a bit darker. A bit more frantic.
It’s about the "love" we feel for strangers on the subway.
Hozier has this way of wrapping existential dread in a velvet coat. Most people know him for "Take Me to Church," which was a massive, sweeping critique of institutional religion and humanity. But when he released From Eden (the EP) and his self-titled debut album back in 2014, "Someone New" stood out because it felt light. Except, it isn't. Not really. It’s a confession of a serial infatuator.
What the Lyrics to Someone New Actually Mean
Let’s get into the bones of the track. The narrator isn't looking for a soulmate. He’s looking for a fix. When he says he falls in love just a little bit with "every day, someone new," he’s describing a specific kind of modern loneliness. It’s that shot of dopamine you get when you lock eyes with someone at a cafe and imagine an entire life with them before the light changes and they walk away forever.
He calls it "low-cost."
Think about that word for a second. Love is usually expensive—emotionally, at least. It requires time, sacrifice, and the grueling work of actually knowing someone. The lyrics to Someone New argue for the opposite. This is a "luxury" that doesn't cost anything because it never has to be real. You don't have to learn their flaws. You don't have to argue about whose turn it is to take out the trash. You just get the "honey" of the initial spark over and over again.
The Myth of the "Stranger"
The song opens with a line about "don’t take this the wrong way," which is always a red flag, right? He’s talking to a partner—or maybe just the listener—and admitting that his mind is constantly wandering. He’s looking for "the dark side of the road."
There’s a specific line that usually gets stuck in people's heads: "I wake at the tower of some big-shot, / Is it the light, or the heat that I’m through?" It’s messy.
Hozier often uses religious or grand architectural imagery to describe very basic, primal human urges. Here, the "tower" feels like an empty achievement. He’s chasing the heat of a new person because the light of a long-term relationship might be too revealing. It’s easier to be "in love" with a stranger because a stranger is just a mirror. You don't see them; you see the version of yourself you want to be when you’re around them.
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The Production vs. The Poetry
Musically, the song is a bit of a trick. Produced by Rob Kirwan, who also worked with U2 and Depeche Mode, it has this driving, pop-soul backbeat. It makes you want to snap your fingers.
But Hozier is a blues artist at heart.
If you stripped away the handclaps and the bright bassline, the lyrics to Someone New would sound like a funeral dirge for intimacy. He’s basically saying he’s incapable of staying still. He admits to "fringing the edges" of his own life. This isn't a guy who is happy; he’s a guy who is distracted.
I’ve always found it interesting that the music video features Natalie Dormer (of Game of Thrones fame) wandering through a city, seeing people and having these brief, intense flashes of imagined intimacy. It perfectly captures the "urban loneliness" the song describes. You are surrounded by millions of people, yet you are completely alone, so you bridge the gap with these tiny, imaginary love affairs.
Why We Misinterpret This Song
We want it to be a song about being open-hearted. We want to believe Hozier is saying that the world is beautiful and every person in it is worthy of love. And sure, there’s a sliver of that. But if you look at the bridge—"There’s an art to life’s distractions"—he’s literally calling his behavior a distraction.
He’s not finding God in the eyes of a stranger. He’s avoiding himself.
- The "Honey" Metaphor: He mentions "Go and find some honey." In poetry, honey is often the reward, but it’s also sticky and fleeting.
- The "Stranger" Dynamic: He’s "elected" to love strangers. It’s a choice. It’s a defense mechanism against being truly known.
- The Cycle: The song doesn't end with a resolution. It ends with the repetition of falling in love with "someone new." It’s a loop.
Honestly, it’s one of the most honest songs ever written about the "Tinder age," even though it came out just as that culture was exploding. It captures that restless swipe-right energy where the next person might be the one, but actually, you just want the feeling of the "next person."
Expert Take: The Literary Roots
Hozier is a nerd. I say that with total respect. He’s heavily influenced by Seamus Heaney, Yeats, and James Joyce. You can see the Joycean influence in how he treats the "ordinary" moments of a city. Like Ulysses, "Someone New" takes the mundane act of walking down a street and turns it into a psychological odyssey.
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When you analyze the lyrics to Someone New, you're seeing a songwriter who refuses to give you a simple pop trope. He’s digging into the "dirt" of the human psyche. He’s admitting to being fickle. In a world of "I will love you forever" songs, Hozier says, "I will love you for the next three minutes until that person over there catches my eye."
It’s cynical. It’s gorgeous.
Addressing the "Cheating" Question
A lot of fans argue about whether the narrator is actually cheating. Is he physically with these people?
"I’m with my love, and it’s all that I need. But I’ll find someone new."
That’s a heavy line. It suggests a duality. He has a "love"—a stable, real person—but he still consumes these micro-infatuations on the side to keep his ego fed. It’s a psychological infidelity. He’s "fringing the edges" of his relationship. It’s a confession of someone who is physically present but mentally elsewhere.
This is what makes Hozier’s writing so much more durable than standard radio fare. He’s willing to be the "bad guy" in his own story. He’s not a hero; he’s a guy at a bar with a wandering eye and a poetic way of justifying it.
The Cultural Impact of the Track
By the time 2015 rolled around, "Someone New" was a staple on indie-pop stations. It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart. But its real staying power is in its relatability. Everyone has felt that "crush" on a stranger.
We live in a "voyeur" culture now. Instagram, TikTok, street photography—we spend our lives looking at strangers and projecting narratives onto them. The lyrics to Someone New were ahead of the curve in diagnosing this habit. We aren't looking for people; we’re looking for "content." We’re looking for a feeling that we can consume and then discard when the next "someone new" appears on our feed.
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How to Actually Listen to the Lyrics
If you want to get the full experience of the track, stop listening to it as a "fun" song. Try this:
- Read the lyrics without the music. It reads like a confession to a therapist.
- Focus on the bassline. It’s frantic. It mimics the heartbeat of someone who’s constantly looking over their shoulder.
- Listen to the live acoustic versions. When Hozier plays this solo, the "bounciness" disappears, and you can hear the desperation in the lines about "the dark side of the road."
Practical Takeaways for Hozier Fans
If you’re trying to decode the rest of his discography based on this song, look for the "shame." Hozier writes a lot about the tension between what we should feel (pure, everlasting love) and what we actually feel (lust, boredom, distraction).
The lyrics to Someone New aren't an outlier; they are a key. They unlock the theme of "humanity as a messy, inconsistent thing" that runs through his later albums like Wasteland, Baby! and Unreal Unearth.
Next time you hear it, don't just dance. Think about the person he's singing to—the "love" who is standing right next to him while he scans the room for someone else. It changes the whole vibe.
Actionable Insight for Music Lovers: To truly understand Hozier's lyrical depth, compare "Someone New" with his song "Unknown / Nth" from his more recent work. While "Someone New" is about the shallow joy of strangers, "Unknown" deals with the hollow pain of someone you thought you knew becoming a stranger again. It’s the two sides of the same coin. Start a playlist with both to see how his perspective on "the unknown person" has evolved over a decade. Check out his official lyrics on his website or verified platforms to ensure you aren't reading "mondegreens" (misheard lyrics) that lose the original poetic intent.
Pay close attention to the bridge in any Hozier song; that's usually where he stops being "radio-friendly" and starts being honest. In "Someone New," that bridge is the pivot point from a love song to a song about the art of lying to yourself.
Keep an eye on his live performance recordings from the Electric Picnic festival—he often gives a bit of back-story to these tracks that doesn't make it into the studio notes.