Sex Discrimination and Abuse: "Cherry Wine (Live)"

One of my absolute favorite songs by popular artist, Hozier, is "Cherry Wine--Live" released in 2014.

At first, there was really only a couple of lines I noticed: "Oh but she loves/Like sleep to the freezing/Sweet and right and merciful/I'm all but washed/In the tide of her breathing/And it's worth it, it's divine" and the tone in which Hozier sings it is very peaceful, very loving.

I, at first, thought this was a love song and it made me feel happy. I really wanted to be viewed in the way that Hozier seemed to view this lover in these lines someday by someone special.

Then someone told to me it was not actually a love song.

In my defense, Hozier writes a lot of love songs. However, I think I fell into sex discrimination--I'll get more into that in a minute.

"Cherry Wine" is not a love song--it's about being abused from a man's perspective. The narrator is in love with this woman who verbally and, potentially, physically abuses him. She also cheats on him. She withholds good aspects of the relationship whenever it benefits her, which is what Hozier is singing about in the lines I hyper-focused on: then states "I have this some of the time"

First off, this plays into the idea that men cannot be abused or that it's so rare that a general audience would not pick up on it; especially the signs of needing help. There is also a needing that the narrator has of being with his abuser that calls for concern--but the initial response to this song is that he's just in love.

Hozier is a fairly renowned pop artist for subtly placing "political" statements into his music--I'd argue it's just statements about what's wrong with society. A handful of those songs that are very well known are "Eat Your Young", "Take Me to Church", and "Swan Upon Leda" all making statements on capitalism, religious dominance, and women's healthcare.

It's a no-brainer that "Cherry Wine" is purposefully done to be abuse from a man's perspective to 1. show that is not the listener's first thought when listening to the song/analyzing lyrics and 2. normalize it more by singing about it. This song has been extremely popular and misinterpreted to the point where people are theming proposals to this song on TikTok and making "Cherry Wine" their first dances at their wedding.

For those who actually read the lyrics and understand that it's not a love song, this makes it an absolute face-palm moment.

However, what Hozier has taught the listener by this song being vastly misunderstood is that the general public will still overlook men as victims of abuse when all the signs are there. This is clearly a sex discrimination issue as if it were a woman singing this song, it would be very clear that it was abuse.

The title is another thing to look at--and this is more of just an analysis of the art--Cherry Wine isn't just called Cherry Wine, it's "Cherry Wine (Live)" although the song itself is not recorded live--in terms of concert or performance. This song is another studio-recorded song.

The point of this title is to demonstrate this is happening and it's still happening regardless of the song itself--the problem, itself, is live. And I found that to be absolutely poetic. Not only is Hozier calling out the public for overlooking male victims, he's reminding us that it's going on again and again; just like abuse does.

This was a fun realization over the summer. And since writing about gender/sex/etc. and abuse--this song just had to be shared.

I find artists like Hozier and Kendrick Lamar to be extremely influential artists with very context-driven works. K-Dot may not write a lot about gender, but he writes a lot about identity and discrimination in the United States--which is a common issue among "minority" communities (I hate the word minority because it does not make someone less of a person to not fit the "majority" of skin color/race/ethnic population) and also abuse. The socioeconomic status of a person can also influence how susceptible someone is to abuse and for continual abuse as well.

So just a little personal touch to a song analysis.

Lyrics here to understand what I'm referring to: https://genius.com/Hozier-cherry-wine-live-lyrics