When Hozier learned that the U.K. had voted to leave the European Union, he was “gob-smacked.”
“We all run the risk of thinking that people have common sense sometimes,” the Irish musician told Billboard on Friday (June 24) after the monumental vote. “I don’t know, I think it will be OK. I’m not going to add to the doom and gloom of today, because I think there’s enough of that going on. And it was doom and gloom that got us into this kind of demagoguery and this result. My heart breaks.”
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Though the singer/songwriter’s native Ireland isn’t part of the U.K., the “Brexit” decision will no doubt have wide-reaching effects across Europe and the world. “It complicates matters greatly in Ireland and greatly for the border up north,” Hozier acknowledged.
While nearly 52 percent of voters chose to separate from the EU, Hozier doesn’t think the decision is a proper reflection of the U.K. as a whole. “A lot of the ‘leave’ campaign was centered around a thinly veiled xenophobia, just ‘control our own borders,'” he said. “It’s not a good look. I don’t think it represents Britain, I don’t think it represents the U.K. all too well. It breaks my heart for my generation in Britain who are going to suffer. I just think it’s a massive betrayal of that generation, huge betrayal.”
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Hozier is confident the U.K. will survive the referendum’s ramifications, but he hopes the politicians who led the charge don’t remain in power for long. “Britain is not gonna sink, you know,” he said. “Life will go on. … I just think it was demagoguery — it was smoke, mirrors and demagoguery that got us into this. I don’t know how it happened like it happened. It will be OK, but I would just say anyone who voted to remain, just keep fighting the good fight.
“And punish politicians for it, if you can.”
Stay tuned for our full interview with Hozier, around his new song “Better Love” from the Legend of Tarzan soundtrack, on the July 5 episode of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast.