How Hozier’s Cover of ‘Say My NAme’ Invented the time Machine
Hozier is an alternative singer and songwriter who primarily makes music in the blues, soul, and folk genres. He is most known for his hit single “Take me to Church” from 2013. His songs often have political messaging in them as he draws inspiration from powerful music and music rich with social messaging. An example of this comes from the lead song on his second studio album Wasteland Baby!, titled “Nina cried power”. That song is a direct reference to the music that was intrinsic to the Civil Rights Movement. In the lyrics he calls out a few artists including Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, and Mavis Staples (who is also featured on the song) for their important work and protest music during that time period. He also makes clear to his audience who his inspirations are musically by naming these people directly in song.
Destiny’s Child was an R&B group in the 1990’s and 2000’s. The group is now disbanded and the various members have all reached different levels of success. They are most known for the two number one singles off of their second album The Writing’s on the Wall, “Bills, Bills, Bills” and “Say my Name”. To this day “Say my Name” has the most streams on Spotify of all of their songs. This song is now revered as a classic 90s R&B song. This is partly due to the producer of the track, Darkchild, who has also worked with Brandy, Tony Braxton, and many other industry talents.
The song, “Say my Name”, has a simple premise; a girl suspects she is being cheated on by her boyfriend based on his changed attitude and behavior and is confronting him. “Say My Name” starts out with a melodic riff repeating itself and smooth vocal harmonies. Then the percussion begins, the beat is steady, and the rhythm is simple like in early jazz music. Once the chorus arrives more instruments are added to the 808 as a lead in and as the chorus ends, they are taken away. The syncopation of “Say my Name” is clearly a modern derivative of early African American music. Another clear example of this is how Darkchild appears on the song, right before the bridge, to begin a call and response portion with the female vocalists. The 4-beat measure that the song is using keeps the song consistent so that the vocals can act as front section and the producer can add horns and scratches to the melody.
In 2019 Hozier performed a cover of “Say my Name” for Spotify. His version of this song comes from the same roots as the original Destiny’s Child version; however, he does not do a classic 90s R&B style. The style of his song is more a gospel to soul song than anything else. Where Destiny’s Child was upbeat, Hozier is somber. This version of “Say my Name” runs on a 2-beat measure and relies fairly heavily on call and response, utilizing it in both the pre-chorus and the chorus. This rendition introduces instruments that were not at all present in the original but can be found in early European Gospel music. Primarily there is a keyboard present that plays more contemporary. There is also an organ. The background vocals of this song are uniform and harmonic as compared to the melodic riffs and harmonies found in the original. There is a clear emphasis on the minor pentatonic scale which makes clear that this rendition is an homage to the sorrow-song spiritual.
The two versions of this song both come from the same place inspiration-wise but the original chooses to modernize much more than the cover does.