Hozier joined actor Martin Short and the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL), as the musical guest for the NBC programme’s final pre-Christmas episode of this year.

Returning to SNL for a second time, the Irish musician played two tracks, the first ‘Too Sweet’ from his 2024 EP ‘Unheard’ which later went on to make the tracklist of his third album’s deluxe edition, ‘Unreal Unearth: Unending’ along with a cover of classic festive track, ‘Fairytale of New York’.

Completing a performance as brilliant as the studio version, Hozier delivered ‘Too Sweet’ with his usual richly soothing vocals. The ambience in the SNL studio with the contributions of backing vocalists and instrumentalists enhanced the pre-existing ethereal nature of the track, further exposing Hozier’s poignant vulnerability in ‘Too Sweet’.

The performance of ‘Too Sweet’ was highly anticipated given on the same day (December 21), former President Barack Obama released his annual ‘favourites’ which saw ‘Too Sweet’ feature on this year’s music recommendations. The track achieved commercial success having achieved the number 1 position on the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100, and received considerable traction online this year, being a popular audio for TikTok users – the sound currently has over 248,000 posts contributed to it.

Hozier pulled out all the stops on Saturday night performing a surprise cover of Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s ‘Fairytale of New York’. Despite the controversial nature of the track given the homophobic and misogynist slurs which feature in the original, ‘Fairytale of New York’ remains one of the most popular Christmas songs in the UK. As Hozier changed some of the lyrics to fit with modern times, the ‘Eat Your Young’ singer effectively captured the tongue-in-cheek rambunctiousness of the song. This specific cover displayed the husky deepness layered within the intensified warmth of Hozier’s Irish vocal twang, perhaps a clever homage to the original.

@hoziersvocals Hozier singing Fairytale of New York by The Pogues tonight on SNL #hozier #live #christmas #christmasmusic #xmas #fyp #hozierofficial #hoziertok #snl #cover #thepogues #fairyofnewyork @Hozier ♬ original sound – Hozier’s Vocals

Although an impressive performance given by Hozier on Saturday night, viewers are to be reminded of the singer’s SNL debut back in 2014. He performed his breakthrough single ‘Take Me to Church’ alongside ‘Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene’ both of which feature on his self-titled debut album released in the same year.

A decade after his first performance on SNL, it’s hard to believe Hozier is only just returning as a musical guest on the show. However, with the momentum of his success in 2024, it will not be surprising if he features as a guest again in the near future.