During a recent chat backstage at Lollapalooza with Audacy’s Rachel Passer, Hozier shared a memorable experience of being surprised by Joan Baez onstage, and opened up about how writing music is therapeutic no matter his headspace, what he does when inspiration is lacking, and how he takes care of his mental health on the road.

After congratulating Hozier over the success of “Too Sweet,” Rachel asked the Irish musician to share the most memorable moment he's experienced since the major hit had been released.

“We had a really memorable thing happened like last week where I was performing at the Newport Folk Festival, and that was a really special day,” Hozier began. “We were celebrating these incredible artists, Mavis Staples was joining us later on and Joan Baez was going to join us later on. But in the middle of ‘Too Sweet,’ Joan Baez came out onto the stage. I had no idea she was going to do this… it was never a conversation.”

He continued, “I’d only met Joan Baez that day for the first time. So it's not like, you know, I mean love her dearly and her work. She just came out and started busting a groove… She's a better dancer than me. So I was trying to hold my place in the song, remember to sing while also trying to make sense of what's happening.”

Referring to previous comments he’s made about how songwriting can be therapeutic for him, Rachel asked Hozier if he finds it difficult to write music when he’s in a really good headspace. After noting, “that’s an interesting question,” Hozier answered, “I think no is the answer,” sounding not so terribly sure. “There is the phenomenon that like, if you’re in a period of like difficulty, you can escape into music. And I think that's why a lot of people after breakups have a lot to process… They also maybe benefit from having the escapism of busying themselves at work. When you're happy and you're in a great relationship or whatever, you just want to enjoy yourself. You don't necessarily want to escape out of that.”

Adding, “But I will say I, I've felt perfectly balanced and then I'll write a song, I'll sit down and if I have time and space to write a song, you can still access all the stuff that's good, bad, and in between.” And going on to share how sometimes performing those song can bring you back into that headspace of when it was written.

For her next question or rather questions, Rachel inquired — “What do you like to do when you're feeling uninspired? And how do you like to take care of your mental health when you're on tour?”

“So lack of inspiration is harder," Hozier expressed, “I think honestly it can be burnout or something is causing, that could just be exhaustion that's causing that. I think this idea that if you're depressed, you're going to make work…that’s not the case. So being in a good headspace is I think really, really important for being able to make work, like to regulate yourself and be healthy and feel good to actually sit down and start to work.”

“Lack of inspiration could be anything… If you enter into it without the intention of, I must write something I think you're going to sit in a space of playfulness that can take or leave the idea of having to come away with something. If you go into it, saying I must create now the most beautiful thing, you are setting your up for failure.”

As for how he manages his mental health when on tour, “I try to meditate a lot, that’s really, really important. I do a lot of stuff before and after the show to sort of clear my head and clear my central nervous system.”

“So it's that sort of somatic thing of your whole central nervous system is bound up in adrenaline and stress. There's sort of things you can do where you sort of purge your nervous system of like so much cortisol and stuff,” the musician expressed, calling the process “intense.” Adding, “I don't realize how stressed out I get until I'm doing that work. But these things are helpful.”

Audacy's I’m Listening initiative aims to encourage those who are dealing with mental health issues to understand they are not alone. If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, know that someone is always there. Additionally, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 988. Find a full list of additional resources here.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Rachel Passer