Things blew up massively for Hozier last year, to the point where much of 2014 was a blur of hotel rooms, tour buses, airport lounges, and backstage waiting rooms.

The Dublin singer seemingly appeared out of nowhere with the compassionate call to arms “Take Me to Church”, which exploded on both radio and, thanks to a dramatic black-and-white video, YouTube. The hype only intensified after the release of his eponymous full-length late last year, the record showcasing an artist who arrived fully formed. Over the course of 13 dramatic tracks, Hozier proved himself to be as comfortable with orchestral wonders like “Jackie and Wilson” as with gut-bucket blues stompers such as “To Be Alone”.

When he’s reached in a London, England, hotel room, the Bray, County Wicklow–raised songwriter confirms that his schedule these days doesn’t contain a lot of downtime. He’s just landed in the U.K. after an early-morning flight from Germany, and after talking to the Straight he’ll head to local radio stations for a series of interviews. Then it’s off to the airport for North America, where Hozier will be playing soft-seaters, building on a run that had him popping up everywhere from Saturday Night Live to Lollapalooza.

All this has made him glad that he managed to secure some quiet time this past holiday season, for no other reason than that it reminded him what it was like to feel normal.

“It’s very different for me now,” says the soft-spoken and charming 24-year-old. “It’s strange because I’m starting to get recognized at home and in public. What’s great about being around family and friends is that you go right back to zero. I’m the same person to them as when I left, which is kind of nice.”

There’s an argument to be made that the artist born Andrew Hozier-Byrne should have been prepared for it all. He’s spent much of his adult life on-stage, his résumé including stints in a hip-hop–obsessed funk band titled Zaska (check out “She Gunk Gunk Dunk a Funk” on YouTube) and the classical-pop ensemble Anúna. There were also plenty of coffeehouse gigs, which helped him land a major-label production deal in his late teens.

But it wasn’t until a breakup led him to move back home with his parents that Hozier found his voice. “Take Me to Church” was written in his folks’ living room and recorded in a makeshift attic studio. While the music would be rerecorded and fleshed out once Hozier began building serious record-industry buzz, the vocal track would remain untouched.

Looking back at his solo work, Hozier has described his initial efforts as “angsty, lonely songwriting that teenagers do”. For his debut he teamed up with producer Rob Kirwan, whose credits include records by U2, Depeche Mode, and Ray LaMontagne. The results have established him as an artist reminiscent of a bygone era. Classic U.K. soul in the vein of giants like Van Morrison is a reference point for much of the album, but at the same time, Hozier takes the genre and pushes it forward, inviting a choral army to the party for the soaring “Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene”, and mixing son-of-a-preacher-man vocals with baroque piano and ozone-crackle guitars for “Take Me to Church”.

Much has been written about Hozier being a breakup record, no doubt as a result of lyrics like “Something isn’t right, babe/I keep catching little words but the meaning’s thin” (“Sedated”) and “And so I fall in love just a little, oh a little bit every day with someone new” (“Someone New”). The singer suggests, however, that having a relationship implode on him was a catalyst to get his life together.

“As for anyone, the ending of a long-term relationship changes perspective,” he says. “But for me the album doesn’t centre around a breakup, and the songs weren’t motivated by a breakup. I think they were motivated by maybe sitting down and finally having the time to reflect upon what being in love meant to me.”

Hozier continues: “I guess what was different was that, after the breakup, I had a lot of time on my hands, and a lot of things to distract myself from. I had reasons to bury my head in work, to cultivate the ideas that I had, and to turn them into music. I looked at what being in love meant to me, and the transformative experience that it had, albeit all too late.”

Love is at the heart of “Take Me to Church”, the song that has made Hozier a household name. Thanks to a truly striking video—centred on the persecution of a gay couple in Russia—the track has also taken on a more powerful meaning. Fans have gotten a message from lyrics like “No Masters or Kings/When the Ritual begins there is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin,” that no one has to live life by rules someone else has set out for them. This pleases Hozier immensely, as has the fact that people have come at the song from all kinds of different angles, interpreting his lyrics in different ways.

“I love when songs are left a little bit open-ended,” he says. “The more I think about it, I sometimes think that I’m doing a disservice to songs by explaining them over and over again. I’ve made statements as to what ‘Take Me to Church’ is about, but people will still go through the lyrics with a fine-toothed comb.

“I’m happy that people haven’t read anything into things that has been too odious,” he continues. “Nothing has been too offensive, and no one is using the song to justify some awful, hateful stuff. What I’m thankful for is that a lot of people are discussing important issues. Hearing 15-year-olds discussing issues that the song brings up—issues that are now in their consciousness—is a step forward.”

Hozier plays the Orpheum on Sunday (February 15).