Take Me to Church
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
40 free Take Me to Church trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Take Me to Church turned an unknown Irish songwriter into a worldwide name. Hozier wrote it at his parents' house after a breakup, using the language of worship to describe being in love and to argue with the institutions that teach people to feel shame about it. A stark, homemade video carried the song around the world, and it went on to top the charts in country after country. This quiz covers the story behind the song: what the lyrics are about and who inspired them, how the recording was made, the people behind the video, the chart records, the award nominations and the famous live performances. A few questions follow Hozier's life before and after his breakthrough. It is for fans who have looked up what the lyrics mean and want the rest of the story, and for anyone putting together a music round. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which part of his parents' County Wicklow home did Hozier record the vocals for Take Me to Church?
The attic
The attic doubled as his makeshift studio, and he sang the take at two in the morning. Those demo vocals were strong enough to stay on the finished single.
Q 02The Take Me to Church music video, which follows two men in love, was shot entirely in which style?
Black-and-white
Black-and-white footage gives the story of a homophobic attack its starkness. The video quickly went viral after its release on YouTube in September 2013.
Q 03The Take Me to Church video was meant to highlight the persecution of gay people in which country?
Russia
Russia was on Hozier's mind: the video echoes organised attacks on gay youths there, which far-right gangs filmed. It shows a couple torn apart when a mob drags one man into a forest.
Q 04Which 2024 Hozier single reached number one in the US, a spot Take Me to Church missed by one place?
Too Sweet
Too Sweet climbed to the top three weeks after its debut, making Hozier the first Irish act to lead the Billboard Hot 100 since Sinéad O'Connor in 1990.
Q 05Take Me to Church earned Hozier a 2015 Grammy nomination in which of the four general categories?
Song of the Year
Song of the Year is a songwriter's award, so the nomination went to Hozier alone as the track's only writer. He did not win, but he performed at the ceremony.
Q 06Which Scottish singer joined Hozier on stage to perform Take Me to Church at the 2015 Grammy Awards?
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox turned the duet into a medley, following his hit with a cover of I Put a Spell on You.
Q 07Which English actor and comedian shared the Take Me to Church video online, helping it go viral in 2013?
Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry gave the clip the push that turned it into a viral hit. Major labels were soon in a bidding war to sign the little-known Hozier.
Q 08Which ballet star danced to Hozier's Take Me to Church in a 2015 video that became a viral hit?
Sergei Polunin
Sergei Polunin meant the piece as his farewell to ballet. Its online success found him a new audience and helped persuade him to keep dancing.
Q 09On which streaming service was Hozier's Take Me to Church named the most viral song of 2014?
Spotify
Spotify named it the most shared track of 2014 and made Hozier its breakout star of the year. He has said the service played a big role in listeners discovering the song.
Q 10In which Irish city was most of the music video for Hozier's Take Me to Church filmed?
Cork
Cork was the main location for Feel Good Lost, the small Irish production company behind the clip, with Emmet O'Riabhaigh and Daniel Coughlan playing the couple.
Q 11After a famous fan shared the Take Me to Church video, it reached the front page of which website?
Reddit's front page gave the clip a huge new audience, and the viral surge won Hozier major-label deals on both sides of the Atlantic.
Q 12Which American photographer directed the viral 2015 ballet video set to Hozier's Take Me to Church?
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle shot the dance for a documentary film, then leaked it online himself before the film had its premiere.
Q 13Which producer kept Hozier's original demo vocals when finishing the recording of Take Me to Church?
Rob Kirwan
Rob Kirwan found the home-recorded singing too powerful to redo, so he overdubbed live instruments around it. He had begun as an assistant engineer on U2's Zooropa.
Q 21Hozier, the agnostic writer of Take Me to Church, was raised in which Protestant faith?
Quaker
Quaker by upbringing, Hozier has said his best-known song is about asserting yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love.
Q 22Hozier, the Irish voice of Take Me to Church, was born in 1990 on the date of which annual celebration?
St Patrick's Day
St Patrick's Day, 17 March 1990, was the day he arrived. His father was a banker who played jazz and blues by night, and the family's record collection shaped his sound.
Q 23What is the first name of Hozier, the Take Me to Church singer who performs under part of his surname?
Andrew
Andrew Hozier-Byrne trimmed his full name down to a single word for the stage. It is pronounced HOH-zee-er, in three syllables.
Q 14Which independent label signed Hozier on the strength of his rough home demo of Take Me to Church?
Rubyworks
Rubyworks, a Dublin independent founded in 2001, heard the rough recording and paired Hozier with a producer to finish it.
Q 15After the Take Me to Church video went viral, which major label won the race to sign Hozier in the US?
Columbia Records
Columbia Records' Justin Eshak signed him after a bidding war. He put the hit down to how sharply it stood out from everything else on top 40 radio.
Q 16On which app did Take Me to Church become Nashville's top song, helping Hozier reach US top 40 radio?
Shazam
Shazam ranked it the area's most-identified song after an adult alternative station played it, which led a local top 40 station to pick it up.
Q 17Take Me to Church tied which Imagine Dragons hit's record 23 weeks atop Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart?
Radioactive
Radioactive had the longest stay at number one in the chart's history until Hozier's debut single equalled it, then crossed over to pop radio.
Q 18On which US television show did Hozier perform Take Me to Church and Angel of Small Death in October 2014?
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live had Bill Hader hosting that night, and his Skeleton Twins co-star Kristen Wiig introduced Hozier's second song.
Q 19Hozier performed Take Me to Church at which fashion brand's London runway show in December 2014?
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret held that year's show in London, where Hozier shared the bill with Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande.
Q 20Which British-American author and critic of religion did Hozier cite as an influence on Take Me to Church?
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens' ideas fed a song Hozier wrote after breaking up with his first girlfriend: a love song that is also a meditation on the idea of sin.
Q 24Which relative of Hozier painted the cover art for his debut album and its single Take Me to Church?
His mother
His mother, Raine Hozier-Byrne, painted the album cover and the artwork for its singles. She worked as an artist at home while he was growing up.
Q 25Which closing track of Hozier's Take Me to Church EP later featured in Zach Braff's film Wish I Was Here?
Cherry Wine
Cherry Wine was recorded live at five in the morning in an abandoned hotel with a caved-in roof and walls covered in graffiti.
Q 26Which Irish actress starred in a 2016 Hozier music video made to raise awareness of domestic violence?
Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan plays a woman who wipes off her make-up to reveal a black eye in the video, which premiered on Valentine's Day. Download proceeds went to domestic abuse charities.
Q 27Which Sam Smith ballad beat Hozier's Take Me to Church to its Grammy category at the 2015 ceremony?
Stay with Me
Stay with Me helped Sam Smith to four Grammys that night. The executive who signed Hozier in the US credited Smith with leading the shift on pop radio that let Hozier's song break through.
Q 28Only two musicians play on Take Me to Church: Hozier and Fiachra Kinder, who plays which instrument?
Drums
Drums and percussion were Kinder's part. Hozier sang every vocal line and played the guitar, piano and organ himself.
Q 29At a 2015 VH1 awards show, Hozier and Tori Kelly performed Take Me to Church and which Beatles song?
Blackbird
Blackbird was the pair's choice on the night Hozier collected VH1's fan-voted Artist of the Year award, in November 2015.
Q 30Roughly what budget did co-director Brendan Canty say the viral Take Me to Church video was made on?
€1,500
€1,500 covered the whole shoot, and the finished video came out twelve days after the single, on 25 September 2013.