Someone New Wins BMI London Award

Someone New has won an award for its songwriters tonight at the BMI London Awards. The rights management organisation recognised UK and European songwriters and publishers of the past year’s most-played BMI songs on American radio and television. The full list of winners is here.

Hozier accepted the award in London alongside Someone New‘s co-writer, Loah (a.k.a. Sallay Matu Garnett).

Loah at BMI London Awards

 

Hozier won a BMI London Award in 2015 for Take Me To Church. Unable to attend the ceremony last year due to his touring schedule, he picked up the award in London last January.


About Someone New

In this ‘Anatomy of a Song’ feature for Spotify last year, Hozier described the songwriting process for Someone New, the only track on his album that is co-written.

The song was released as a single in May 2015 and achieved Gold certifications in Australia and New Zealand and Silver in the UK. Someone New reached top-10 status on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs and Adult Top 40 Charts in the USA and top-20 rankings in many territories throughout Europe.

The official video for Someone New featured actor Natalie Dormer and the song was always a crowd favourite during Hozier’s 2-year tour.


Co-Writer: Loah

The Dublin-based singer-songwriter Loah is known for her eclectic art soul, a melange of funk, soul, jazz and African rhythms pulled from her West African heritage.

This year has seen Loah busy with a string of live performances including Glen Hansard’s ‘Imagining Home‘ performance commemorating the 1916 Rising at the National Concert Hall, The Irish Arts Center in New York City, Body and Soul FestivalWater Music FestivalLongitude FestivalOther Voices at Electric PicnicCulture Night at Dublin Castle and Hard Working Class Heroes.

This profile from Bourbon delves into Loah’s approach to songwriting and diverse musical influences. Signed to Ensemble Music, her most recent videos are for Cross and The Bailey.

She performed her song Morning on Two Tube as a run up to her release of the stunning track Cortègesung in Sherbro, a language of Sierra Leone.

This year Loah contributed vocals to EDM artist Bantum’s track Take It. Previously she appeared on Kíla’s song Katy’s Tune from their album Soisín and has also been a soloist with of Dublin’s Discovery Gospel Choir.


The Sting Connection

This year’s BMI Icon Award was given to Sting for his 40-year career and influence on pop music. He accepted the award by singing acoustic versions of Every Breath You Take and Message in a Bottle, complete with an audience sing-along.

Hozier spoke about seeing Sting perform and how he is a fan.

In the interview, he mentioned how he used to sing the Sting song 7 Days and its interesting time signature and lyrical craft. You can catch Hozier’s vocals here at a jam with Chris Johnson, Eric Smith and Pete Kuzma from Rihanna’s touring band. Among the musicians also on this song: Jess Kavanagh (now with BARQ) joining him on vocals and Dara Munnis (photographer) on keyboards.

(This post was updated to include the interview and additional details.)


Bonus

We’ve often mentioned how the people Hozier met and played with in the Trinity Orchestra were key to his future career. In this performance of Pink Floyd’s Time and Breathe (Reprise)  you’ll see:

  • Hozier on lead vocal
  • Loah on backing vocal
  • Karen Cowley on backing vocal (she performed In A Week on Hozier’s album, backing vocals on some tours and is one-third of Wyvern Lingo)
  • Alex Ryan on bass (Hozier’s bassist and musical director, composer for Lagoon Pictures and co-producer for Saint Sister, also Trinity alumni)
  • Fiachra Kinder on drums (on some recorded Hozier tracks, drummer on the first tours, occasionally supports Saint Sister)
  • Rob Kearns on guitar and Rob Farhat on keyboards (co-founders of Ensemble Music, Loah’s label)

Enjoy!


Thanks to all of our contributors with special thanks to @literarypengke and @Megn0481.

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Featured image: BMI London

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3 Comments
  1. Congratulations to Andrew and Loah – love this song!
    Thanks HG for keeping us informed ❤️🇨🇦

  2. Very catchy groove and chorus. I like that Tom Waits idea he references – ‘bad news from a pretty mouth’. Didn’t know he was a Sting fan, either. Must swap stories next time I see him!

  3. Congratulations to all! Especially Hozier, whom I can’t seem to get enough of.
    Through my Irish heritage and keen ear for fine music, I certainly appreciate his contributions to my daily musical rituals.

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