EMPIRE NOW 💡Let’s talk about it! “Sun coming up on a dream come ‘round, one hundred years from the Empire Now” From the 18th to the 20th centuries, Britain was referred to as “the empire on which the sun never sets” to signify its vastness. Controlling an estimated 25% of the earth landmass, there was always daylight in one of its territories. If sun is coming up, it had to set, therefore, the Empire has fallen. This song talks about Ireland’s Revolution. The world witnessed the Irish Easter Rebellion of 1916, which culminated in the establishment of an independent Irish state on December 6, 1921. 100 years later this song was being written. Back in 1918, the modernist novel ‘Ulysses’ by Irish writer James Joyce was also being written. Joyce encodes the horror of revolution and the grand potential of the revolutionary movement. I believe this could also be a source of inspiration since Joyce is one of Hozier’s favorite writers. In the chorus we have a bit of a ‘Wasteland, Baby!’...