Not everything is meant to go together. Like Thanksgiving and politics or Kim and Kanye.

Especially not EDM and Indie music. 

The EDM production trio “MEDVZA” released a song titled “Tell It To My Heart” on Oct. 29. The track features Hozier as the vocalist. 

Irish musician Hozier is best known for his 2013 single “Take Me to Church.” He has two albums, his self-titled album released in 2014, and “Wasteland, Baby!” released in 2019. 

Hozier’s music consists of soulful vocals, scaled-back instrumentals and heartfelt lyrics. His genre is often labeled as “Indie Rock.”

Meduza is a trio of Italian men including Luca de Gregorio, Mattia Vitale and Simone Giani. They are a production group that produces music similar to David Guetta or The Chainsmokers. 

As an avid fan of Hozier, I highly anticipated the release of this song after his social media campaigns. I had no idea who Meduza was, but I figured any song with Hozier in it would be good. 

After listening to the song, I realized how wrong I was. 

The song is incredibly over-produced. It starts with a repetitive beat, like a metronome keeping time. It sounds like a beat that anyone could make using GarageBand. 

Hozier’s vocals sound heavily autotuned, which doesn’t match his style of singing. If Meduza decided to collaborate with such a talented vocalist, why did they heavily edit his voice? Obviously all songs have some sort of vocal production, but this is too much to sound good. 

The chorus feels disjointed as Hozier wails out the lyrics while a generic, upbeat instrumental blares over him. 

The lyrics and vocals are good on their own, even if the lyrics aren’t as deep as some of Hozier’s previous work. 

Hozier posted a video of him singing the chorus acoustically on his Instagram page on Oct. 23. It makes me want a full version of the song without the overwhelming production. 

It feels like this song was just a bad decision from the get-go. The EDM style of Meduza would never work with Hozier’s Indie style. And even if it were a decent song, I don’t think either fanbase would appreciate it. I would never listen to EDM willingly, and I don’t know many EDM fans that also like laid-back Indie music. 

After waiting five years between Hozier’s first two albums, and two years between his last album and this single, I expect great things when he decides to release new music. Hopefully his next project is better worth the wait.