Irish stars Saoirse Ronan and Hozier are teaming up to battle domestic violence
Two of Ireland’s brightest – singer / songwriter Hozier and twice Oscar-nominated actor Saoirse Ronan – have teamed up to highlight the issue of domestic violence with new charity single “Cherry Wine”.
The song is tackling domestic violence in a two-pronged way.
The video stars Saoirse as a woman dealing with a physically abusive relationship, while the song’s lyrics shine a light on the cycle of ‘justification’ often perpetuated in domestic violence incidents – a justification that controls the abused, shames the victim, and shifts responsibility for the abuser’s violent behaviour.
“Domestic violence is an ongoing issue in our society, the statistics of which are shocking and the effects of which damage whole families, communities and span generations,” says Hozier.
“With the song “Cherry Wine”, I tried to get across the difficulty of coming to terms with and facing up to domestic violence and the dynamic of an abusive relationship.”
Saoirse Ronan added: “I am honoured to join Hozier to create awareness for the #FaceUpToDomesticViolence campaign with the release of “Cherry Wine” as a charity single.
“The song has always been one of my favourite tracks on his album. I hope through the video and song we can shine light on the issue and complexity of domestic abuse and in doing so help those caught up in the cycle of domestic violence.”
90c from each iTunes single download of “Cherry Wine” in Ireland will be donated to the Irish charity Safe Ireland, the national social change agency for domestic abuse in the Ireland.
The video will premiere on Valentine’s Day and the single can be downloaded from today on iTunes.