A struggling musician at the time of its composition, Hozier wrote and recorded the song in the attic of his parents' home in County Wicklow.

A mid-tempo soul song, its lyrics use religious terminology to describe a romantic relationship in the face of Church discrimination.

During this period, he penned "Take Me to Church" at his parents' home in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland, and recorded a rough demo in their attic with a programmed backing track.

The song grew out of Hozier's frustration with the Catholic Church which, as somebody raised in the Protestant Quaker faith, he saw as dominating the social and political outlook of the Irish state.

[10] "Take Me to Church" draws inspiration from author Christopher Hitchens and paraphrases the poet Fulke Greville's verse "Created sick, commanded to be sound".

[14] The music video for "Take Me to Church" was made by Brendan Canty and Conal Thompson of Feel Good Lost, a small-scale Irish production company hired by Rubyworks, and was released on 25 September 2013.

[15][4] The story for the video came from Hozier himself, who wanted to bring attention to the repression and persecution [ru] faced by the gay community in Russia.

[15][16][17] The video features two men (played by Emmet O'Riabhaigh and Daniel Coughlan)[15] in an intimate romantic homosexual relationship.

[4][16][18] Apart from the official videoclip, another one directed by David LaChapelle went viral in 2015 featuring Sergei Polunin dancing to Jade Hale-Christofi's choreography.

[19] It was commissioned for a documentary film titled Dancer, directed by Steven Canton yet leaked online by LaChapelle before its premiere at Sundance Selects.

Hozier distanced himself and expressed his disappointment with Polunin's ideas,[27] which were in contrast with the "Take Me to Church" official video[28] and song that gave him a second chance.

The song rose in prominence alongside its viral music video, attracting A&R representatives from major labels in a bidding war to sign Hozier.