A multitude of celebrities have performed great acts of charity throughout the years. From benefit concerts to straight up donations, musical artists, actors, and wealthy people have been known to generously help thousands of charities and organizations all over the world. Some celebrities even start their own charities for causes that are close to their heart or affect them personally, like the Born This Way Foundation and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. These foundations spread awareness about being comfortable in your own skin and protecting the environment, respectively, and were founded by famous celebrities Lady Gaga and Leonardo DiCaprio. However, these foundations do not just simply spread awareness – they provide a forum for global citizens to discuss major issues, along with solutions and ways to help them.

Hozier has recently teamed up with Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan to spread awareness to domestic violence in the world by creating a charity single. Hozier’s popular song “Cherry Wine” is an acoustic song that is great to listen to if one is looking to relax. Although there is a calm ambience to the song, upon further listening, one begins to notice that the lyrics are relatively dark. The lyrics of “Cherry Wine” describe a relationship plagued with domestic violence, from the point of view of a male victim. In most cases, people usually associate domestic violence with female victims but that is not always the case. According to the Cherry Wine page on Hozier’s website, “90% of victims of domestic violence are female.” Understanding that both men and women are victims of domestic violence leads to more awareness that this is a serious issue.

While the song is written from a male’s perspective, the music video features Saoirse Ronan as a victim of domestic violence. There are several nuances throughout the video that hint at the fact that Ronan’s character is in an abusive relationship. At the beginning of the music video, Ronan is seen getting ready to go out with her male partner. Before meeting him to leave, she tenderly touches her wrist as if it were sore, and styles her hair so as it falls over her right eye. Throughout the music video, Ronan is seen with her partner in a positive way, but she reveals a black eye at 2:06. Shortly after that, her partner comes into the room, kisses her, and caresses her eye as if to say he was sorry and that it would not happen again. He then places her hair back over her black eye and leaves the room. The video ends with Ronan looking at herself in the mirror with a single tear rolling down her cheek.

“Cherry Wine” does a fantastic job of explaining the predicament of someone who is in a violent relationship. It is almost as if the victim is trapped; they cannot leave because they fear what the abuser might do while also maybe battling affectionate feelings towards the abuser anyway. Victims also often try to hid the physical signs of abuse from other people, and act like everything is completely fine. Sometimes, this is even more detrimental to the victim because they bottle up their emotions and do not let anyone in to help them.

Domestic violence affects people in all countries, not just here in the States. With every purchase of “Cherry Wine” on iTunes, the entire proceed is donated to a charity or organization helping victims of domestic violence in the country in which the song was purchased. For example, if you buy “Cherry Wine” on iTunes in the United States, the proceed is donated to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Both Hozier and Saoirse Ronan are Irish, so they emphasize the fact that domestic violence affects people all around the world. On the Cherry Wine page, a frightening statistic is shared that says “on average, the police in the UK receive an emergency call relating to domestic violence every 30 seconds.” That equates to 2880 calls every 24 hours. If you or someone you know is involved in an abusive relationship, I strongly encourage to seek help. It is important to put a stop to domestic violence because you never truly know when it could happen to you or someone you love, and nobody is deserving of violence or abuse.

http://hozier.com/cherrywine/