Noah Kahan, Authenticity and the Gospel
“Stick Season” has been the soundtrack of the last year for many of us. Instagram Reels, TikTok it’s everywhere. It’s drawn us to the rest of Noah Kahan’s music, and we are drawn into the folky sound and real-life lyrics.
Noah Kahan has risen to fame in the last year or so after releasing his album “Stick Season” in 2022. This was after he had been showing his TikTok followers snippets of his songs and his life throughout the COVID lockdown, when he moved from New York back to his hometown in Vermont, North America. This is where the inspiration for the album came from, as he reflected on his experiences growing up there and how they have impacted his life as he has grown into adulthood.
His song “Stick Season” has been in the top 10 charts for weeks in a row, being no. 1 in Ireland for 14 weeks and in the UK for the last 7 weeks. He has released the album with extended editions and collaborations 3 times, and I am sure many of you were singing along to his songs at his shows in Dublin. But why is he so popular among our generation? What is it that we are searching for that we find listening to his music?
When you listen to the album, you may be drawn in by the light-hearted, folky-sounding music that transports you to North America and makes you feel like you are there with him. But when you listen to the lyrics, you realise that they are quite deep, real and honest. It feels like we are getting a true glimpse into Noah’s life, struggles and past.
For many of Gen Z, this is what we crave. Something authentic, someone who understands what we go through and experience.
Through his TikTok videos and lyrics that make us feel like we know what he is going through and know him, it is easy to write ourselves into his songs, to identify with his thoughts and experiences. Maybe not to the same extent or with the same experiences, but those feelings of loneliness, of failing, of making mistakes are universal to us as humans – we can all relate, and music helps us identify these feelings.
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons Noah Kahan is so popular among Gen Z is that he comes from humble roots. His fame has stemmed from being back in his small, quiet hometown with not much to do, and COVID forced him back into that. Many in our generation, particularly in Ireland, can relate to this feeling. And through TikTok and lyrics that feel like they give us an authentic and honest glimpse into his life, it speaks of that craving we have for authenticity, honesty, community and connection.
As humans, we were made for connection and relationship with one another – we know that from the Bible and how God created us, and we seek this community. Maybe even more than ever, Gen Z crave that real, authentic connection that we have lost through the internet and social media, and music like this makes us feel like we are not alone. But what if we, as Christians, identify this in ourselves as we listen to this music, as these feelings come on, and use them to point ourselves and those around us to Christ??
Jesus isn’t some man that we see a glimpse of on TikTok and feel that we know. Rather, He is God, who came to earth so we could truly know Him.
We can read about His life, His human experience of loneliness, suffering, and pain, and through Him, we see God. The Creator who created each of us, who knows us so intricately. And He has given us each other, a Christian community to live together in authentic relationship with one another. What if we use this good news to provide that community, that hope and longing that our friends around us on campus have, so that they can be fulfilled? What if the answer to these longings for your friends wasn’t found in Noah Kahan’s music and sitting in our feelings, but was coming to CU, a loving community of people and sharing with them about Jesus?
Many of Noah’s lyrics talk about his struggles, his failings, how his hometown and family have failed him and how he is homesick – not sick longing to go home, but sick of this being his home. Our generation has grown increasingly afraid of having hopes, plans, and ambitions that will never come to pass. But as Christians, we know that despite our struggles, we have a God who suffered with us. Despite our failings and shortcomings, whether in ourselves or in those around us, we have a God who loves us unconditionally and will never fail us. And despite how we feel about this world, about our home, we know that this will not be our home forever. That one day God will make all things new, and we will live with Him.
What a hope we have to offer the world, starting with the students on our campus, whose longings are evident in the popularity of this music, which exposes our longings and desires. But what a joy it is to hold out to them the answers.
–Written by Olivia Anderson, Belfast Staff Worker
