Before Grammy-nominated folk superstar Noah Kahan released his fourth album, The Great Divide, on April 24, we got the ultimate teaser in the form of Noah Kahan: Out of Body.
The new Netflix documentary dropped on, April 13, giving an intimate peek into Noah’s life, both at home and on tour, over the last few years. It’s a glimpse into Noah’s psyche as he gets open and honest about the pressures of fame, his mental health and the impacts—good and bad—that success have had on his family, but mostly it picks apart what it means to be an artist, a creative and a human being. It’s packed with insight, humor and Noah’s signature sound, and below, we’ve collected some of the most memorable quotes and moments from the documentary.
On not feeling like speaking aloud:
“Can I text?”
-Noah Kahan
On holding on to what makes you you:
“I’m so afraid of losing this special thing. Like, it might go away.”
-Noah Kahan
On figuring out your place:
“After all this, what is my purpose? And who am I now?”
-Noah Kahan
(Image courtesy of Netflix)
On loving your dad, despite how mortifying he can be:
“In terms of embarrassing dads, like I don’t think there was a more embarrassing dad in the world.”
-Noah Kahan
On collecting:
“I’m not a hoarder, I’m a careful collector.”
-Josh Kahan
On appreciating things that aren’t fancy:
“Wow, Gucci.”
-Noah Kahan
On childhood with his siblings:
“It was chaotic. It was loud, and lots of laughing, lots of fighting, yelling.”
-Noah Kahan
On what drives musicianship:
“And so when I was home, I was making music in my room. Like, it was, like, my own special thing. And, like, kind of protecting something for myself, ’cause I feel like we shared so much growing up. Which, when you think about it from a psychoanalytical standpoint, makes a lot of sense that I ended up being a singer-songwriter and musician.”
-Noah Kahan
On the cost of creativity:
“We call this the ‘bad vibes’ room, and it’s my room, and that can’t be a coincidence.”
-Noah Kahan
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On finding what inspires and drives you:
“It finally felt like there was some kind of story in the music.”
-Noah Kahan
On having some division in your life:
“I see Vermont as, like, where I’m from, and Nashville is where I kinda have to be for work stuff.”
-Noah Kahan
On keeping up appearances:
“I don’t typically help him with the forge, but, uh, I wanna pretend to be hardworking and humble, so this is a good setting for that.”
-Noah Kahan
(Image courtesy of Netflix)
On the value of art:
“‘Cause you’re here forging the steel, I’m forging the hearts and minds.”
-Noah Kahan
On appreciating a lack of demands and expectations:
“What I’ve loved the most about our friend group and just my family and being here, is no one’s like, ‘What’s next, Noah?””
-Noah Kahan
On the connection between suffering and the creative spark:
“That’s what I’m, kind of, most scared of. That I have to be at my mom’s house, or in Vermont, that I have to be struggling or in pain to make music. Like, that’s always the concern.”
-Noah Kahan
On understanding contentment and satisfaction:
“I wonder if I can be fully satisfied in any setting at all.”
-Noah Kahan
On failing to escape from yourself:
“You can’t just escape who you are because you’ve moved to a different place.”
-Noah Kahan
On struggling with accepting failure:
“My therapist is always like, ‘Failure is a part of it. You need to prepare yourself for that because it’ll let you accept the moment you’re in.’ I’ve never really been able to do that.”
-Noah Kahan
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On bad habits:
“Occasionally I’ll check Twitter to see what the response to the show was. If it’s not good, I barricade myself in my room and order Taco Bell. And if it is good, barricade myself in the room and order Taco Bell.”
-Noah Kahan
On not feeling creative:
“It’s boring. I’m also just bored of the sound of my own voice. So everything sounds boring.”
-Noah Kahan
On fighting the stigma against mental health:
“I think young men in small towns feel like reputation is everything. So like, being vulnerable and going to therapy is like a knock to your reputation and being seen as weak. It fosters this growing pain and this like secrecy of pain that can explode.”
-Noah Kahan
On dreams coming true:
“It’s really magical that you get to live out a dream that you had when you were walking through the woods when you were a little kid.”
-Noah Kahan
On not having all the answers:
“I think people think because I’m able to describe something painful that I’m able to get through something painful. They hear something real, and they think that because you know how to say what’s real, you know how to solve that pain.”
-Noah Kahan
(Image courtesy of Netflix)
On finding a little peace at home:
“Nashville’s great, but being up here, it’s like I don’t have to think about music all the time. I’m not confronted to be confronted with my career all the time.”
-Noah Kahan
On the humanity in airing everything out:
“Noah makes our family’s dirty laundry just seem like being human.”
-Lauri Berkenkamp.
On embracing flaws and imperfection:
“I wanna be perfect, and like, I’m not going to be. But I haven’t taken that first step into imperfection yet.”
-Noah Kahan
For even more from Noah, click HERE to discover his best vulnerable lyrics to use as photo captions.
