Five shocking revelations from Noah Kahan’s Netflix documentary
Noah Kahan: Out of Body was finally released on Netflix this week, and if you are going in expecting a typical music documentary, we need to stop you right here, because this one is more different than you think. You do get the big moments, but it’s not really what the film focuses on for long, bringing you back to him, the person behind all of it.
As you’re watching, you will notice it follows him through that stretch where everything suddenly takes off. You see the massive shows like Fenway, Madison Square Garden, and crowds singing every word, but the documentary doesn’t celebrate all that. It keeps cutting back to the in-between bits. You know how you always wonder about the lives of celebrities behind the cameras? This Netflix newbie is exactly about that. It’ll take you backstage, show the travelling, and even the moments Kahan was left alone with his thoughts. Sounds a bit weird, right? No worries, you’ll get the context pretty soon.
You’ll also find the documentary spending time on where he comes from, Vermont, watching his family and people who have been around him, presented in a very natural way. Nothing is being over-explained or overly polished, like in a typical portrait documentary. It’s more of him talking and remembering things, connecting it all back to his music, really smoothly.
And as you get further into it, you will realise the documentary is not about his music at all. It’s about what’s going on in his head. And now that the cat is out of the bag, here are the five shocking revelations taken from the horse’s mouth in Noah Kahan: Out of Body.
Five shocking revelations from Noah Kahan’s Netflix documentary
5. Kahan opens up about body dysmorphia for the first time
One of the first things that properly stuns you is how Noah Kahan talks about his body. He actually opens up about struggling with body dysmorphia, which, if you weren’t expecting it, does catch you off guard. You are watching someone who is playing massive shows where people are singing every word back to him, and yet he is standing there talking about not really recognising himself half the time.
It’s a bit jarring, in a way, but Kahan doesn’t dress this revelation up or turn it into a big emotional moment. He just says it quite plainly, which almost makes it land more poignantly. You can tell it’s something that has been sitting with him for a while, and hearing it laid out like that (that too so early in the film) shows you that this was just the tip of the iceberg.
4. His relationship with food isn’t great either
And then he gets into his bond with food, and this is where it gets really uncomfortable for the viewers, too. Noah Kahan talks about going through phases where he is either eating far too much or barely eating at all, and that confession is enough for a sane viewer to realise that it isn’t temporary; it’s been bubbling away for a while.
Kahan just puts it out there, plain and simple, and then it hits you: you are watching someone at the top of his game, and yet he is dealing with something this personal, this sad, behind the scenes. He also links it back to how he sees himself. It’s one of those moments that you keep thinking about even when the documentary ends.
3. Fame made things worse for him
If you thought success would’ve sorted everything out for Kahan, he is quite quick to shut that idea down, admitting that once music started taking off, it didn’t make his life easier, but quite the contrary. The touring and all the attention, where people are constantly watching you, started to pile on.
You can see it in the way he talks about it, almost as if he were trying to keep up with everything happening around him. It’s one of those situations where everything looks hunky dory from the outside, but behind the scenes, it’s a different story altogether. He even hints at feeling more pressure to live up to expectations.
2. His father’s accident still affects him
This one thing has probably made one of the biggest impacts on Noah Kahan. He talks about his father’s accident and how it changed things at home, and you can tell it’s something that’s stayed with him for years. He doesn’t go into it in a dramatic way, but even the way he mentions it, you can feel the weight of it through the screen.
It clearly affected their relationship, and he is still trying to make sense of it all. You also start to see how much of that has found its way into his music, even if it’s not always said directly. Who would’ve guessed that a singer, whose life looks so glamorous on the surface, could carry such deep emotional scars?
1. He still doesn’t feel like himself
After going through so much pain in life, it becomes difficult for a person to live with themselves. The pain somewhere ends up killing the actual personality, and by the time you get further into the documentary, it becomes clear that Kahan still doesn’t feel fully like himself. He talks about this sense of disconnect, as if everything happening around him doesn’t match how he feels on the inside.
You’ve got the sold-out shows and the recognition everyone wants, and yet he still seems a bit unsure of where he fits into all of it. He doesn’t say it in a heavy-handed way, but it comes through in little moments, in how he reflects on things. It turns out, someone as popular and successful as him is still figuring out things in his life.