Noah Kahan Wasn’t Sure He Wanted Anyone to See His New Netflix Doc

Noah Kahan in ‘Noah Kahan: Out of Body.’ Courtesy of Netflix

Noah Kahan gets more personal in his new documentary than he was comfortable with at times.

In the Netflix documentary, directed by Nick Sweeney, the 29-year-old singer-songwriter opens up about his relationship with parents and his struggle with body dysmorphia, among other personal topics. He is earnest throughout the film, and jokes with The Hollywood Reporter that he’d made peace with it all by pretending the doc would never come out.

The Grammy-nominated musician is sitting on a porch, joining Sweeney on this Zoom to discuss the new documentary, Noah Kahan: Out of Body. Releasing on Netflix April 13, the 90-minute documentary follows Kahan after his assent to mainstream stardom thanks to his 2022 album, Stick Season.

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“When we first started making the film, we really had no idea what we would be capturing,” Sweeney tells THR. “I thought that if all we got was this extraordinary tour and Noah playing this hugely significant show at Fenway, what an amazing film that would be. As we got started, [I] I realized there’s actually so much more going on.”

What could’ve been a straightforward tour documentary is instead an intimate look at Kahan’s relationships with himself, his family and his beloved home of New England. “As Nick came along and started filming, a lot more came up to the surface, and we started to realize it was going to be something a little bit bigger than just a tour documentary,” says Kahan.

“The thing that really interests me is seeing people at crossroads in their life as they grapple with these big questions,” Sweeney adds. “As soon as Noah and I started talking, it was so clear that he was dealing with these really significant questions in his life about who he was, where was his home and what was he going to do next after this gargantuan album.”

Kahan sprinkles in his work on the album that would become The Great Divide, releasing later this month, including a touching moment where the singer visits his childhood music teacher and ends up writing a song in the space.

He also opens up about personal struggles. The singer shares that he’s dealt with body dysmorphia and disordered eating. “[I] always have felt physically ugly and facially ugly, mentally ugly,” Kahan tells the camera crews in the documentary. “I don’t know what I look like. No clue.”

The Vermont native’s family is present throughout the film. One frequent praise for Kahan’s work is how authentic his music feels. And Kahan’s decision to share his family’s personal business on Stick Season helped make the album relatable. But in the film, the singer says he feels bad he never asked his family for permission, recalling a text from his mother after he made a joke about his parent’s divorce onstage. The text subtly let him know her feelings were hurt.

“I felt so bad about how it made my mom, in particular, feel in that moment, but I think that was really important to talk about on camera because I’m not sure if I would have had the courage to bring it up otherwise,” says Kahan.

The singer says he was glad to hear what his mom felt in plain terms.

“I feel like watching this documentary was a blessing because we got to see each other on camera. We got to confront these feelings. We couldn’t all hide from them,” Kahan says.

“We had to watch this all happen, and it really just makes it feel smaller. It makes it feel more manageable, and it brought us so much closer together after watching the documentary,” he continues. “That first week felt like we were all floating, especially stuff with my dad.”

Kahan’s father and their relationship is a centerpiece of Out of Body. The singer, who shares that his father was in a life-changing accident when he was younger, says in the documentary that he wants to apologize to his father for “how selfish and short tempered and judgmental” he’s been of him.

“Him loving this documentary changed our relationship. It could have been so tricky,” Kahan says. “He just loves me and wants me to be happy.”

The singer says, deep down, he thinks the story of him and his father was the real of the documentary. “I always cry when I talk about my dad. I don’t know what it is,” Kahan admits. “He wouldn’t want me to. It’s tricky, but I never felt like I didn’t want to share it. It made me feel good to talk about.”

The film is anchored by Kahan’s sold-out Fenway Park performances and his love for home of Vermont and New Hampshire. Given Vermont’s importance the singer and his music, Sweeney says he felt a healthy dose of pressure to portray the area authenticity. “The thing I really love is how honest people in Vermont are. They really are no bullshit,” he says.

The director notes that he and his small crew spent a large amount of time driving around Vermont. “The seasons are really interesting in this film. We see Noah over the course of this year, and the way that we were able to capture that was just by laying in wait,” says Sweeney.

Kahan, who grew up between Hanover, New Hampshire and Strafford, Vermont, admitting his relationship with Vermont was changing during the time of filming. “I was scared that when I would come back that I’d feel like a tourist or that I wouldn’t belong or like that I’d given away some secret,” he says.

Out of Body finishes with Kahan in the recording studio, after seemingly rediscovering his creative inspiration over the course of the year the documentary filmed. But beyond the music, Kahan and Sweeney hope the film inspires some personal change in its viewers lives. “It’s not about a magical fairytale ending, it’s just trying to understand the things that you’re going through and name them and approach them,” Sweeney says.

“I hope that you make that phone call or you look in that mirror, and if you don’t like what you see, ask why and see if there’s something you could do to help change that thought of yourself,” adds Kahan. “[I hope you] ask those initial questions and approach those things that scare you.”