By Kristen Hawley | 21 December, 2022
You know that one song that is so brilliantly written and reassuring that it is on repeat during the times you’re going through it? Jonah Kagen’s latest single, “graveyard shift” is just the antidote for loneliness that anyone in this disconnected world needs.
Jonah Kagen is a Savannah, Georgia singer/songwriter who also is a classically trained guitarist. He started playing guitar at the age of six and his music career took off on TikTok. Using social media to not just promote music, but discuss tracks, upcoming projects, and deeply connect with fans Now, Jonah used his platform to release his newest track to over 450K TikTok followers.
Reminiscent of early 2014, Vance Joy and Phillip Phillips, the guitar-driven song gives a sense of “home-like” comfort and pop folk. Jonah’s soft vocal tone feels like it belongs in an everyday conversation with a friend. Jonah reassures through the song that despite the games your mind plays on you and the dark, negative holes it drags you down - you’re not alone. As your mind races at what feels like lightspeed and the anxiety boils up, the last thing you need is someone to judge or belittle your experience. Even as mental health has become a more mainstream conversation and more people embrace therapy, there still is a certain hesitance to show yourself at your lowest to those around you.
If you feel like you have no one, Jonah is a person you can turn to. Singing in the chorus the most beautifully reassuring and comforting words anyone could hear, especially in the middle of a crisis – “Darling I hate to see you cry like this/ No matter how dark it gets/ I'll take the graveyard shift.”
Another standout lyric that will make anyone burst with tears of relief is “Tell me what's heavy on you/ Please don't apologize.” It’s human nature for us to retreat inwards when things get hard. It’s also common to feel your thoughts, feelings, and anxieties are a burden that you don’t want someone else to shoulder. So immediately after you open up, you apologize as if you have done something wrong. Jonah’s songwriting stops you mid-apology to reassure that expressing your fears and anxieties in a vulnerable way is nothing to be sorry for. He actually wants to take the weight off your shoulders and put it on his.
Not only is “graveyard shift” a well-produced upbeat, folk song, but Jonah’s lyrics say all the right things that anyone would want to hear during their darkest times.
Listen to “graveyard shift” on Spotify or Apple Music
Comments