LOS ANGELES, CA- Apparently, I have been slow on the roll when it comes to picking up on Jonah Kagen. While he’s currently out on a largely sold-out headline run and celebrating a Gold certification for “God Needs The Devil,” I am just now properly sitting with his music. And if “Talkin’ About Jesus” is any indication, I’ve been missing out.
Released via Arista Records, the new single arrives with the kind of emotional directness that has seems to be Kagen’s calling card. Inspired by a first date that derailed when belief systems entered the conversation, the track captures that quiet but devastating moment when a promising connection shifts from human to ideological. Instead of leaning into culture war theatrics, Kagen keeps it personal. The heartbreak here is not about religion. It’s about not being seen.
From the opening lines, the song burns slow. “You started like a wildfire / burning in my chest,” he sings with a raspy voice that carries both urgency and restraint. There is a fragility in the phrasing. He is not posturing. He is reaching. The production stays intimate at first, built around his strumming and a folk-rooted arrangement that feels grounded and unvarnished.
What struck me most was the lyrical honesty. “I know love should feel good / and I know you feel good / why are we talking about Jesus baby.” It is such a specific and real line, yet it opens up something universal. Most of us have been in that moment where the conversation drifts into territory that pulls two people apart just as they were starting to lean in. Kagen captures that frustration with a bluntness even dropping a raw “god just fucking kiss me” that feels less provocative than it does desperate.
There is an earthy quality to his delivery that makes the song land for me. When he sings about mountains in her eyes or wanting to paint her like a work of art, it could veer into mushy sentimentality. But Kagen’s voice carries a lived-in ache that keeps it grounded. The cinematic build toward the shouted climax mirrors the emotional unraveling of the date itself. What begins as possibility ends in longing.
The single continues the thematic thread of his debut album, Sunflowers and Leather, a project written and recorded while living in an Airstream studio he built and hauled across the American West. That album, which debuted high on streaming charts and has since amassed tens of millions of streams, wrestles with faith, mortality, identity, and resilience. I’ve only spun that album twice since listening to “Talkin’ About Jesus”, but therein lies the reason why his tour is currently sold out.
At 25, Jonah is already commanding packed rooms across North America, including back-to-back nights at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. But songs like “Talkin’ About Jesus” suggest his staying power will not come from touring numbers or certifications. It will come from his ability to articulate the small, fragile moments most of us struggle to put into words.
If this is me catching up late, so be it. Sometimes the right song arrives exactly when you need it. And for me, this one hit with the kind of earnest, earthy honesty that lingers long after the last note fades.
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