by Liz Larson
Noah Reid’s new album, Gemini, has been out for almost two months, so we decided to ask Reid’s fans to tell us their favorite songs from the album and share their thoughts behind why they love them.
Some had a clear front runner, but for others it was like picking a favorite child, so there were multiple answers. This is completely understandable, as it was not hard to want to write an essay about each and every song on the album!
We loved hearing everyone’s stories and sharing in the feelings and memories that this album and all of these songs evoke.
Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Liz Larson.
“Honesty”
Nicole (@NicoleC_talks): “I love every song on Gemini for various and equal reasons, but “Honesty” brings me the most joy. It takes me back to a happier time, pre-covid when I had the whole tour and meeting my friends and the season finale of Schitt’s Creek ahead of me. It makes me think of the L.A. show, being one of the first in line and talking to other Noah fans and making friends. Then I remember hearing them play “Honesty” during sound check and recording it on my phone and texting it to all of my friends and freaking out. I remember the anticipation and electricity in the room, and then Noah and the band stepping out and starting off the show with “Honesty.”
I haven’t had that reciprocated love that “Honesty” portrays just yet, but I am so excited to experience it. And in the meanwhile, listening to it just gives me so much joy. It makes me think of the anticipation and excitement that I had in the beginning of the year, and makes me feel hopeful that I’ll feel that way again.”
Pat (@tuatarasa): “It’s one of my girlfriend’s favorite songs off the album and the lyrics just always make me think of them.”
Madison (@madatron04): “Part of me feels bad that this is my favorite song because we got it so early but it just, it makes me feel better. From the piano at the beginning to when it starts picking up the pace. I often find myself listening to it in the morning to start my day. The background vocals add an extra depth to it that is just so nice. The lyrics are a dang gift. It so perfectly describes what it’s like to love someone I think?
“I want you to promise me the way this feels right now is how it’s gonna always be.”
“And I don’t know if you noticed that as you held on to your hat my heart and soul you was also holdin’ back.”
It’s perfection. This album dropped at exactly the right time and I’m grateful for it and Noah’s way that he somehow wrote these songs that I think we all needed… Before we knew we were gonna need them.”
“Underwater”
Bailey (@SpnSwain): “This song really resonates with where I am in life right now. I currently feel lost and worried about what my future will look like, but listening to this song makes me feel like there is hope and that things will work out in the end.”
Sarah (@MagooShmoo): “Because the lines “here I am…taking up oxygen” and “faking intelligence, pretend that you’re confident” make me sob. Thanks Noah for making such beautiful music that helps us feel again.”
Julia (@bejeweled_one): “Noah’s vocals are always on point, but you really get the sense with this song that he mirrored the instrumentality, which made for an absolutely gorgeous track. I saw/heard him sing this one live in Toronto, and it’s just amazing how he and the band decided to rework the arrangement for the album and created something so incredibly special.”
Elton S (age 7): “I like “Underwater” and “Hold On” and “Got You” best. Mostly ‘”Underwater.” I listen to it to relax at bedtime because I want to walk underwater too and see sharks!”
Sabrina (@IllBeApollo): “”Underwater” is so relatable to me. The feeling like I’m not good enough and will never do anything worth mentioning. It’s a constant battle, trying to figure out what to do with my life, where I want to end up, and feeling like I’m drowning in negativity. It’s nice to know that someone like Noah has felt that way and has made an amazing life for himself. It goes to show that things can change and turn around no matter how hard they seem at the time.”
Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Liz Larson.
“Hold On”
Emily (@YesItIsMeEmilyG): “From the first time I heard it, it just made me smile. I can listen to it on repeat for hours! It reminds me that things can and will get better!”
Laura (@laura898): “”Hold On” came into my life when I was going through a bad period of mental illness and ended up being hospitalized for it. Being separated from my long term partner whilst I was in hospital was one of the hardest aspects of it all. Whenever I felt particularly low about missing my partner (which happened daily) I would listen to that song on repeat until I felt a little better. I resonated with the lyrics so much for the situation I was in. Even though I felt awful being in hospital, I knew that if I just held on I’d get through this. That everything would eventually be ok if we just ‘hold on’.”
Mary (@dorothynyc89): “This album was released around the time my grandmother decided to forgo any further treatments for her cancer. This song really reminded me things would get better soon even if it didn’t seem like it right now. It gave me comfort for better days ahead.”
Tara (@taravk1): “I first heard it when he played it live at the Sawdust City Music Festival in Gravenhurst last August, and it blew me away.”
Sabrina (@IllBeApollo): “I love every song and I know “Hold On” is a very popular one and seems to be everyone’s favorite. I have other favorites, but that song helped me during the hardest times of my life. Noah released that song after my husband left me and I didn’t quite know where things were heading. It also helped me after I realized that my marriage was over and when my mom passed almost two months ago. I felt like everything was falling apart during an already stressful time due to the pandemic and it literally gave me the strength to not give up and to ‘hold on’.”
Meredith (@meredithlar): I fell in love with “Hold On” the first time I heard it at the L.A. show in February. I spent the last two summers away from my wife for work (the first two summers we were married). Hearing “Hold On” immediately took me back to that experience. Listening to Noah talk about writing the song at shows and on livestreams has just made me love it even more.
Rishitu (@rishitu5): “Because it feels so honest and authentic.”
Conny (@unfenced_fire): “My favourite song is “Hold On” because the first time I heard it was in the middle of the pandemic. I was by myself, far away from my family, even further away from my long-distance partner. The song and its lyrics made me hopeful, gave me some optimism to look at the future, even though everything seemed hopeless at that moment. When I hear the song now, it has other, deeper meanings. That’s what I love about the whole album, every song feels differently depending on your mood or mindset on that day, which makes a record great in my opinion.”
“Hate This Town”
Tara (@taravk1): “To me this is like the “Never Gonna Get My Love” of Gemini. It’s meant to be fun/funny and a little outrageous/obnoxious, but with a bit of truth telling in there. Also, I agree with him!”
Meredith (@meredithlar): “I moved to a new city in January – two hours from ‘home.’ It’s a city I’ve hated for most of my life, but it’s huge so I figured there’d at least be a lot to do. Then the pandemic hit. I’m quarantined with nothing to do and no one I know in this city. Every time I drive somewhere and “Hate This Town” comes on, I can feel it in my bones.”
Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Liz Larson.
“Got You”
Nicole (@coco32477): “It always picks up my mood.”
Jennifer: “The first time I heard “Got You,” I stopped and listened to it about eight times in a row. I had never heard a love song like it before. Its toe-tapping, poppy melody grabs you, but what makes you keep listening is its beautiful expression of love. In it, Reid rejects the toxic masculinity that insists that for men to show love, they must protect and take care of their partners in a way that smothers them. Instead he writes of a love that means trusting your partner to take care of themselves, of celebrating in their successes even when they outshine your own, while always being there if they need you. Especially for women who have been taught that they must always put others first, what a beautiful message to hear a man tell his partner not to worry if he falls behind, because he’ll catch up. The song just means so much to me. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s absolutely a certified banger.”
“American Roads”
Kelly (@archiesmama78): “Right now with everything going on in the world things can feel overwhelming. In those moments, it’s a fun song to play and you can’t help but smile and sing along as you listen to it. The lyrics are amazing and it’s also a great song to play in your car with your windows down as you’re driving along. It has a great vibe!”
Lindsey (@lindyysolo): “The beat of “American Roads” immediately pulled me in on the first listen, and the lyrics quickly won me over soon after. As an American living in Canada, I spend a decent amount of time road tripping through the US to visit my hometown, amongst other places. Lines like “It’s hard to imagine that I didn’t want to learn how to drive, roll down the window now just to let in the sky,” really resonate with me. This song puts me in that same sort of unique, contemplative, and untethered headspace that you find yourself in when you’re out on the open road.”
Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Liz Larson.
“Jacob’s Dream”
Elle (@Elle_Ziel): “I loved Noah trying to explain the premise for “Jacob’s Dream” which was inspired by his dad telling him the story of Jacob in the Bible while they were driving and Noah kind of misinterpreting it. So cute! Plus, love the line. “I was wrestling with angels, I can show you the scars.” And the rooftop sunset video is 💯”
Tara (@taravk1): “This is my 12 year old’s favorite song on Gemini. I think it’s because it gives him permission to feel a little lost? He looks up to Noah, and if Noah can be who he is and still have those words mean something personal to him, then Jack can let himself feel that way, too.”
Mandi (@mandi1630): “I love how hauntingly beautiful the song is and how it really resonates with feeling lost. I think, especially right now, we all feel a little lost about what’s next. Everyone is sort of battling with their own demons and mental health right now but this song is a little hopeful that we’ll all be ok.”
“Neverending December”
Hazel (@hazelbird): “From the moment I first saw a video of “Neverending December” live, it captured my heart in a way I can’t really describe. It’s almost like Noah’s soaring vocals, the cinematic quality of the arrangement, the lyrics that feel like my life sometimes, and the choir at the end all come together to create a perfect storm, and it really gets to me. I could listen to it on repeat for hours and never get bored.”
Liz (@momentinbetween): “”Neverending December” is a song that demands to be heard. It hits you in the chest and you have to take pause whenever it starts playing. One of those that every so often you just want to listen to the whole song with your eyes closed, let it fully take you in and away from the world, and just FEEL it.”
Mandi (@mandi1630): “I’m a sucker for the slower songs on this album and this one just completely vibes with me. I think because I’m also doing a Dawson’s Creek watch and it gives me such strong Pacey/Joey vibes, I just love it so much. I could see it playing in an episode about them breaking up. It’s a great “I love you but this is hard” kind of song.”
Julia (@bejeweled_one): “The lyrics and orchestration are just so gorgeous. Tears well up in my eyes from the first note, and by the time the choir part comes around I’m usually sobbing.”
Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Liz Larson.
“Heroes/Ghosts”
Liz (@momentinbetween): “I truly love every song on Gemini, my favorite changes daily, but I think “Heroes/Ghosts” is the one that struck me the most live and I keep coming back to. “People I know have been telling me to figure it out. They think they’re a step ahead of me and they think it aloud,” hits fairly often recently while I’m trying to get further toward being able to get into my passion for a living and having exciting achievements in that area but people close to me not seeming to care. The song is just overall gorgeous. I remember loving it immediately at the Toronto shows last November and being completely taken by the instrumentation and Ivy’s backing vocals. When I listen to it on the album I’m immediately back there at The Great Hall and the feeling of that night.”
“I Guess I’ll Just Lie Here”
Catherine (@bellafarella): “The lyrics, the melody, it’s just perfect from start to finish. I love every single song on the new album, as well as his first, but this song just hits different. The way he sings, “breathing in and breathing out” just instantly calms me and my anxiety. I listen to it every day, usually it’s the first song I listen to on my way to work at the hospital. Every song Noah has written and sung can calm my anxiety, it’s his soothing perfect voice.”
Kirsteen (@thelongwinding): “There are musical gifts that leap out noisily on first listen and then there are the songs that take a little longer to reveal themselves. Songs that slowly seep in under your skin, but once they’ve settled don’t let go. This beautifully bittersweet tune is the latter; so raw, open, and searingly honest. Full of the introspection and self doubt that trips us all up as we grapple with all the stuff that life throws at us but never dipping into the mournful. ‘The snakes in my head, the mistakes and the dread’ captures the middle of the night angst so perfectly it stole my breath away. I adore the undercurrent of hope offered in the gorgeous melodies and slowed down cadence of “I Guess I’ll Just Lie Here” gifting us the tools we need to ‘weather the storm’.”
Liz (@momentinbetween): “It never fails, I’ll forever be drawn to the slow sad ones. This one is an interesting mix for me because I relate to it in that I have definitely had those type of nights, but aside from, “this has happened before, I got through it before” being a bit of a light in the darkness and a turn toward the hopeful, the song took on a different note for me when the album came out. The first time I heard the recorded version and it got to the choir singing “lie here” in the background, I just started grinning because the crowd singalong is one of my favorite parts of concerts in general and it makes me think of the few times I saw Noah live and how he would coach us through it, giving encouragement or digging at us a little if the crowd wasn’t singing as loud as they should. It and “Neverending December” with those little singalong parts are nice reminders of the shows that we can’t have right now but will hopefully get back to soon.”
Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Liz Larson.
“I Had a Dream Last Night”
Sabrina (@IllBeApollo): “It is so beautiful. I can feel the emotion in the song when I listen to it. It comes from the heart. Noah has a way with lyrics.”
Megan (@patrickbrewcr): “The message is so powerful and intimate and full of hope. It’s like “Honesty,” where the beat is fast but the subject is soft. Noah has a very good handle on making an already beautiful story all the more enjoyable by matching his words with his music, and the fact that he used this ability to put such a touching example of his own love and dedication on display is insanely brave.
“You were always gonna be the one, and I’ve never felt that way ’bout anyone,” is something so many of us can relate to as we grow older and connect with others, and I feel warm every time I hear it.”
Elle (@Elle_Ziel): “Noah was able to effectively translate, seemingly effortlessly, the beautiful dream that he had about his fiance into a song that painted a vivid setting and conveyed the hazy dreamlike qualities and poignant sentimentality that came along with it. In the dream, Noah and his fiance encounter a young child; her interactions with the child move him so much that he has an epiphany about his feelings for her and their future, which will likely include children of their own. The lyrics are simple but the simple words, music, and tone evoke alllllllll the feels. The first six or so times that I listened to this song, I cried big, fat, gulpy tears. I will never get over the images that he painted in my mind or the feelings he evoked with this song. It is pure artistry.”
Siobhan (@hoskas): “It’s gorgeously romantic of course, the lyrics are just beautiful. But I really love how the dream aspect comes across in the arrangement and the production. There’s a mystical quality to it. It’s the standout song for me, on an absolutely terrific album.”
Kirsteen (@thelongwinding): “Noah has such a talent for capturing the small moments in life and this beautifully intimate realization of love is exactly that. His incredulousness and joy is palpable and honestly if every declaration of love was as beautiful as this what a world we would live in, eh?”
Lacey (@lanime417): “It gives me hope that better things are yet to come and I just need to be patient until it’s time.”
“I Miss Writing Songs”
Kathleen (@quiddityks): “This was such a hard choice, because there isn’t a bad song on the album. But I love the wistful, hopefulness of this song and as a Canadian, the closing line of, “driving my old car, back to Canada” encapsulates everything that’s right about coming home and starting fresh.”
