Humans of Lee
Photo: Jaclyn De Vries
I met freshman Josiah Kent at Bonlife Coffee, a place close to his heart after connecting with James Turner, who works there, and 'also the coffee is really great.'
After privately writing original music for years, Kent debuted his own music last November by participating in ArtistSignal, 'a free social music platform allowing listeners to vote for a top artist each month,' according to the website.
Lee students and alum such as Clark Beckham and "The Giant and The Tailor" have won the $10,000 prize in past months.
Although Kent did not win (he did reach third place after only a few days), he said it paved the way for him to show people his music.
'For a long time [writing songs] was just a private way for me to work through what I was feeling and going through [in] life and then it became something'I was a worship leader at my church ' I would write worship songs so those [things] blended together. I just never thought I could do anything with my music; it was my own private passion.'
It wasn't until coming to Lee and meeting local student musicians that Kent realized he wanted to pursue music, thinking, ' 'Oh man, maybe I can actually do something with this and it isn't impossible to get there.' '
Kent recently announced the name he and friends, Caleb Kent, Elijah Hosein and Dylan Mikres, will make music under, 'Common Doors.'
The band's first show under their new name will be Sunday, Feb. 28 at Inman Street Coffeehouse. Check out the event page here.
"Common Doors" is also in the process of releasing an EP, which Kent hopes will be available to the public in March.
Kent said the name is inspired by a convocation sermon from last semester about doors, relating them to different 'seasons' of life.
'I wanted [my music] to be common doors for people ' relatable seasons ' [so] people could listen to my music and go, 'Oh my gosh I've been there before. I feel what he's feeling. I can relate to this.' '
Some of these seasons include times when you're 'at bat' with Satan, or mending an awkward middle school crush. There's also a song about Kent's grandpa who walked out of his life.
'It's a song about losing someone and communicating that to them, and finding a place in your heart to forgive that person even though they don't necessarily deserve it.'
Songwriting played a large role in getting through one of the hardest seasons of his life, Kent said.
'My family is a foster family so we foster these little girls and the cases we've had with these little girls were rare, so we'd have them for [about] two years, and love them like they're a part of our family then they end up going home. We'd recently just lost a little baby girl that we loved for so long; a relationship I had for a long time ended,' Kent said.
On top of that, Kent's relationship of 5 years ended, one of his best friends died, and his grandpa, who had walked out of his life, was coming for his high school graduation.
'I was just really overwhelmed by life,' Kent said. 'There was a lot of stress, and it was really hard to see God. In that space, a lot of songs came out as a cry to him. Because he's always been the drive for my entire life, that's where a lot of my songs come from, speaking to him and crying out to him. Getting through that time, songwriting was a big part of that. I got through that season, but a lot had happened ' I kind of try to forget about it because it's a lot to remember. But I think I grew because of it.'
